Coffee-walnut Hot Milk Sponge

Though I am more of a Tea person than a coffee one, I do enjoy a good cup of coffee every now and then. It really gives you the much required kick when you are ready to throw in the towel....e.g. getting your hyperactive toddler to sleep. Those are the times I wish I could make my coffee with Red Bull instead of water...and give some tranquilizers to my kid, so that our energies balance out and we both can catch some zzzzzs....ohhh so much for the wishful thinking!!!!! (Disclaimer for the child welfare deptt: No kids were harmed/ actually given tranquilizers during the writing of this post).

Nevertheless, this is one such cake that will please any kind of person ....tea/coffee...any....trust me!!

A hot-milk sponge recipe  is such a quick, versatile and crowd-pleasing recipe that you feel that nothing can go wrong.  But nothing can be farther from the fact...just like other sponge based cake recipes you need to make sure that:
1. Your eggs are whipped right;
2. Your cake pan is lined with parchment paper but NOT GREASED;
3. Folding in of flour doesn't deflate the meringue too much and yet your flour is properly incorporated;
4. Lastly,  your oven is working properly...the temperature shown in display and that inside is same!
So now, with these pearls of wisdom, let's move on to the recipe...

Pan size: Round pan 7"X3", Or, Square pan 8" X 8" X 3"
Pre-preparation: 1. Preheat the oven to 170°C
2. Line your cake tin with parchment paper (DON'T GREASE).

Ingredients:
2 Large Eggs, room temperature
140 gm Caster sugar
120 gm All-purpose flour
10 gm Cornstarch
1 tsp Baking Powder
120 ml Whole Milk (full-fat)
1.5 Tbsp neutral flavor oil
2 tsp Instant coffee granules
1 tsp Vanilla extract
25 grams whole walnuts (chop them up into very small pieces, and dunk them lightly in flour)

Method:
1. Seive together flour, Cornstarch and Baking Powder 2 times;
2. Warm the milk till it just starts simmering. Switch off the gas and add in coffee granules, oil and vanilla extract and mix. Cool it off till it is lukewarm but not hot.
3. Whip your eggs till frothy. Add in sugar and whip till ribbon stage (i.e. when you pick your beater blade up, the batter should fall down in the form of ribbon and will take a few seconds to dissolve back into the batter. The batter would have trebled in volume, and will be pale in color, and thick and glossy.)
3. Fold in half of flour mix and incorporate evenly. Add in half of lukewarm milk and fold. Repeat till you use up whole of flour-mix and milk.
4. Pour 2/3rd of the batter into your cake pan. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top. Pour remaining 1/3rd batter on it. This is called layering the add-ons and I follow this method for all my cakes to prevent sinking of the add-ons to the bottom. If you plop the walnuts into the batter and then pour, they are bound to sink to the bottom of your cake, as the batter is lighter than the weight of the walnuts. Though this method doesn't guarantee that all your walnuts will stay afloat, but yes, not all sink to the bottom. So give it a try👍;
5. Using a knife or toothpick make some zigzag patterns in the batter, to break any large air bubbles. Bake at 160°C for 35-40 minutes, or till a cake skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
6. Take your cake out and let it remain in the pan for 5 minutes.  Demould and cool on cooling rack. Slice only when it is completely cool.

Enjoy it with your cup of favourite drink....I like it with Tea😄😄...tea n coffee together ....

Happy baking 👍👍❤❤