You would think making sponges is hard. Well I did. There was always a fear and anticipation of impending failure at the thought of making a sponge, but I have come to realize that it is the sequence of the process, not the ingredients that leads to its success.
The ingredients are simple; eggs, sugar and flour usually. But it’s what you do with them that matters. And this sponge didn’t even use flour. It used ground walnuts, interesting. I browned the nuts in the oven, then pulsed them in a food processor to make a fine crumb.
browning the nuts 
Whizzing the walnuts to 
a fine crumb
I then separated the eggs, and after adding a pinch of salt, beat the whites to stiff peaks. I added the sugar to the yolks and whisked until the
mixture was mousse-like and “leaves a distinct ribbon-like trail when the whisk is lifted” (that’s the trick). I then added the walnut crumbs to the egg yolk mixture, then added the beaten egg whites which resulted in a very aerated sponge mixture.
I baked the two sponges and while they cooled, made a berry sauce to go with the cake. I used frozen berries, mixed with icing sugar and whizzed in the food processor.
To assemble, I mixed almond liqueur with apricot conserve and spread this over the bottom layer. Then piled on cream and layered on the sliced fresh apricots.
apricot conserve 
Whipped cream 
Slice apricots 
Mmmmmm Delish!!
I placed on the top layer and sprinkled with icing sugar to finish. I had rave reviews from this one, so nutty and delicious. I was having people over and after making this torte, realized I would need another pudding, so I whipped up a pav, my first one. I used a recipe I had seen Mary Berry make on TV and it worked a treat. Saved the day. I will post the recipe for this pavlova next and if you have never made one, it is definitely worth a go, surprisingly easy.
Pavlova recipe coming next 🙂
