Sponge Cake with Fresh Fruit and Cream

Preparation:

1. Before you begin, place a Large steel bowl, as well as your wire whisk in the freezer for 15-20 minutes (for whipping the cream). (If you live in a very cold climate or are working in air-conditioned spaces, this is not required).
2. Keep the whipping cream chilled (in the fridge) till ready to use.
3. Take out the eggs from the fridge. Separate the whites and yolks into separate bowls while the eggs are cold. Make sure there's no trace of yellow in the white. Cover and set aside. Allow to come down to room temperature.
4. Put the 1 cup sugar for the cake in a food processor and process for 30 seconds - 1 minute to create a fine granulated sugar: a must for our light-as-air cake. Don't powder it though. Set aside.
5. Sift the Cake flour and salt together repeatedly for 3 times. First sift, using a wire sieve into a wide bowl. Then drop onto waxed lunch paper or parchment paper and use this paper to easily drop the flour back into the sieve. Repeat this process two more times(Refer to Video). Set aside.
6. Mix the oil, juice, and water solution as well as vanilla extract in a cup and set aside, allowing to bring to room temperature.

Make the whipped cream :

1. In a small cup, combine gelatin and cool water. Let stand briefly until thickened.
2. Microwave just until the gelatin dissolves (about 30 s -1 m) OR Melt on low heat in a saucepan.
3. Cool for 3 minutes.
4. Then, stir in ½ cup of the chilled cream and allow to cool off COMPLETELY in the fridge; for about 5 minutes (do not allow to set into jelly- it should thicken but remain pourable).
5. Take out the cold mixing bowl and whisk from the freezer. To this, add the remaining chilled cream + the icing sugar and Whip until slightly thick. (Start at a slow speed to avoid sugar dust).
6. While slowly beating, add the Gelatin-Cream mixture (start on low speed slowly increasing to prevent kitchen splatter!)
7. Whip at high speed until stiff. (Once soft peaks start forming you will need to watch carefully. Do not walk away! You might even want to whisk by hand to finish off. Stop when you achieve the correct consistency OR you will make butter not whipped cream!!!) Refrigerate till ready to use.

On to the Cake:

1. Preheat the oven now to 350°F /180ºc
2. Beat the egg yolks with the fine granulated sugar that we had set aside. Beat until very pale yellow in color and ribbon-like streaks are created when lifted. Set aside
3. In another large bowl, using a hand mixer with a wire whisk attachment, (make sure there is absolutely no residue from the previous cooking on the bowl or whisk. It should be sterile and dry for best results.) Beat the Egg Whites till foamy. Add the creme of tartar. Continue beating till soft peaks form. At this point, it's better to continue beating by hand till stiff peaks occur (do not overbeat).
4. Give the oil-juice mixture that we set aside a good stir. Add this to the Yolk Mixture. Stir to incorporate.
5. Now add the sifted flour mixture into this yolk-oil mixture, a little at a time till all the flour is evenly incorporated.
6. Lastly, add the whipped egg white and fold into the flour batter. This should be done with a plastic spatula or whisk, folding in the egg white quite quickly without over mixing (IMPORTANT). Also, make sure there is no thick yolk mixture at the bottom of the bowl. Fold in gently but quickly till all the egg white is used. (A little bit of white lines is okay but no thick bits of yellow!) Divide & Pour into 2 (UNGREASED, ALUMINUM) cake pans equally (eyeball it).
7. Pat gently on the countertop move from side to side and pat again to remove air bubbles.
8. Bake 30-35 minutes or till the center is set.
9. Remove from oven and INVERT onto elevated Wire racks. (This will prevent the cake from sinking and help to cool off from the bottom; a good way to elevate is to place the wire racks atop kitchen colanders or baskets.)

Decorate:

1. While the cakes are baking you can cut up and slice the fruits for filling and toppings.
2. Once the cakes are cooled completely, use a sharp knife to go around the edge of the pans to release the cake onto flat plates. Slice each cake into two using a broad serrated knife. (I find the plastic serrated cake knife you get along with birthday cakes works well for this purpose if you don't have a professional one.)
3. Mix the chopped fruit into some of the whipped cream (reserve the rest plain for the topping on the sides and top of the cake).
4. Spread a thin layer of this fruit cream topping on the bottom cake slice. Repeat this with the next two layers of cake.
5. Then place the top-most layer of cake and start to frost the top and sides with the remaining (plain) whipped cream. Use plastic smooth or ridge-edged cake decorators to go around the edges or an offset spatula.
6. Decorate with some piped whip cream and some sliced fruits.
7. Enjoy your Sponge Cake with Fresh Fruit and Cream.