Fiction To Sink Your Teeth Into, a feature from author and professional chef Rohan O’Duill!

This is my first baking recipe for Night Beats and I have kept it to a very simple sponge cake. However, you really need a stand mixer for this recipe.

Serves 6, unless you need a sugar rush and stuff the whole thing in your face.

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g self raising flour
• 20g butter melted
• 40g jam raspberry or strawberry
• Icing sugar to dust

Equipment

• Stand mixer and a spring form cake tin, sieve, spatula and parchment paper

Method

• Put the eggs and sugar into the mixing bowl and whisk on high for 3 or 4 minutes until the mix is at a sabayon stage. That means that if you left the whisk and move it in a figure of eight motion that the imprint lasts until you get back to the start.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer and add in the sieved flour and melted butter while folding it in slowly. Folding is a gentle movement where you move the spatula around the edge of the bowl and then move it to the centre. After a minute all the flour should be folded in.
• Line the base of the springform tin with parchment paper and pour in the cake mix.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180C (350F) for 20-25 min. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
• Once cool, cut the cake in half horizontally and fill with jam. You could also add cream if you were feeling luxurious.
• Sprinkle icing sugar on top using a sieve and serve with a nice cuppa tea.