No-Fail Old Fashioned Sponge Cake

Spring is here! I’m looking forward to all the locally grown fruits and vegys in our area. Living in the middle of farm country I have access to all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. ‘Pick your own’ farms are nearby and many local farmers markets run all week long. But when local fruit are not ready to pick, a good sale at the grocery store will also do.
This sponge cake recipe is one of the easiest I’ve tried. No need to fluff and fold egg whites, and durable enough to handle cream fillings and Kirsch drizzles. One of my favourite flavourings is Kirsch and raspberry jam mixed together and drizzled on the bottom layer of my cakes. Of course there are many other tasty types of liquor you can choose from. Pudding of your choice also makes a nice creamy filling.
This is a nice all-purpose sponge cake for all kinds of fruit and cream fillings.

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 tablespoons hot milk

Topping and center:
2 cups whipping cream (35% cream)
3 heaping tablespoons icing sugar (or more)

Directions:
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat the eggs at high speed until thick and lemon coloured, this usually takes about 5 minutes. Slowly add the sugar and keep beating until the mixture becomes thick and fluffy then add the lemon juice.
Slow the mixer to low speed and slowly add the dry ingredients mix until just combined, don’t over mix. Then quickly mix in the hot milk.

Spread batter into an 8 or 9 inch ungreased, parchment paper lined bottom of a round or square baking pan. The parchment makes it very easy to remove the cake after baking. Only the bottom should be lined then the sides can be edged out with a knife after baking. Leaving the sides ungreased helps the batter cling on to something to keep from shrinking.
Bake at 375°F for 25 to 30 minutes

Once your cake is cooled, cut cake in half (length wise) and whip up the whipping cream and icing sugar to a firm consistency and spread half of the whipped cream on the bottom layer top with your choice of fruit. Cover with the top half of cake then repeat with the whipping cream and fruit.

Optional: Mix a ¼ cup Kirsch with 2 tablespoons raspberry jam and drizzle on bottom half of cake.
Optional filling: Vanilla pudding combines well with most fruits as a center filling.