For Valentine’s Day this year I wanted to bake a special cake for my family to enjoy so I waited till my children were all at school and college and my husband was stuck in front of his computers before I set about baking on Monday morning.
I chose to bake a génoise sponge as I love making these but never get asked to make them – maybe because I don’t advertise them on my webshop but hey ho it is my own fault really. The génoise sponge is so much lighter and airy than a traditional sponge cake. However, due to no fat in the recipe the génoise sponge does not stay fresh for very long. There is a recipe for this type of sponge in my recipe book if you want to give it a try. Here is the link for Baking at its Best : A Year of Baking by V.Dale if you would like to grab yourself a copy. In fact, for this whole week until the 25th February my books are on offer and if like me you like to have paperback copies of recipe books then they are reduced in price too.
Whilst the sponges were baking I sliced up and dipped the strawberry pieces in chocolate and sprinkles. Once the sponges were cooling on the rack I whipped up the double cream ready for piping and proceeded to fill the cake with strawberry jam and sliced strawberries which I covered with the freshly whipped cream before adding the second layer of sponge.
To decorate the top if the cake I adorned with more fresh cream, the dipped strawberry slices and then drizzled with melted dark and white chocolate. It looked amazing but it tasted even better. so much nicer than a gateau in a restaurant – not manufactured in a factory but in my own kitchen, Perfect with a glass of bubbly or a cup of tea!!
For the rest of this week I have plenty to keep myself busy before the half term holiday arrives for my children. We don’t have much planned as both my husband and myself are working so it will just be a chillaxing week for the children. 🙂