I hate that word...Moist. It gives me the proper creeps, makes my teeth grind, skin crawl, feet twitch. Ick ick ick. And if you hate the word as much as I do, please please PLEASE bear with me through this recipe blog post as there is just no other word to describe this deliciously super MOIST buttermilk vanilla sponge cake. Dare I say it...you might just even start tolerating the word a wee bit more - yep, the sponge is THAT good.

This recipe has a magical combination of butter for flavour, oil for moisture and buttermilk for tenderness. It's less "airy" than your usual Vicky Sponge, but has a delicious almost pudding-like texture and is delectable naked on its own sans icing even - I know, unbelievable! But of course, let's not be silly, we all know sponge is really a vessel to shovel buttercream down our gobs.

If you can't get your hands on buttermilk then you can either make your own by splitting whole milk with lemon juice or substitute with yoghurt. 

Yields: 3x 6" sponges or 2x 8" sponges

Time: 10 minutes prep + 30 minutes baking

Ingredients

240g Butter at room temp

80ml Oil (vegetable, sunflower, rapeseed, canola...any of those will do)

300g Caster Sugar

5x Eggs (Medium or a mix of small/large/medium sizes...you get the gist)

360g Plain flour

2 tsp Baking powder

1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda 

1/4 tsp Salt

240ml Buttermilk

1 tsp Vanilla essence 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and prepare baking tins by greasing and lightly flouring the baking tins (I used 3x 6" tins through this recipe). 

2. Cream butter, oil and caster sugar together using a paddle attachment on a stand mixer on medium speed till light and fluffy.

3. Add in eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed until just combined. 

4. Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together. Add the flour mix and buttermilk in thirds into the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed in between additions until all combined. This usually takes 2-3 minutes.

5. Divide the batter in between the tins evenly and smooth the batter with the back of a tablespoon until level. 

6. Bake for 30 minutes on medium shelf in the oven and check for done-ness with a cocktail stick - it should come out clean with just a few crumbs but no wet batter. 

7. Let the sponges rest in their tins for 5-10 minutes before flipping out onto a wire rack to cool completely at room temperature.

8. The sponges are now ready to ice and decorate. If using later, wrap in cling film and freeze till needed. 

I've used this delightfully spongy sponge for a Mermaid cake, which is so on-trend. Try your hand at this - it's super simple and if you're generous enough to share it with anyone I guarantee you they will be forgiving you for ANYTHING naughty you could have EVER done. And remember to share and tag me on Instagram @angesdesucre #angesdesucre so I can see and lick my screen!

Lots of love,

Reshmi xoxo