Baking A Basic French Sponge Cake

This year my mom suggested that I take a course on baking.

My dad gave my mom a baking book for Christmas named Baking, by James Peterson. For two weeks we have been reading and learning from this book.

We wanted to start baking on Monday but my mom was afraid she goes in labour and then we havened do any baking.

We decided to bake everything with healthy ingredients.

This semester we will study basic cakes.
While it seems there are hundreds of different kinds of cakes, there are really only six: sponge cakes, butter cakes, oil based cakes, yeasted cakes, meringue-based cakes and custard cakes.

I’ve also learned thee are only four basic ingredients that virtually made up all cakes: flour, eggs, sugar and butter. Cakes can be made with other ingredients, such as flavourings and leavenings, but the amazing variety is the result of manipulating the four basic ingredients in different ways.

We started with sponge cakes.

Sponge cakes are cakes made by beating whole eggs, separated eggs or just egg whites with sugar and then folding the beaten mixture with butter of flavourful ingredients such as chocolate. Last. Flour and/or other dry ingredients are folded with the egg mixture.

All kinds of sponge cakes are leavened only with the air beaten into the eggs. They contain no baking powder or baking soda.

Over the weekend we baked a Basic French Sponge Cake (Genoise).

This is a purist’s cake because it contains no leaving; it’s lightened with air alone, and has a delicate egg flavour and a light texture that make it seem to fall apart in your mouth.

Tip

To make a Classic French Sponge Cake you need to beat whole eggs with sugar until they become very pale and are tripled or quadrupled in volume.

It is important to beat the egg-sugar mixture until you can lift the whisk and move it back and forth through the batter and the ribbon holds its shape for at least 5 seconds.
This is called the ribbon stage.

If you overbeat the eggs, the cake may be dry of worse, it may fall in the oven.

If the eggs are not beaten sufficiently, the cake will be heavy.

Recipe for Basic French Sponge Cake (Genoise):
(Makes 2 round layer cakes - 9 by 1 inch)

Butter and flour for the cake pan

6 eggs

¾ cup sugar (we substituted it with palm sugar)
1 cup plus 4 tablespoons cake flour (we substituted it with spelt flour, but then need to be 1 and 2/3 cups spelt flour)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven on to 180 C or 350 F.

Butter the round cake pans

Cut a circle out of parchment- or wax paper. Make sure it is a little smaller than the bottom of the pan.

Line the parchment paper (wax paper) on the bottom of the round cake pan.

Then flour the cake pane.

If you’re using palm sugar you must grate it.

Combine the eggs and sugar in a bowl.
Beat on high speed with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment for 8 minutes, with a handheld mixer for about 20 minutes, or by hand using a bowl and balloon whisk for about 12 minutes, or until the ribbon stage.

Carefully transfer the egg mixture to a large bowl.

Fold in the flour by sifting it over the beaten eggs and folding with a rubber spatula.

In a smaller bowl, fold together the melted butter and about one-fifth of the egg mixture.

Fold the butter-egg mixture into the egg mixture in the larger bowl.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and gently smooth the top with an offset spatula.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the cake bounces back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Let cool for 5minutes in the cake pan and then turn out onto a cake rake.

I’ve used a Professional-style buttercream- and Italian meringue buttercream frosting to spread in between the layers and on the top of the cake.

I’ll write about the frosting in another posting.

Bon appetite!

He is here!!!

My little brother has arrived!

Michael Jonathan Lues was born Friday morning 01:40.

Michael weighed a healthy 4.38Kg.

His a big baby!

My mom had a birth at home with a midwife in the birth pool.

His is the most beautiful baby!

My mom and Michael are both doing well.

My parents only woke CJ 15, myself, Josua 9 and Danika 6

Look at little Danika’s face!

The midwife Sister Jenny

My mom dressing little Michael

Daniel (17 months) now a big brother!

I also gave my mom the Baby card.

I did not forget….. the banner “IT’S A BOY” with blue balloons.

I will write more later!

Crafty Greetings

Friday Sketchers Challenges

This week I wanted to make my dad a thank you card. My dad bought us (my mom and I) a few kitchen tools and a new stove!

So I used the Friday Sketchers Challenges lay out for my dad’s card.

This is a Magnolia stamp (already stamped on paper) that the lady of Stampin 'Piper (Tanja) send to me with a few other goodies as my prize when I won her blog hop challenges a few weeks ago. I will write more on this in another post. For the finishing touches, I glazed the spoon and egg lifter, put glitter on the stamp and a little title in the upper left hand corner.

Have a lovely weekend

Crafty greetings

Making Cloth Nappies For The New Baby

When babies are breastfed they become windy, and you need to wind them. With the winds they may burp a little milk and then you smell bad the entire day!

So we took cloth nappies and decorated them to put over our shoulders.

Me sewing on our normal sewing machine.

The boy’s cloth nappies

The Girl’s cloth nappies
We gave them to a material shop to embroid pictures on.

Then my mom and I sewed a border around the edges of the cloth nappies.

All the different colours and patterns make it so beautiful!

We can’t wait for the next week to pass until baby arrives!

Have a blessed week.

Crafty Greetings

Friday Sketchers Challenge

I did another Friday Sketchers Challenge this week.

I made the card for our new baby, this time one for a Boy.

(My previous card was for a Girl.)

I used my Sugar Nellie stamp, “Daisy with Pram”

There is some pink on the paper, but I could not find baby blue paper.

For the finishing touches I used buttons, a blue flower, a blue bow and glitter on the stamp.

I love taking part in the Friday Sketchers Challenge and hope to do it many more times!

Crafty Greetings

Making Banners For The New Baby

As I said before, we are expecting our new baby in the next 2 weeks!

We usually hang pink or blue balloons outside so that our neighbours know when baby is born.

This time we made banners that says “IT’S A GIRL” and “IT’S A BOY”

A few minuets after baby is born (if it is not the middle of the night) we hang the balloons, and this time the banners too, in front of our house.

We make the banners as follows:

Take a piece of paper of your choice.

Fold one corner in.

Cut off the long rectangle piece.

I used a cutter, but you can use a scissor too,

So that it forms a triangle.

Print your title on a computer in big and thick letters.

Then cut them out with a scissor.

I cut the letters out so that there is a little white edge.

Lay out the letters on to the triangles.

Put one letter on each triangle.

Then glue the letters onto the triangle.

Measure the length of all the triangles and make the ribbon a little longer.

Don’t forget to let pieces hang from each side, you need this to tie your banner to a pole or were you want to.

Put glue on the inside of the triangle.

Place the ribbon carefully inside.

(Make sure there is glue on the fold, so that the ribbon sticks to the triangle)

Then close the triangle, and press hard.

And there you go!

Me (Heidi 12 years)

David (3 years)

Andrew (4 years)

Danika (6 years)

Crafty Greetings

Friday Sketchers challenge

I always make a welcoming card for the new baby in our family!

Since we do not know if the baby is a boy or girl, I make both a blue and a pink card.

I decided to use the Friday Sketchers challenge lay out, to make a Girl card.

I used my rubber stamp “Daisy with pram” form my Sugar Nellie collection.
I took normal paper flowers and glittered them with “Stickles” glitter glue.

I was one of the 7 winners of the Friday Sketchers blog hop!

I will tell you more about this, as soon as I receive my prize candy!!

Crafty Greetings

Croquet baby number 8’s blankets

When my mom is halfway pregnant she starts to croquet the baby’s blankets. This makes the blanket pretty and makes it last longer.

With this baby my mom taught me how to do it!

So I did the first row croquet around the sides but I struggled with the second row.

So my mom suggested that I do the first and she would do the second layer.

Here I did the first layer.

And my mom the final layer.

Here are a few blankets and towels that we made!

My parents never make use of an ultra sound to see if the baby is a boy or a girl.

So we have pink, blue, green, white and yellow clothes.

Here my mom wrote more about the baby on her blog.

I always help my mom wash the baby’s clothes, towels and blankets!

We always wash the baby’s clothes because it gets full of dust in the boxes and in the shops.

The washing line full of baby clothes, towels and blankets!

We are so looking forward to having the new baby!

They are so cute, with tiny hands and feet!!

I can’t wait!

Have a blessed week!

Crafty greetings.