Chocolate Sponge

This recipe used to be one of my favourites when the children were small. It's foolproof (at least, I've never known it fail!) and in my opinion, is better than a chocolate Victoria Sandwich cake if you want a light sponge.  The only reason I don't make it more often is that I prefer sturdier everyday cakes which last a bit longer - for some reason people always take larger slices from a sponge cake!

The basic recipe uses oil and milk instead of butter, and then a variable addition to give colour and/or improve flavour and texture. In some recipes it's a tablespoon of  black treacle or golden syrup, but here it's two tablespoons of caramelised condensed milk.

I didn't want to go over the top with a frosting, so halved the recipe and just filled the sponge layers. The chocolate and condensed milk made a lovely fudgy mixture - I'm sure it would have made a great frosting!

The frosting/filling can be varied to suit the occasion - black cherry jam and fresh cream would make a nice gateau for a special occasion, although the sponge is very light, so may not take a really heavy filling well. I don't think the caramel made much difference to the flavour of the cake, so if you want to try the sponge without opening a tin or jar of caramel, try it with the black treacle, or molasses, instead.