Hot Cream Sponge Cake
 

• Baker Note; “When preheating the oven for my cakes, always use the ‘top and bottom heat’ setting. Please avoid using the fan-forced option, unless otherwise specified.”
   
• Twenty minutes or longer before baking, set an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 170C°/ 350F°. 
   
• Use a pastry brush and lightly coat the inside of two 20 cm (8-inch) round cake pans with softened butter. Add a few tablespoons of flour and tap it around the inside of the pan until all the buttered surface is covered 100%, then turn the pan upside down over a sink and tap out the excess flour. Place a circle of parchment in the bottom of the pan. If you don’t have two pans, it’s okay to bake the cakes in stages; The cake batter will keep at room temperature until needed.
   
• Grease your wire racks with butter and set them aside; this step will prevent the cake from sticking to the wire rack.
   
• In a medium bowl, combine 175-gram all-purpose flour or pastry flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder, sift twice, and set aside.
   
• Bakers Note; The ratio of egg white to yolk in an egg can vary to such a degree that you may need as few as seven or as many 8 for this recipe.
  Therefore, it is advisable to weigh the separate yolks and egg whites as mentioned in the recipe and add or reduce them if needed.
   
• Separate the egg whites from the yolks; Cover the yolks loosely with parchment paper and set the yolks aside for later. 
   
• Wipe your mixer bowl and whisk with a paper towel dampened with a little lemon juice to eliminate any trace of grease. 
   
• Put 210 grams of egg white and a pinch of cream of tartar in a spotlessly grease-free clean mixer bowl and whip on medium-high speed until medium peaks, about 3 minutes.
   
• Then slowly add the 250-gram superfine sugar, one tablespoon at a time, and wait for about 15 seconds before the next addition. Not rushing this process is key to making the perfect stable whipped meringue. This step takes about 3 minutes.
   
• When all of the sugar is added, mix on medium-high speed and mix until the meringue is shiny and stiff, about 3 minutes more.
   
• Stop the mixer and add all of the 140 grams of egg yolks on top of the whipped meringue, and mix on medium-low speed for just 1 second for each yolk. ( when you stop the mixer, you should still see many yolks traces). Try to keep most of the whipped meringue volume. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
   
• Sift the flour mixture onto the egg mixture in three increments. Use a balloon whisk instead of a spatula for maximum volume and gently fold the flour mixture into the batter until fully incorporated. Try to keep most of the volume. Periodically shake out the batter that collects inside your whisk, and work quickly so the whipped meringue doesn’t deflate. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste and set aside while you melt the butter and cream.
   
• In a small saucepan, melt 20 grams of unsalted butter ( or heavy cream) and 55-gram heavy cream. Pour the warm butter and cream mixture ( or just the cream mixture) around the edge of the mixer bowl. Use your balloon whisk or a large silicone spatula and gently fold it very gently into the cake batter. Use your spatula at the end of the folding to reach the bottom of the bowl.
   
• You should have about 800 grams of cake batter. Evenly distribute the cake batter among the two prepared round baking pans, about 400 grams in each baking pan.
   
• Bake the two pans in the center of the oven until the cake layers are golden brown and spring back when gently touched with your fingertip and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean—about 18 to 20 minutes; avoid opening the oven door before the minimum baking time has elapsed because this fragile cake could fall.
   
• Cool the cake down a few minutes in the pan, then run a knife or metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the cake, and invert the cakes onto a prepared, lightly greased wire rack, remove the parchment paper, and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. 
   
• If not used right away, wrap them well in plastic wrap to prevent drying out at room temperature for up to 3 days.
   
• You can bake the cake up to a month (  even two) in advance and keep it in the freezer. After the cake is completely cooled to room temperature, wrap the cake with two layers of plastic wrap, followed by tin foil. If the cake can fit, you can also place each cake layer in its zip-lock bag. Before using your cake, remove the cake from the freezer an hour or two before you plan to fill your cake.