American Style Chocolate Sponge

American style Chocolate sponge

Adapted from Buddy Valastro's (Cake Boss) original recipe

3 1/2 dl (100 ml) of cake flour (for every dl of normal flour you remove 1 Tbsp and add 1 Tbsp of cornstarch, sieved together a few times - in this case you remove 3 1/2 Tbsp's)

3 1/2 dl of sugar

115 grams of room-tempered butter

80 ml of cocoa butter

1 tsp baking soda(bicarbonate of soda)

1/4 of a tsp baking powder

Approximately 1 dl or 100 g of melted chocolate (I would use a darker one)

1 1/5 dl or 120 ml of hot water

4-5 eggs (depending on size) room-tempered

1 1/5 dl buttermilk (I would measure up just over 1 dl of normal full fat milk and add 10 ml of white vinegar, let stand until it looks split)

Start by prepping your ingredients. For me this makes the whole process enjoyable to have everything ready. Make your cake flour if you don't already have it at home, make your buttermilk, and melt your chocolate. Also prepare your tins. In this case use 2x 9" or 24 cm cake tins. I went ahead and did what you aren't supposed to... I messed with the sizes and used all different sizes since I didn't need 3x 24 cm cakes, but 1x 12 cm, 1x 15 cm and 1x 20 cm. I can't honestly say I recommend it, but it worked fine, I just had to keep an eye on them. When I did use this recipe with a 24 cm tin I STILL had to keep an eye on them as you don't want them to be overdone.

Right, so now you are ready to start.

Heat the oven to 175 Celsius or 350 Fahrenheit.

Add flour, sugar, butter, cocoa, baking powder and soda to the bowl of a tabletop mixer with the "K" attachment or aka paddle attachment, an electric handmixer would work brilliantly as well. If you are like me, not liking four everywhere and don't have a cover for your mixer than use a towel around it or start by kneading the butter into the rest so that it gets dispersed more evenly before turning your mixer to low. I usually mix until it has a sandy consistency, this usually takes approximately 1 min. If you have lumps that just wont disperse, stop the mixer and knead it with your fingers and then turn back on.

Turn off before adding the melted chocolate, mix until incorporated (maybe a min.) then pour in the hot water slowly while the motor is still going. Stop to scrape the sides and bottom with a rubber spatula. Then add one egg at a time waiting with the next one till the first is completely incorporated. Once they are all added once again stop and scrape sides with spatula, mix for a little while longer just to make sure (a min or so). With the mixer still on low-medium speed add the buttermilk or vinegar-milk and mix for a min or so to make sure it's all incorporated. I would once again scrape the sides and makes sure it's all mixed. 

Before you throw them in the oven, make sure the batter is at around 21-23 degrees Celsius. This will prevent it from crowning (the ugly mountain that can appear in the middle).

Bake for approximately 30 min. But for me it has always been more like 35-40. So I usually say CHECK on it at 30. The cake is supposed to feel springy to the touch, or a toothpick should come out clean after poked through the middle. 

Cool in the tins until COMPLETELY cool, I usually cover with a cloth to ensure they don't dry out in the process. when you turn them out you can sprinkle with sugar as to prevent sticking.

I want to reiterate, this is different than the original recipe, but  it is what has worked best for me! 

Good Luck!

J.