With the Christ­mas sea­son in full swing, cakes, roasts and hams are about to be in every­one’s kitchens, con­jur­ing up nos­tal­gia. This week’s is­sue has recipes that are per­fect for en­ter­tain­ing dur­ing the sea­son es­pe­cial­ly be­cause they utilise in­gre­di­ents that you prob­a­bly al­ready have in your pantry (ex­cept the whole chick­en). Whether it be a fam­i­ly lunch, im­promp­tu drop-in from friends or a end-of-year par­ty, we have you cov­ered with ver­sa­tile, homey recipes.

CLAS­SIC SPONGE CAKE

You can't ever go wrong with a clas­sic sponge cake. The light, sweet cake is slight­ly milky, per­fect­ly sweet and in­cred­i­bly mor­eish! Some­how, even the fan­ci­est of cakes can’t mea­sure up to a sponge cake from grand­ma. Our Nani has shared her se­crets for that homey, nos­tal­gic sponge cake every­one re­mem­bers from their child­hoods. Make it for class par­ties, a Sun­day evening treat or, just for your­self.

IN­GRE­DI­ENTS

1 ¾ sticks but­ter

16 ounces white sug­ar

1 can evap­o­rat­ed milk

1 can con­densed milk

2 tea­spoons mixed essence

32 ounces flour, plus ex­tra for dust­ing

2 ta­ble­spoons bak­ing pow­der

½ tea­spoon or­ange rind

4 ta­ble­spoons or­ange juice

8 eggs

½ tea­spoon ground all­spice

DI­REC­TIONS

1 Pre­heat oven to 350°F.

2 Us­ing a hand or stand mix­er, cream but­ter and sug­ar in a large bowl un­til pale and fluffy, about 15 min­utes.

3 Add eggs, or­ange rind and juice and con­tin­ue mix­ing un­til in­gre­di­ents are well-com­bined.

4 Add the re­main­ing in­gre­di­ents and mix with a wood­en spoon.

5 Grease two 9-inch round cake pans. Then, sprin­kle the in­te­ri­or with flour, en­sur­ing the en­tire greased sur­face is coat­ed. Dis­card the ex­cess flour by shak­ing the pan over a bin or sink.

6 Pour cake bat­ter in­to tins and bake for ap­prox­i­mate­ly 30 to 45 mins or, un­til a knife or tooth­pick is in­sert­ed and comes out clean.

7 Serve with tea. En­joy!