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Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas celebration and a wonderful start to 2017. What are your New Years’ resolutions?
In 2017, I hope to breathe extra life into Eat, Little Bird. What started out as a little hobby where I could share my favourite recipes and dabble in some food photography has, over the past five years, blossomed into a successful creative venture and I am excited to push the boundaries a bit further in 2017.
My first goal is to publish more regularly, with 1-2 new recipes every week!
Since my youngest child started attending daycare late last year (for only a few days a week), this has allowed me to focus more on the blog, and the feedback I have received so far is that you are all enjoying the regular new stream of recipes 🙂
And it makes sense – my goal is that each time you visit this website, you will find new posts and recipes to enjoy.
Recipes on Eat, Little Blog
The Recipe Index has also been updated with a new search function to allow you to more easily look for recipes by meal type, cuisine, and even by ingredient!
In the past few months, several readers have contacted me with recipe requests, and nothing delights me more than to hear from my readers and any suggestions they might have for this blog.
The blog is, after all, for you to enjoy, so if you have any ideas or recipe suggestions, or even your own recipes which you wish to share, I would love to hear from you!
Vanilla Sponge Cake with Mascarpone Frosting
To celebrate the start of 2017, I thought it would be fitting to share one of my favourite cake recipes – a Vanilla Sponge Cake with Mascarpone Frosting.
The cake in the photos is what I made for the family to celebrate my son’s birthday a few months ago.
He had a little party with his friends for afternoon tea, and had requested the same chocolate Dinosaur Cake which I had made for him the previous year.
So for the evening, I wanted to make something a bit different (and less sugary!), but still celebratory.
Mascarpone Frosting Recipe
This recipe for Vanilla Sponge Cake is one I turn to most often when I just want to make a plain cake but jazz it up with a Mascarpone Frosting or other fancy icing.
When I first made this Vanilla Sponge Cake, I used to cover it simply with whipped cream. I since added mascarpone to make it creamer and to give it more stability, thus making it easier to spread on the cake, especially around the sides.
How to Decorate a Vanilla Sponge Cake
I make this Vanilla Sponge Cake most frequently in summer when I will simply cover it with freshly whipped cream and decorate it with sweet strawberries or other seasonal fruits.
My son happens to love physalis berries, which are pretty much the only berries worth eating at the moment where we live, but you can decorate this cake however you like.
I once made this cake for a birthday party and simply decorated it with coloured sprinkles – the kids absolutely loved it!
The chocolate frosting from my Easy Chocolate Cake recipe would work great here, as well as a cream-cheese frosting.
What I especially love about this Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe is that it is dairy-free, so the sponge is very light and fluffy. It reminds me of the sponge cakes that you can find in Chinese or other Asian bakeries, and maybe that is why I like this recipe so much – it’s a cake which I was fond of eating as a child.
How did my son like this Vanilla Sponge Cake compared to the chocolate Dinosaur Cake? He ate every crumb and asked for more ❤
Vanilla Sponge Cake with Mascarpone Frosting
Ingredients
For the Sponge Cakes
- 6 eggs
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 200 g (7 oz) caster sugar, (superfine sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 200 g (7 oz) plain flour, (all-purpose flour) sifted
- 5 g (1 teaspoon) baking powder
For the Mascarpone Frosting
- 250 ml (1 cup) double cream, (heavy cream)
- 250 g (9 oz) mascarpone
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To Decorate
- berries, such as strawberries, raspberries or Physalis berries, or simply use sprinkles
Instructions
To Make the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F (without fan).
- Butter and line two 20cm/8 inch round cake pans with baking paper.
- Separate the eggs.
- Place the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer, and place the egg yolks into a separate mixing bowl (preferably a second bowl of a stand mixer).
- Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and whisk until stiff peaks form.
- Add the sugar and vanilla to the egg yolks and beat gently.
- Fold the flour and baking powder through the egg yolk mixture.
- Gently fold through the whisked eggwhites into the batter, a few large scoops at a time.
- Pour the batter into both cake tins evenly.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cakes are lightly golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Leave the cakes to cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes before removing them from the cake tins.
- Let the cakes cool completely before icing the cake.
To Make the Mascarpone Frosting
- Whisk the cream until it is softly whipped.
- Add the mascarpone and vanilla extract.
- Continue whisking until the mixture is thick enough to ice the cake.
To Assemble to Cake
- Place one cake on a serving plate or cake stand.
- Place four thick strips of baking paper underneath. The baking paper is to keep the serving plate or cake stand clean whilst you frost the cake.
- Generously spread about ⅓ of the frosting over the top of the cake.
- Place the second cake on top.
- Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake.
- Carefully remove the strips of baking paper.
- Decorate the cake with fruit of your choice. The cake is also lovely simply decorated with coloured sprinkles.
Kitchen Notes
- OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly. - CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
the cake looks so lovely!
sounds delicious too – I’ve never even seen a physalis berry (I had to google them), but they sound yummy too 🙂
Thanks, Vickie! These berries are not so commonly available, but they seem to be quite popular in desserts in the winter where we live. My son has a soft spot for all berries, including these ones!
This cake looks like pure cake perfection – so light and summery 🙂 The dinosaur cake is hecka adorable too.
Aww thank you 🙂 My son keeps asking for another dinosaur cake soon!
What a beautiful cake, Thanh! Love the gorgeous way you topped it. I can imagine how delightful the texture of this cake was too. Looking forward to more of your wonderful recipes and stunning photography <3
Thank you, Beeta! I absolutely love this cake. Maybe you’ve had something similar if you are familiar with French cakes? I look forward to more of your lovely recipes too 🙂
Not only is this cake absolutely gorgeous, it sound incredible too. My son loves dinosaurs so he would have loved that!
Thanks, Megan! The dinosaur cake has been a hit two years in a row … it will be funny if he asks for it again next year 😉
This is the most beautiful cake ever! What are those leaves that you’ve decorated it with? They are just stunning. My efforts at cake decorating look so pedestrian compared to yours. I bow to the master!
The cake is decorated with Physalis berries 🙂
Love your dinosaur cake 🙂 I need to get creative like that for my son who loves dinos. I love marscapone as a frosting! So light and fluffy!
Thank you! The dinosaur cake is easier than it looks … or it is certainly easier the second time around! 😉
Beautiful cake. The top of your cake are called ground cherries where I grew up. They sure are beautiful atop beautiful!
Oh I didn’t know they had another name! Much easier to remember than Physalis 🙂 They are certainly very beautiful for decorating cakes.
That cake is absolutely gorgeous! Tomorrow is my friend’s 22nd birthday and I want to bake her a cake. I think that I will try this but I need to buy eggs to make this, as I don’t think that I have 6 eggs at the moment. Bookmarking to try tomorrow. Thanks!
The eggs help the sponge to rise. Hope you will enjoy this recipe!
#CakeGoals. And blog posting goals! Good job! Daycare is hard at first, but the freedom it gives is so great!
Oh I agree! My daughter wasn’t settling in very well at first, so that made it a bit more difficult to leave her there. But she only goes 2 days a week to daycare, and I think she is slowly understanding that it’s time for her to play, make friends and explore 🙂
I’m obsessed with how beautiful this cake is. The decoration on the top is so gorgeous and rustic and amazing!
Thanks, Alyssa!
I made this cake on the weekend and decorated with fresh strawberries. It was perfect! Thank you!
Can’t wait to try this one! Please give me a piece! This is absolutely fantastic!!!
Hi, I would like to make a strawberry chiffon cake for my father’s birthday. I can’t seem to find a good one or there’s no recipe for one. Please help. Thank you ?
Hi Abbey,
Sorry but I don’t have a recipe for a chiffon cake … yet. It is one of my favourite cakes! But I do have a recipe for an Angel Cake which will hopefully be published shortly.
Has anyone done this cake? How much sugar in the frosting? And why do we mix egg yolks with sugar and flour for a thick mess?
Hi Kate,
There is no sugar in this frosting – it is just cream and mascarpone. But if you want to sweeten it, you could add some caster sugar (superfine sugar) to taste, maybe a few tablespoons. This cake recipe uses beaten egg whites to give the cake its fluffy texture and height. That’s why the egg yolks are mixed separately with the other ingredients.