The Great Cake Mystery

Sometimes, only cake will do. And when those moments strike, you can think of little else beyond that first bite. The light, airy, fluffy sponge, perhaps flavoured with chocolate or vanilla. The sweetness and creaminess of the buttercream that draws you in for the next bite. It's the delectable, edible embodiment of a hug after a bad day, or the extra little treat with a cup of tea during a shopping trip.

And as my mouth starts to salivate for a slice of cake, I'll tell you that my current fascination relates to my visit to The Little Pickle Deli Cafe in Boscombe. As you might remember, I dropped some samples off with them on Friday, in the hope they'd want to stock some of it. Well, they called me on Monday...and said they'd really prefer it if I was able to provide large cakes. Oh, my heart sank. I haven't baked a large cake in yonks!

The main reason I haven't baked a big cake in a long time is I've been focusing on smaller, individual-serving things, like cookies or cupcakes, and on cheesecakes. But it now occurs to me I ought to focus for a while on larger cakes. Unfortunately, larger cakes HATE me!! They all seem to go wrong! I figured maybe it was because I now use Dove's Farm self-raising flour, rather than Juvela White Mix. Maybe that was why the texture keeps being a bit...well...lumpy!

So today I set out on a mission - two cakes made exactly the same way, one with Juvela White Mix and one with Dove's Farm. Oh, it did not go well. See for yourself!

Left: sponge with Dove's Farm. Right: sponge with Juvela White Mix

Neither is perfect, that much is obvious. But my GOD, just look at that one on the right! Disaster doesn't quite seem to cover it, does it!?

The Dove's Farm sponge has that annoyingly lumpy texture, while the one on the right looks more like an oversized greasy crumpet. Deeeelish! And this the Great Cake Mystery begins...what went wrong?!

A search on the internet to work out where the hell I'm going wrong suggests it could be the oven temperature is too low, or that I added the eggs too fast. Every problem that I have with these cakes has those two possible causes in common. So, tomorrow I will have to try them again, but this time with a higher temperature, and I'll add the eggs more slowly. I HAVE to get this right! Aside from anything else, I refuse, REFUSE, I tell you, to be stumped by flour, butter, eggs and sugar!!

I'll let you know how it goes, but in the meantime, let me know if you have any experience with this. All suggestions are welcome!