Examin-cake-sion

Who doesn’t like cake? Even Latvia’s entry to this year’s Eurovision was all about this sweet, fluffy and tasty food! It is a wide misconception to think cakes are hard to bake and it takes up a long time. But we are here to prove that wrong.

Yes, baking a beautiful cake might take patience and expertise, but if you just want some cake to satisfy your sweet tooth, it feels more like a science experiment. Essentially it’s just mixing, measuring and shoving the whole thing into the oven! Here are two easy and tasty recipes, which can be made with just a few cupboard ingredients.

The Magic Custard Cake

The magic comes with 3 layers of this bake, with just one batter!

Ingredients

Four medium eggs

One tsp lemon juice

150g caster sugar

110g unsalted butter, melted

120g plain flour

480ml whole milk

One orange

Preheat an oven to 160°C and line a deep baking tray or a cake tin with baking paper. Separate the eggs and whisk the whites to a stiff peak with a tiny drop of lemon juice. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and one tablespoon of warm water for a couple of minutes then add the melted butter and zest of the orange and mix again.

Sieve in the flour and stir through the milk, then fold in the egg whites (in two batches), until evenly combined.

Pour the batter into the baking tin and cook for 50-60 minutes until the top is golden and puffed and the middle is set but with a generous wobble.

Allow to cool completely (at least three to four hours) before slicing into the cake.

Green Tea Cake

(if you want something lighter)

Ingredients

Three large eggs

85 g sugar

Three tbsps vegetable oil

Four tbsp water

75 g cake flour

One heaped tbsp matcha powder

One tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 170°C. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and add ⅓ of the sugar. Then add oil and water in the mixture and mix it all together until combined.

Sift cake flour, matcha and baking powder together and add to the egg yolk mixture in three batches. Whisk until there are no lumps.

Whip the egg whites until opaque and foamy, then add ⅓ of the remaining sugar and continue whipping. Add the remaining sugar slowly in small increments until stiff peaks

Pull up your whisk and see if you can make a strong ‘peak’ to check if the mixture is stiff enough. It should stay up still without bending down.

Fold in the beaten egg whites into the flour mixture using spatula until the colour is consistent in the mixture.

Pour the mixture into a greased cake pan and tap it a few times on the kitchen top to release the air bubbles.

Bake for 30 minutes or until when you put a skewer in, it comes out clean.