Tea Scented Glazed Sponge Cake

While searching for low oxalate desserts I came across this Emeril recipe. Sponge cake is on either my good list or limit list; I can’t remember. I just know it’s low oxalate. As usual, I halved the recipe and made a few minor changes. I have never made a sponge cake before so I wasn’t sure how much it would rise while baking. Therefore, I poured it into two 4 ½“ springform pans. Turns out I probably could have gotten away with pouring it all it into one small pan; the cakes were pretty thin. But with two cakes, I decided to make two kinds of glazes. The honey cinnamon glaze was definitely our favorite. When Mr. Surly was eating it he said it “tasted like Christmas.” The other glaze I made was just a lemon, vanilla, milk and powdered sugar glaze. Not bad, but nothing to get excited about. I served it with powdered sugar and a dollop of homemade whipped cream. Yum. I can’t wait to make this again and experiment with different herbal teas.

Berries would be a great accompaniment to this. Unfortunately for me, berries are high oxalate, so I can't have them. But you should serve it with berries and think of me as you savor each berry, and I can eat vicariously through you.



Tea Scented Sponge Cake
Printer-friendly recipe

for the sponge cake:
2 tea bags; I used pomegranate white tea (I got it from TJs)
2 Tbl + 2 tsp boiling water
6 Tbl flour
2 eggs, separated
7 Tbl sugar, separated
½ tsp vanilla
pinch salt
2 Tbl melted butter

for the glaze
1/4 c water
~2 Tbl honey or agave
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F

Grease and flour one or two 4 ½ “ spring form pans. (depends on how thick you want the sponge cake; 2 for thinner cake, 1 for a thick cake)

Put the tea bags in a small custard cup or ramekin, add the boiling water and allow to steep 20 minutes.

With mixer, whisk egg yolks and 6 Tbl of sugar until thick and pale. Add the vanilla and tea concentrate.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks. Add 1 Tbl sugar, mix. Fold about ½ of the egg whites into the egg yolks til combined. Then fold in 3 Tbl flour. Fold the rest of the egg whites into the yolks; combine well. Then fold in the rest of the flour. Finally, fold in the melted butter.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake ~30 minutes until inserted pick come out clean. Cool 10 minutes on wire rack. While waiting, microwave ¼ c water, about 2 Tbl honey or agave, and ½ tsp cinnamon in small ramekin for about 60 seconds. Run a sharp knife around the perimeter of the pan and remove the cake to cool the wire rack. While the cake is still warm, usuing a pastry brush, coat the cake with the honey glaze. Wait a bit for each layer to soak into the cake, you want to use up all the glaze.

Allow to cool. Serve with powdered sugar and whipped cream if desired.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.



Source: slightly adapted from Emeril Lagasse via Food Network