The Tryst With Vanilla Sponge Cake with Chocolate Buttercream

I’m not someone who enjoys desserts too much. Yes, we exist. But then, I do give into the rare cravings.

Today, I woke to the sweetest surprise when I discovered that we were all celebrating a #VirtualBabyShower of two of our Instagram blogger friends. Most of us have never met, but have only known each other through our social media handles and have pushed each other to do better every day. So it was a beautiful gesture planned by @justagirlfrommumbai and @cupcakeree to bring us all together and wish the mothers to be with a picture of a dessert each. Sweet, isn’t it? (pun intended)

So since all of us came on board, there were pictures of decadent desserts flying everywhere and I HAD TO make something, because I don’t know about others, but these really had me drooling. Hence, this cake.

Now let me be clear, I can cook fairly decent Indian and Italian cuisine, but I am no expert when it comes to baking, because too early in life I was  informed that baking has a lot to do with ‘correct measurements’ and for that you need to excel  in mathematics. With no second thoughts, I gave up.

But today, after all these years and with a fool proof recipe from my friend Shalini Digvijay of Bakitude and some more I took the plunge again. Aaaand, it did not turn out too bad! Thank you Shalini, for the virtual help and support. 🙂

So here’s the recipe from Bakitude for the sponge and for the cream, from my mother, with pictures (of course!):

For the sponge:

• 1 ¼ cup plain flour
• ¼ cup corn flour
• 1 cup sour curds/yogurt (leave the yogurt out for a few hours)
• ½ cup refined vegetable oil
• ¾ cup ground sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Steps:

• I sifted the flour, corn flour, ground sugar, baking powder and baking soda
• Mixed curd and oil in a bowl
• Added vanilla essence to the curd mix
• Added the dry mix to the curd
• Whipped
• Poured it in a pre glazed container that I wanted to bake it in
• Had already pre-heated the oven
• Set it again to 180 degree and baked for 35 minutes.

For the chocolate buttercream:

• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 3/4 tbsp chocolate powder
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup icing sugar
• a few drops vanilla essence

Steps:

• Sieve the icing sugar, cocoa powder in a deep bowl and keep aside.
• Combine the butter in a deep bowl and mix it with a help of a wooden spoon till light and smooth for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the icing sugar-chocolate mixture gradually and mix well.
• Add the vanilla essence and mix well. Use immediately.

After I applied the cream to the cake, I kept it in the refrigerator for 45 minutes and had it chilled!

Do try it out and tell us how it worked for you. 🙂