Spiced Cinnamon Tea 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 your oven rack in the center of the oven, And preheat the oven to 170C°/ 338F°. Using an oven thermometer will ensure even baking results each time, as every oven is different. Always go with the reading on your oven thermometer rather than the temperature you set on your oven.
   
• Grease your wire racks lightly with butter and set them aside; this step will prevent the cake from sticking to the wire rack.
   
• Use a small piece of cold butter, and gently rub the cold butter over the bottom and the sides of two 20 cm ( 8-inches) round baking pans. This technique of using a small piece of cold butter ensures an even, ultra-thin coating. Place a circle of parchment in the bottom of the pan. Add a tablespoon of all-purpose 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. If you don’t have two pans, it’s okay to bake the cakes in stages; The cake batter will be kept at room temperature until needed.
   
• In this recipe, I use Harney & Sons, Black Tea With Warming Spices, Hot Cinnamon a robust black tea with a blend of cinnamon, cloves, and orange peel. This particular tea adds a festive, holiday touch to the cake with its rich and warming spices. If 'Hot Cinnamon Sunset' is unavailable, you can certainly experiment with other cinnamon teas. Keep in mind, though, that the flavor profile might vary. Not all cinnamon teas include cloves or orange peel, which contribute significantly to the unique taste of this cake. Remember, the strength and blend of spices in 'Hot Cinnamon Sunset' tea are what make it special. If you choose a different tea or spice combination, it will give your cake its own unique twist.  As an alternative, you might consider creating your own infusion with cinnamon sticks, cloves, and orange peel in the cream. While this may yield a different flavor, it can still impart a delightful warmth and aroma to your sponge cake.
   
• Preparing the Tea Infusion: Add 2-4 tea bags of 'Hot Cinnamon Sunset' to the cream in a small saucepan. This black tea is rich with warm spices, orange peel, and cinnamon, perfect for imparting a unique flavor to your sponge cake. Pour over 100 grams of heavy cream or whole milk (though the recipe requires only 75 grams, this extra amount compensates for the reduction during the infusion process.) and bring to to a gentle boil, ensuring the tea bags are completely immersed. Once boiling, remove the saucepan from the heat, cover it with a plate, and let it steep for about 20 minutes.
   
• Bakers note: The egg white to yolk ratio in an egg can vary to such a degree. Therefore, weighing the egg yolks and egg whites as mentioned in the recipe and adding or reducing them if needed is advisable.
   
•  To get the cake layers you truly deserve, sift 160-gram all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder in a medium-sized bowl twice to get the flour as aerated and light as possible.
   
• Bakers note; Wipe your mixer bowl with a paper towel dampened with a little lemon juice to eliminate any trace of grease so that the meringue whips up well.
   
• In a clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, put 225 grams of egg whites and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar; whip the meringue on medium speed until it is climbing to the top of the bowl and the meringue is white, glossy, and holds a soft, floppy peak. About 3 minutes. Use a timer!
   
• Then add one tablespoon at a time 225 grams of superfine sugar, and continue mixing on medium-high speed for 3 minutes more to make a very shiny and thick meringue ( Use a timer!) 
   
• As soon as all of the sugar is incorporated and the meringue is thick, stop the mixer and add the 140-gram egg yolks ( all at once) and whip on medium-high speed for 7 seconds and not a second longer, or your cake will become flat and dense. Stop the mixer and remove the bowl from the mixer. 
   
• Sift half of the all-purpose flour mixture over the whipped meringue/yolk mixture and gently combine with a balloon whisk until well incorporated; repeat this step one more time. Scrape the side and the bottom of the mixer bowl with a silicone spatula to make sure all the flour is integrated. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste, and set aside for a few minutes.
   
• Extracting the Flavor: After infusion, carefully remove the tea bags, squeezing them to release as much of the flavorful cream as possible back into the saucepan. Due to evaporation and absorption by the tea bags, some of the cream will be lost, which is why starting with 100 grams is necessary to ensure you have the required 75 grams for your recipe. Warm the infusion for about 60 seconds, 50°C/122°F. (Place your kitchen scale under your mixer bowl to ensure you don't add more than 75 grams of warm-infused cream), then quickly pour the warm infused cream around the edge of the bowl and gently combine with a spatula without deflating the batter too much.
   
• Divide the sponge cake batter between the two prepared pans. About 345 grams in each pan, use a scale!  Give your pans just a really good spin on the table, what that does is it takes the cake batter up the side of the pan a little bit, just so that as it's baking, it already has an attachment to kind of move up the side of the pan. So, don't be afraid to really give it a good spin. Get that batter moving up. Don’t tap your baking pans on the kitchen counter to try to get things to level out, especially with this style of cake batter, because banging your pans or dropping it on the table to level the batter actually gets rid of all the air bubbles that you just incorporated into the batter. 
   
• Bake both cakes until golden brown and the top of the cake feels firm and springs back when pressed lightly in the center, about 19 to 22 minutes, depending on your oven and baking pan. Mine was done at 21 minutes. To check if a vanilla sponge cake is ready after 19 minutes of baking, you should first look through the oven window rather than open the oven door. If the center appears slightly sunken, give it a minute or two longer while keeping an eye on it. At the 20-minute mark, if the center seems almost set, carefully open the oven and gently press the top of the cake. It should feel firm to the touch and may have a slight bounce to it. This method allows you to monitor the cake's progress without disrupting the baking process.
   
• Remove the cakes from the oven and immediately without any delay, run a knife between the sides of the pan and the cake, and invert the cakes immediately onto a wire rack; remove the parchment paper and leave it to cool completely on a wire rack. 
   
• Cover the cake layers with plastic wrap or in a large ziplock bag to prevent them from drying out until you are ready to use them.
   
• Once you´ve baked the two layers, you have a choice: You can use them as they are or split each in half to make a four-layer cake. It´s all about how much frosting/filling you have made for your cake. Keep in mind four layers mean more frosting/filling. It also means more height.
   
• Cut both cake layers horizontally to create four even layers., I use a cake leveler; I move the leveler back and forth like a saw; you´ll glide the leveler feet on your work surface to cut your cake.
   
• Keep them covered in plastic wrap until you are ready to assemble your cake.
   
• You can bake the sponge cake layers up to a month in advance and freeze the cake. After the cake is completely cooled to room temperature, wrap each individual cake with 2 layers of plastic wrap, followed by tin foil, or place it in a zip lock bag. Before using your cake layers, remove the layers from the freezer about an hour before you plan to fill the cake.