Orange vanilla cake with greek yogurt & mandarin orange filling.

This past week have mostly been hazy. Singapore has been engulfed in haze and it does look like we are living in a constant smokey barbecue. I'm more than happy to spend all of my time outside of work, hiding at home away from the haze to catch up on my tv shows, books and to look up new recipes to try in the next few weekends.

Last weekend, I had a request to bake a simple cake. The first thing that come to my mind was my favourite sponge cake recipe. I could eat half of this without getting sick because it's so light as it's made without butter or oil. 

I also love how versatile it is because you can throw it any additional ingredients/fillings/toppings you want and it would be something totally different each time. I used this same cake recipe to make a fancier strawberry charlotte a few weeks back.



For the sponge cake:
butter/oil for greasing
50g plain flour
3.5 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs separated
165g caster sugar
*flavourings like vanilla, lemon zest, orange zest can be added in after step 4
1. heat the oven to 180 degree celsius, line the base/sides of 2 x 20cm cake pans
2. sieve all the flours and baking powder together
3. using a electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until stiff and add in the sugar, beat the egg yolks separately and add into the mixture
4. fold the dry ingredients into the mixture until well mixed
5. spoon the mixture into the cake tins, level them properly
6. bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and well risen and skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle

For the filling:

290g of canned mandarin oranges, strained
3 tbsp of Greek yogurt
honey

1.  Mix the oranges, yogurt and honey together
2. Slowly spread the mixture on the first layer of the cake and then place the second piece of the cake to finish assembling it