blueberry and apricot little cakes.

I got intrigued when I came across a recipe called soft apple cakes in Paris Sweets. I imagined a flat topped cupcake with a custardy interior and a golden brown surface, and little chunks of sweet apples peeking through. Halfway through making it though, I realized that it used a sponge cake method, and that could very well be what I was going to end up with.

Seriously? A sponge cake?!


I felt a little cheated. The recipe glorified it such that a sponge cake was the last thing on my mind. I had my doubts as I mixed the batter.

How great can a sponge cake be?


Well, an hour later, I had my answer. Beautiful little cakes with no sinkage at all, spongey and fluffy crumb, and a faint fragrance of vanilla that set them apart from regular sponges we use for cake bases. But still, they are sponges, so they were a little drier than your average cake. I had another one the next day, and it absorbed some of the moisture from the fruits so it wasn't as dry as the day before.

I think soft apple cakes really meant how the apples softened up after baking, I can really think of no other explanation.

I had my first one with some creme anglaise, so it was like a cake in vanilla soup. Oh how I love creme anglaise.