Hot Milk Sponge Cake

Mrs. North was our neighbour on Piedmont Road in Durban, South Africa. She will never be forgotten because of her recipe for hot milk sponge cake. Light cakes are an essential part of the gracious British tradition of afternoon tea. This recipe makes a wonderful base for strawberry shortcake. It can be split and filled with preserves. It can be served simply with icing sugar sprinkled on the top. It is also perfect for a trifle. Recently, I wanted to make a Black Forest Trifle for guests, so I added 1/4 cup of cocoa to the dry ingredients. The results were perfect, and I will no longer buy chocolate jelly rolls for the trifle.
The following recipe is low-fat and very quick to make.

2 large eggs
1/2-2/3 cup sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter or oil

Grease a 9-inch square or round cake pan.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. 

In another bowl, beat eggs, adding sugar gradually. Beat egg and sugar mixture until it is doubled in volume. Add vanilla. 

Put milk and oil in a pan or in the microwave and heat to just under a boil. 

Add dry ingredients alternately with the hot milk mixture to the beaten egg and sugar mixture. 

Bake in a moderate oven (350F) for about 25 minutes.


Variation: Chocolate Hot Milk Sponge Cake
Add 1/4 cup cocoa to dry ingredients. Do not cut back on the sugar.