Master this and you can create any dessert cake your heart desires. The key is to keep all your ingredients at room temperature. This cake doesn’t contain any leavening so your eggs will do the job. Make sure you beat them very well with the sugar (a good 10 minutes), until triple in volume.

Ingredients

• 50 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 175 C. Cover the base of a 23 cm (9 inch) with greaseproof paper. Butter the paper.

Melt the butter in a small pot and leave to cool a bit. In a bowl of a stand mixer add the eggs and sugar. Beat until almost triple in volume, about 10 minutes. Don’t be tempted to stop the beating sooner, otherwise your sponge might not rise properly. Take the bowl from the mixer stand and sift the flour, in two parts, directly into the egg/sugar mixture. Fold flour softly with a spatula, taking care not to deflate the eggs too much. Fold in the melted butter and vanilla.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake sponge for 30-35 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Run a small metal spatula around the genoise to loosen it from the pan. Invert sponge on a rack and cool completely. When cold you can wrap the genoise in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours. In fact, if refrigerated, it will be easier to split it in half.