Sponge Layer Cake with Jam

I recently received two fantastic books for mother's day. One is the Baking Bible; From the Oven to the Table and the other, 1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & Other Tempting Treats. Bored and wanting to try something out I picked out a recipe from the Baking Bible for Sponge Layer Cake.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
pinch of salt
3 tbsp raspberry jam
1 tbsp confectioners' sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease 2 8" cake pans and line with wax or parchment paper. (I greased and floured them and they did fine)

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl using a wooden spoon or handheld mixer until the batter is pale in color and light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition

Sift the flour and salt together into a separate bowl and carefully add to the batter, folding it in with a spatula.

Divide the batter between the pans and smooth over with a spatula. (the batter is very thick)

Place pans in the center of the oven and back for 25-30 minutes until well risen, golden brown and beginning to shrink from the sides of the pan.

Remove from the oven and let stand 1 minute.

Loosen the cakes from around the edge of the pans using a palette knife. Turn the cakes out onto a clean dish towel, remove paper and invert the cakes onto a wire rack.

When completely cool, sandwich together the cakes with jam and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.


Well, this turned out good, but it didn't look like the picture. I had 9" cake pans instead of 8" for one so my cakes were bigger but thinner. Also, I didn't use "self-rising" flour. I thought it wasn't really important, but it is. My cakes were so flat! Whoops. Lesson learned. At least it still tasted good. I bet it would be even more delish if I had actually followed the directions.

In other news, I must admit that I have a slight obsession with Chai tea. Now that it's hot out I love it iced but it's so STINKIN expensive. Seriously, $3.60 for a grande? Ouch. So, thrifty as I am I bought a whole box of Tazo Chai tea at target on sale (for under $3, and decaf I might add!) made a small pitcher at home and pour it over ice and milk. I had a delightful cup of iced chai at my house that was just as good as Starbucks for the cost of less than fifty cents. 

Yummo.

To the Moms out there...

I found this great website that I wanted to share! It's http://www.ontobaby.com

Really cute stuff and a very well done site. This baby shower is especially cute.

And I have another confession to make. Well two confessions.

The first one is I apologize to those parents that get rid of their pets after they have a baby. I used to judge. I used to think, "then why even get a pet?" Yeah, and now I get it. They are dirty, they take up time and money and wake up the baby pretty much every. single. day. There's been more than once that I've wanted to dismember my dogs little bodies and bury them in the backyard. A little harsh? Maybe, but after you've spent a whole day just trying to get a grumpy little girl to nap and then they bark at the neighbor playing basketball in his front yard and wake her up... Yeah. Madness ensues.

My second confession is a baking confession. I don't know how to make french toast. I mean, I know the ingredients but every time I try to make it, it comes out gooey and undercooked in the center. I have trouble shot a few times and I still don't know what I'm doing. So if there are any french toast ninjas out there please share your secrets with me. I will love you forever.