There were some left over egg whites in the fridge from when I made a cake for work, and my mom had just asked me to do something with them while her and my dad went golfing. “Make a sponge cake or something” she says. So I start hunting for a good sponge cake recipe. And of course I can’t find any, and I lost the one I used to use all the time. It was absolutely perfect and such a shame I can not find it anymore. Anyways, I settle on a recipe I find, and the only review it has is 1 out of 5. (I didn’t even notice this until the cake was in the oven.) It calls for 12 egg whites and 8 or 9 egg yolks. I only have 4 egg whites in the fridge, and I know there are only a few more eggs in the fridge, so I only use 4 eggs, making in total 8 egg whites and 4 egg yolks. I follow the recipe and while doing so, decide I don’t want a boring old plain favoured cake. So into the egg white mixture I add some coconut. And in the egg yolk mixture I beat in some lemon juice. And before putting the batter in the pan, I put some raspberries on the bottom. I spoon in the batter, and sink a few more raspberries into that. I put it in the oven and wait. In the meantime, I decide that the lemon flavour probably won’t be strong enough. I only want a light flavour of lemon though, but I only put a small amount of lemon juice in the batter itself. So I decide to make a syrup to brush over the cake when it comes out of the oven. I throw some sugar, lemon juice, and raspberries in a pot and put it on the stove over medium heat. Let it come to a gentle simmer, and then strain out the raspberries and the seeds. Leaving only the most beautiful light pink coloured syrup I have ever seen. I not only want the lemon and subtle raspberry flavour to soak into the cake, but I also want that beautiful colour. It’s so pretty!
I sit around, playing solitaire, petting the dog, painting my nails while waiting for the cake to be done. I can smell it, and good god does it smell good. I can only hope that it tastes as good as it smells. What I do know though is that the syrup tastes really, really, amazingly good. And I am proud of myself for not using a recipe to make it! haha.
So the cake finally comes out of the oven, and of course I have to wait a little bit longer for it to cool a bit. I give it half an hour, I can’t wait any longer. And I turn the cake out of the pan. It looks good. Didn’t sink like the person who reviewed the recipe said. The raspberries on the top look pretty. I cut myself a piece (of course! who else would try it to make sure it doesn’t taste like crap before I feed it to my family.) and put some of the lemon/raspberry sauce on top. Sprinkle it with a bit of icing sugar, and dig in. The texture is good. The cake itself is lacking flavour (maybe coconut extract next time and omit the lemon? yum!) but with the raspberries and coconut inside as well as the syrup on top, overall the cake is pretty damn good.
♥Taro
Kevin & Taro 