Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Sponge Cake
- Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Place your parchment paper on the baking sheet and then grease the parchment.
- Time to grab your mixer and clean it out with some vinegar to get any grease off and put the eggs whites in. Whisk on high speed until they are foamy. Turn your mixer down to medium-high and slowly add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and mix until you see medium peaks (hold the whisk upright and it should bend slightly but not fall off. Transfer the egg whites to another bowl.
- Now it's time to add the egg yolks (you can just wipe out the same mixing bowl and use), 1/2 cup granulated sugar and lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Whisk the mixture on high speed for 2-3 minutes until it looks light and creamy.
- With a spatula, add 1/3 of the egg white mix into the egg yolk mix and gently mix together. Add the remaining egg white in two other parts. Make sure to do this part very gently so you don't deflate the egg whites.
- Sprinkle in the cake flour in 4 parts, very gently mixing the batter as you go. Pour the batter into your baking pan and spread it as evenly as you can on the tray, making sure the whole tray is covered.
- Place the pan into the oven and let the sponge bake for 10-12 minutes, or until it is slightly golden on top and springs back to your touch.
- Use a kitchen towel and sprinkle it with powdered sugar (using a fine mesh strainer) so the whole thing has a light dusting. Once you remove the cake from the over, wait about 3 minutes and then flip the sponge onto the kitchen towel. Roll the sponge from the shorter side making sure the sponge doesn't touch itself and the towel is in between the sponge and you roll. Let the sponge fully cool rolled up (about an hour).
Swiss Merengue
- Make sure bowl and tools are wiped down with white vinegar or lemon juice to get any grease off.
- Separate the eggs and put the egg whites in your heat proof mixing bowl. Add your sugar to the egg whites and put the bowl over a saucepan on the stove that has around 2 inches of water simmering (use about a medium heat). Whisk the egg whites and sugar until the sugar is dissolved, you can take a pinch and you won't feel any graininess or use a thermometer and get the temp to 160 °F
- Transfer the mixture to your stand mixer and start mixing with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed. Continue beating until it forms stiff glossy peaks and the bowl is no longer warm to the touch. This may take from 10-30 minutes. If it feels like it's taking forever you can either add ice packs around the bowl while it's mixing or throw the bowl in the fridge for 15 minutes and then start whisking again.
- Swap to a paddle attachment to start mixing in the butter. Make sure the buttercream isn't hotter than 70 °F or you will most likely melt the butter and it won't turn out. Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and slowly add the soft butter 1 tbsp at a time until it's all mixed in. Then turn the mixer to medium speed and add in the vanilla and salt. Mix an additional 30 seconds.
- Your merengue will be silky, delicious, and ready to use! You can store any left overs in the fridge and when you go to use it again, just mix it again for a minute or two.
Homemade Jam
- Take 2 cups of raspberries and put them into a small saucepan. Over high head, slowly start smashing the raspberries with a potato masher as it's heating up. Once the raspberries are at your desired chunkiness, you can let the juice boil for about 45 seconds to get the excess water out.
- Pour the 1/2 to 3/4 cup (depending on how sweet you want it) of sugar in and stir continuously. This will take several minutes for the jam to start getting thicker, once it looks thicker you can take a cool spoon and dip it inside the jam. If it comes up and is a thick slow drip from the spoon you can turn the heat off and transfer the jam to a heat proof bowl and let it cool before use.