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Sweet Pea Microwave Sponge Cake

Sweet Pea Microwave Sponge Cake

A recipe for a vibrant, naturally green, sweet pea microwave sponge cake. You can make this cake without a whipping siphon without any issues. The batter would be too thick to use a whipping siphon anyway but since it's just a regular microwave sponge, you aren't getting that same fluffy aeration.

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g butter
  • 150 g sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 275 g pea puree
  • 250 g all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 pinch of salt

Instructions
 

  • To start, you’ll need 275 grams of fresh or frozen peas. Blanch them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes then strain.  Transfer the peas into a bowl and use a hand blender to blitz until smooth.  If you have a food processor or better blender, feel free to use that instead as you’ll probably get better smoother results. Once the peas are smooth, set aside.
  • For the rest of the cake, melt 200 grams of butter. Pour that into a bowl and add in 150 grams of sugar and  2 teaspoons of vanilla, then whisk to combine. To that add 3 whole eggs. And whisk again. Then, whisk in the pea puree. 
  • In a separate bowl, measure in 250 grams of all purpose flour.  2 tsp of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Stir this together then add to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth and combined. 
  • To microwave.  Coat the inside of a disposable coffee cup with non stick spray. Stab a few holes in the bottom of the cup. Fill the cup half way with batter, then microwave for 1-2 minutes.  The timing depends on your microwave so consider your first cup of batter a bit of a test run.  Once cooked, place the cup upside down on a plate for a couple of minutes to set, then, tear up the cake and serve.  
  • This recipe doesn’t require a whipping siphon and would be too thick to use one anyway but because of this the finished microwave sponge isn’t as aerated.
  • Also, the thing about microwave cakes in general, I know they’re cool and it’s a neat technique but I’ve never had one that tastes as good as traditional cake.  It’s always a bit eggy tasting and dries out really fast so I tend not to do them for service at all anymore.  Instead, I just use this same batter, though instead of melting the butter I just cream it with the sugar, and bake it at 325F 160 C for about 35 minutes.  While the colour isn’t as vibrant as the microwave sponge and it takes a little longer, the flavour is much better. 

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