What would life be without Moms? … I’d say, literally: nothing. No mothers, no life (fathers too of course, but that’s another story).

Ever since I am a mom myself, this day feels somewhat funny. Kind of like I were acting out two different roles simultaneously in the same movie.
Firstly, the grateful daughter, who is thinking hard to come up with an idea of how to bring a little joy to her mom. And secondly, the devoted mother who is overwhelmed by her son’s lovely poem… or at least, I will be once my son is old enough to actually understand the meaning of this day. For now I feel presented enough, when this super cute almost 2-year-old guy decides NOT to wake up in the dead of night highly determined to go downstairs and play with ALL his toys WITH Mama. Or when he lets me change his diaper without vigorously testing his limits. Or when he is kissing me on my cheek, just because he suddenly feels like it :–)

Anyway, mother or daughter or son, this day is a wonderful occasion to celebrate the special bond that life wraps around a mother and her child. A bond woven from the most colourful threads spun of trust, devotion, gratitude, worry, anger and love.
I wish you all a great time with your Mom and kid(s)!And if you happen to plan something sweet for your loved ones, I have just the thing for you! Soft, nutty, WHOLE-grainy and DELICIOUS sponge cake! I was after a basic recipe like this for a while now. It tastes gorgeous and is completely flexible concerning toppings or add-ins. I am in love with it and thought it is the perfect share for mother’s day, as you can totally adapt it to your best-mum-in-the-world’s taste :–D It is whole-grain but doesn’t taste it, as I used buckwheat (makes it glutenfree, by the way) which lends a mild nutty flavour, but nothing “heavy” as you might expect from whole wheat etc.

I like to keep it rather healthy and therefore iced my cake with a cream made from Austrian curd cheese. Below I will give you two topping/icing suggestions for inspiration. But ANY topping will be fine. So if it has to be a big pile of sweet marshmallow-chocolate-icing for your mum, go ahead ;–)

You can bake this sponge flat on a tray resulting in a sheet cake or roll it up like a swiss roll. You can also bake it in a round cake tin. I haven’t tried muffins yet, but don’t see a reason, why it should’t be possible as well.

According to your preferred icing/topping, it works well to incorporate fitting add-ins to your sponge, such as: ground nuts/seeds of all kind, grated coco, cacao, citrus zest, spices, a tbsp of rum, liquor, citrus,… be creative and have fun! :–)

Ingredients:

• 3 medium eggs
• 140 g buchwheat flour
• 40 g whole cane sugar (or other granulated sugar)
• 1 tsp backing powder
• 1 dash salt
• optional:
  • 20 g ground nuts/ground seeds/grated coconut/cacao
  • zest of citrus fruit (organic!)
  • spices
  • 1 to 2 tbsp rum/liquor/citrus juice

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 °C top-bottom-heat and line your baking tray with baking paper / cut a circle of baking paper the size of your round cake tin and cover the bottom of the tin with it (or grease and flour the bottom (not the sides) of your round cake tin).
2. Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Add a dash of salt to the whites and whip them with your electric beaters (or by hand = heavy workout! ;–) ) until almost stiff. Add half of the sugar and keep whipping until sugar is well incorporated and whites are completely stiff.
3. Add remaining sugar to egg yolks and whip as much air into them as possible. The egg-sugar mix will increase in volume and the colour will be considerably brighter.
4. Sieve flour and baking powder on top of the egg yolk-sugar-air-mix, as well as optional ingredients. Now also add egg whites. Carefully combine all components by hand (I like using a wire whisk) to a homogeneous batter, taking care not to lose the prior worked-in air.
5. Transfer the batter to your baking tray, letting the oven do it’s magic for around 10 minutes or somewhere between 20 and 35 minutes if using a cake tin (depending on the size of your cake tin – the thicker the sponge, the longer it takes). To be sure of the right moment to take your delicious sponge out of the heat, insert a toothpick/skewer into the middle of the sponge. If it comes out clean, the sponge is ready to party.
6. If you want to roll the sponge for a Swiss roll or similar, transfer the sponge upside-down to a clean kitchen towel. With a cooking brush spread some cold water on the baking paper, to ensure a “save” removal of the paper. Fold the kitchen towel over that edge of the sponge that you will start rolling at. Now tightly roll up the sponge within the kitchen towel and leave on a wire wrack to cool completely. It is absolutely crucial to do the rolling while the sponge is still hot. Otherwise it won’t be shapable anymore. After cooling, unroll, fill as desired and roll up again (without the kitchen towel of course).
7. If you are baking a simple sheet cake or a round sponge, just leave it to cool completely.
8. Ice/fill/decorate as desired.

Yields 1/2 (30×20 cm) standard Austrian baking tray (30×40 cm), 1 layer round sponge 25 cm in diameter, 2 layer round sponge 15 cm in diameter.

Suggestion 1:
poppyseed-lemon (balm)-almond-curd cheese

• Sponge:
  • standard recipe plus 20 g ground (white) poppyseed, zest of 1/2 organic lemon
• Icing:
  • 500 g (Austrian-kind) curd cheese (or alternatively cream cheese)
  • a big handfull of fresh lemon balm leaves
  • zest of 1/2 organic lemon
  • juice of 1 1/2 lemons (or more/less to taste)
  • 3 tbsp liquid sweetener of choice (or more/less to taste)
• Decoration:
  • a handfull of whole almonds
  • 1 tbsp of whole cane sugar (or other granulated sugar)
  • 1 tbsp of ground poppyseed
  • juice of 1/2 to 1 organic lemon, some lemon zest
  • a few extra lemon balm leaves
• to drizzle:
  • 1 tbsp honey (or not too runny other liquid sweetener)
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice

• Directions:
  1. Bake sponge on a rectangular baking tray (20×30 cm) and immediately transfer it to a kitchen towel in preparation of rolling. carefully take off the baking paper as explained above. Before you roll it up, cut the sponge lengthwise into 3 equally sized rectangles. Fold a bit of the kitchen towel over the edge of the shorter side, and roll the cut sponge up  (starting with the SHORTER side! That’s the opposite of the “normal” Swiss-roll-way of rolling).
  2. While your sponge cools, roughly chop lemon balm leaves and add all icing ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Stir by hand until smooth. The consistency will be creamy but firm enough to use as icing.
  3. Unroll the cooled sponge and spread an approx. 1/2 cm thick layer of icing on all of the three sponge pieces. Roll up one of them and transfer it to a cake plate, not “standing” as a Swiss roll, but “lying” on the cut-side so that the filling is facing upwards, not sideways.
  4. Grab the second piece of iced sponge and wrap it around the first, starting where the first one ended. Continue with the third piece. That way, you will create a spiral-shaped cake with an unusual, surprising vertical layer-pattern, once cut up.
  5. Cover the cake with the rest of the icing and transfer to the fridge, where it should rest around 4 hours (or over night) for best taste results.
  6. In the meantime, for added crunch and decoration, roast almonds in a frying pan (no oil/fat needed!), careful not to burn them. Put them aside. Melt 1 tbsp of granulated whole cane sugar in a non-stick frying pan. Once caramelised, stir in roasted almonds and poppyseed and add lemon juice to loosen the caramel from the pan. Keep stirring until caramel has dissolved in lemon juice and all water has cooked off. The almonds should now have a thin shiny cover of caramel and poppyseed. Transfer to a plate and leave to cool. They will harden once cool. Keep in an airtight container in  the fridge until serving.
  7. Mix honey and lemon juice. Keep in the fridge until serving.
  8. Finally decorate your cake with the caramelised almonds, drizzle with the lemony honey and add some fresh notes with lemon zest and a few lemon balm leaves here and there. Enjoy!

Suggestion 2:
poppyseed-vanilla-strawberry-curd cheese

 

• Sponge:
  • standard recipe plus 20 g ground (white) poppyseed, 1 tsp vanilla
• Icing:
  • 250 g (Austrian-kind) curd cheese (or alternatively cream cheese)
  • juice of 1 lemon (or more/less to taste)
  • 3 tbsp liquid sweetener of choice (or more/less to taste)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
• Decoration:
  • 1 to 2 big handfulls of sweet, ripe strawberries
  • 1 tbsp of ground (white) poppyseed
• Directions:
  1. Bake cake in a 15 cm round cake tin and leave to cool completely.
  2. In the meantime, mix all icing ingredients by hand until smooth.
  3. Wash strawberries and cut into pieces, keeping some aside for decoration.
  4. Either cut sponge into two layers, or keep it one layered and add icing in a naked-cake-fashion. With each layer of icing add some strawberries.
  5. Transfer the cake to the fridge, where it should rest around 4 hours (or over night) for best taste results.
  6. Finish by arranging a few of the prettier fruits on the top and a sprinkling of poppyseed. Enjoy!