BISCUIT SPONGE CAKE

Athens Royal palace and gardens (The Illustrated London News) 1877

 

The source of today's featured recipe was influenced by the French cuisine. Nikolaos Tselementes (1878-1958) was a famous Greek master chef trained in Vienna and later employed in the U.S.A. He authored Οδηγός Μαγειρικής και Ζαχαροπλαστικής, the first modern Greek cookbook in 1930, introducing his readers to delicious stuff that was not always enjoyed by the lovers of tradition. Some of these recipes were not healthy by today's standards, especially as the French cuisine used a lot of animal fat but there were secrets in Tselementes you couldn't find elsewhere.

In the section of Desserts, there were various recipes for sponge cakes. The first two were dedicated to old-fashioned methods, one for experienced cooks who separated their eggs and one for beginners who didn't. The ingredients were beaten by hand. In the walnut version of the biscuit sponge cake, the instructions were to fill a pan with hot water, place a bowl inside and fill the bowl with eggs plus sugar that you must whisk for 20 minutes. I skipped the hard work and used my electric mixer instead, following a tip from another recipe: to gradually reduce the speed - in order to avoid deflating the eggs. I may also have used the wrong size of pan because the centre of my sponge was underbaked. So part of the lovely cake was disposed of and the rest was used in a pudding. Despite the problems, however, making traditional sponge cake was really fun.

 

 

BISCUIT SPONGE CAKE

I n g r e d i e n t s

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup ground walnuts

8 eggs

1 1/4 cups sugar

1tsp vanilla extract 

 

M e t h o d

1. Beat the eggs with the sugar over a double boiler for 15-20 minutes, adding the vanilla last. 2. Whisk in the flour and nuts at intervals, pouring over the liquid ingredients like rain. 3. Transfer on a baking sheet covered with greased paper and bake in a medium oven until golden brown. Alternatively, use a 28cm (or larger) round baking pan. 4. Leave to cool, then dust with powdered sugar or cut horizontally to use in a layered cake.