Lemon Sponge with Lemon Mousse

Lemon Sponge with
Lemon Mousse

When I was growing up, cake was an important member of our household. Any flavour, the bigger the better, loaded with frosting, and always served with ice cream. Every night of the week. Well, almost every night because dessert was a critical component of our menu.

I used to do the same type of baking for my own kids, though only on their birthdays. Traditional recipes with lots of flour, butter and eggs, they would be heavy creations that would take the four of us days to finish. What was wrong with me? A sliver of cake and I'm done? Same with my husband and the boys. Hmm. 


When I was watching old episodes of the Great Canadian Baking Show, I soon noticed that sponge cake was the basis for a lot of the desserts. Perhaps now was the time to figure out how to make this versatile cake. 

Well, let me tell you, I'm hooked. The recipe I use has 6 eggs and only 1 cup of flour. It's so much lighter (i.e. less filling) than a traditional cake, that now I have the opposite problem; if I don't control the portions, the four of us could easily finish the whole cake in one evening.

I've made sponge cake a few times now and both attempts have been delicious but nowhere near as good as they will be when I have more practice. It's a little tricky judging the baking because the toothpick will come out clean and the cakes will be a beautiful colour, but will fall a bit when cooling. 

What's pictured here is the remnants of a lemon sponge with lemon mousse that I did for my husband's birthday. I wanted you to see how well the sponge and the mousse have held up over the last two days. (Ignore the lousy job I did in cutting the sponge into layers!) When I first put the cake together, I was worried that after a few hours the whole thing would meld together into a heap, but that didn't happen at all. It was a breeze to cut later that night, the sponge and mousse stayed in layers, and even after two days, the cake has held well, it's not soggy and the mousse has not dried out. Super encouraging results. Kinda makes me want to add this treat to my Bling Bakery menu, but in the meantime, sponge cake has become a Family Fave and we are already thinking up excuses to have it again.