Strawberry sponge cake

There’s something ethereal about a slice of strawberry cake—light, delicate, and just sweet enough. Usually it’s made with a classic sponge and fresh strawberries. But what if strawberries aren’t in season?? This is a strawberry cake recipe through and through – right down to the tender fluffy crumb. I promise you, this recipe might become your new go-to because who has the time to pulverise strawberries..especially if they’re particularly sour! It uses the tang mian method (also known as the cooked flour method) to create an exceptionally soft crumb, and infuses a bright strawberry flavour using freeze-dried strawberry powder.

What is the Tang Mian Method?

The tang mian (燙面) method is a baking technique where flour is briefly heated with hot oil or butter before combining with other ingredients. Heating the flour with hot oil causes the starch granules in the flour to swell and burst slightly, a process known as gelatinisation. This changes the flour’s structure, making it more able to absorb moisture and hold onto it during baking. It reduces gluten formation – helping the cake to retain more moisture…and creating that ethereal bite of cake with a finer crumb, with a moist and fluffy texture.

If fruit cakes are your jam, try your hand at the lemon cake with cream cheese icing – it is DIVINE. If you give the strawberry sponge cake a go, tag @ultimateomnoms on Instagram so I feature your beautiful creation!

Fluffy strawberry cake

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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Egg yolk mixture

• 65 g oil
• 200 ml milk
• 50 g sugar
• 180 g cake flour
• 2 tsp freeze dried strawberry powder
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Egg white mixture

• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• 130 g sugar
• 6 egg whites

Method

 

1. Heat the oil in a small saucepan using low-med heat. Sift in the cake flour, strawberry powder and mix
2. Add the milk, sugar and mix. Take the saucepan off the heat
3. Whisk in the egg yolks in one at a time, mixing well between each one
4. Add a pinch of salt and vanilla extract. Mix together
5. Optional: add 2 drops of pink food colouring and mix well
6. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy and add the cream of tartar. Add the sugar in batches and whisk until the egg whites reach stiff peaks
7. Preheat the oven to 150ºC and prepare your hot water bath
8. Add one third of the egg white to the yolk batter and mix well. Using a spatula, fold the remaining egg white in two batches. Do so gently and thoroughly so no streaks of egg white remain
9. Pour the batter into the lined 8” cake pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Tap the pan against the tabletop to get rid of any large air bubbles
10. Put the cake pan into the hot water bath, ensuring that the water height reaches at least a third of the cake pan
11. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour 20min or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean
12. Remove from the oven and tap the pan against the tabletop a few times to prevent shrinkage. Transfer to cool on a wire rack pan for 10min before unmoulding

Notes

For 2 6″ cakes, bake for 1 hour 8 min