Quick and Easy Vanilla Sponge Cake

INGREDIENTS

125g butter
250 ml sugar
2 tbsp vanilla essence
3 eggs
500 ml cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk

Chocolate Ganache Icing

2 slabs milky bar
4 tbsp dessert cream

Butter Icing

100 g butter softened
500 ml icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
+ - 2 tbsp milk

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180° and grease a round cake tin
• Cream butter and sugar together until light and creamy
• Add vanilla essence
• Separate egg yolks from egg whites and add only the egg yolks to batter one at a time mixing well after each addition 
• Sift the flour , baking powder & salt together
• Fold into the creamed mixture, alternating with milk
• Lastly fold in the egg whites to mixture gently
• Pour mixture into cake pan and bake until golden in color or when knife comes out clean when inserted into cake
• Ice the cake with either the chocolate ganache icing OR the butter icing

ICING

   

Chocolate ganache 

• Melt chocolate and mix dessert cream into melted chocolate
• Spread over cake , garnish the top of cake with grated chocolate of your choice 

Butter Icing

• Cream butter and icing sugar together
• Add vanilla essence and enough milk to make a soft spreading consistency
• Spread over cake and garnish with decorations of your choice

* 2 cakes can be made and sandwiched together with icing

Soji

INGREDIENTS

500g semolina
500g butter
2 litre boiled water
1 tsp food colouring
5 cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup chopped almonds
4 tsp ground elachi
1/4 cup desiccated coconut ( optional )
 1 can dessert cream
chopped colored almonds for decorating

METHOD

• Fry soji in a wide pot stirring continuously for 15 minutes on medium heat
• Add butter and stir again until butter melts and fry with soji
• Add cloves, cinnamon sticks, sugar, almonds and elachi and stir well
• Mix food coloring with 1 litre of the boiled water and add very slowly to soji stirring continuously (Do not add all the water at once )
• You will notice that soji absorbs the water and begins to thicken.
• Continue adding the boiled water whilst stirring continuously until the soji stops absorbing the water
• There is no need to add more coloring to the second litre of water as the soji should already have a rich yellowish color
• More than 2 litres boiled water may sometimes be required but soji consistency should remain thick and not mushy
• The trick is to add just enough water .Too much could ruin the dish.
• Turn heat off and flatten the soji with a spoon
• Add dessert cream over soji
• sprinkle with the colored almonds and a pinch of elachi powder for extra flavor