BEST Vanilla Sponge Cake – Type II

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour – 3 cups
Thick Curd – 2 cups
Sugar – 1 1/2 cups
Canola Oil – 1 cup (or any other vegetable oil)
Vanilla Essence – 1 1/2 tbsps
Baking Powder – 3 tsps
Baking Soda – 1 tsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Milk – 1/8 cup
Blueberries – 2 cups (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/350 F.
2. Grease and dust cake tins.I used one 8.5″ x 4.5″ loaf tin and one 7″ round tin.
3. In a bowl, take curd and beat it until it is smooth and there is no lump.
4. Add sugar and beat until the sugar melts.
5. Now add baking powder, baking soda and salt to the curd mixture. Set aside for 3-4 minutes until it becomes frothy.
6. Pour oil and vanilla essence. Mix gently until well combined. Do not over mix as the air captured in the mixture might be lost.
7. Fold in all purpose flour, using a spatula. Mix gently until well combined. Do not over mix.
8. If you want to add blueberries, take them in a bowl, add 2 tsps of all purpose flour and mix such that the blueberries are well dusted with the flour. This will avoid the blueberries from sinking at the bottom of the cake while baking.
9. Add these dusted blueberries to the cake batter and mix gently.
10. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake tins.
11. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until the skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
12. Remove the cake tins from the oven and smear little milk on top of the cakes using an pastry brush. This will give a glossy, golden brown color to the cake.
13. Place the cake tins in the oven and bake for another 5 minutes.
14. Remove the cake tins from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool down.
15. Unmould and cut into desired shape.
16. Serve.