‘Best chocolate sponge cake ever’: Alleged Bicycle Bandit’s favourite cake recipe revealed

When the alleged Bicycle Bandit declared the chocolate sponge cake he ate in custody was the “best ever”, we had to try it. Here’s the step-by-step recipe and our review.

It’s the jailhouse chocolate sponge cake that’s good it was brought up in court – so, we decided to try it out. Here’s how to make it – and what it’s like.

It was the terminally ill alleged Bicycle Bandit Kym Allen Parsons who declared the chocolate sponge he’d been served in custody was the “best ever”.

The declaration was revealed during an attempt to overturn a decision to grant Mr Parsons home detention bail by the Adelaide Magistrates Court last week.

Mr Parsons’ lawyers argued the decision should stand as their client’s wellbeing was at risk in custody.

The court heard Mr Parsons, 73, lost 7kg since he was arrested after the robbery of 11 banks between May 2004 and September 2014.

Right, alleged Bicycle Bandit Kym Parsons, with the ingredients needed and the finished result.

Prosecutor Darren Evans said the O’Sullivan Beach man had been recorded telling his wife the Adelaide Remand Centre had “the best chocolate sponge cake he had ever eaten”.

Mr Evans said that called into questions claims his wellbeing was at risk in custody. Mr Parsons was later released on bail, meaning he can’t have any more chocolate sponge – until we got the recipe.

A Corrections Department spokesperson said “all food at the Adelaide Remand Centre is prepared by Serco staff”.

The Adelaide Remand Centre is managed by private company Serco.

And now a former Serco chef has revealed the chocolate sponge cake recipe he used while working for the remand centre manager.

The recipe

Ingredients:

-130ml whole milk

-130g unsalted butter

-80g all-purpose flour

-40g unsweetened cocoa powder

-8 egg yolks

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-8 egg whites

-130g white sugar

-Pinch of salt

-2 tsp coconut oil or canola

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 150C and line a 8 x 8 inch / 20 x 20cm square cake tin with parchment paper

2. Combine the milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and heat until the butter has melted and the milk is just steaming

3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into a large bowl and pour over the hot milk and butter, mix until combined

4. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract, and mix until smooth and well combined

5. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment add the egg whites and whisk until foamy

6. Add the sugar and beat on medium-low until the meringue reaches soft to medium peaks

7. Add ⅓ of the meringue to the yolk mixture and mix until well combined

8. Add the lightened yolk mixture to the remaining meringue and gently use a whisk to fold the mixture until just combined

9. Transfer the batter to the lined tin and place it in a larger baking tray filled with hot, but not boiling, water

10. Bake for 75 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched

11. Cool on a wire rack for 5 mins

The review

Simon Wilkinson

No, a slice of cake doesn’t change the harsh realities of life in prison. However, the freshly baked chocolate specimen based on the recipe that so impressed the alleged Bicycle Bandit does have plenty going for it.

This is not the shortcut, packet-mix cake that most people might expect a facility such as the Adelaide Remand Centre to serve. It doesn’t even use baking powder or any other artificial raising agent.

Rather, it is the kind of cake that your grandmother might have favoured, from a generation when everything was made from scratch and no-one was too worried about their cholesterol levels.

The recipe, provided by a former chef from Serco, the company that manages the Centre, relies on eggs (eight of them), with the whites whipped into a light meringue to provide the lift and all those yolks providing richness. There is also butter, flour and a little sugar – but that’s about it.

Advertiser food reviewer Simon Wilkinson makes the jailhouse sponge cake with Anne. Photo: Naomi Jellicoe

It took my colleague Anne, a gifted home cook, about 30 minutes to prepare the batter (all those eggs!) that is then baked for 75 minutes in a water bath. This is not a recipe for beginners.

Initial appearances are not promising, though the fresh-baked aroma is wonderful. When it comes from the oven, the cake has not risen far in the tin and, as it cools, collapses a little bit further. Turned on to a plate, it looks as if it will be dense and heavy.

Cutting the first slices does nothing to change that impression. The crumb is dark and tightly packed, more mud cake than sponge, though without any moisture.

The cake rises in the oven.

Taking a decent mouthful, then, comes as a bit of a shock. The cake is incredibly light – almost souffle-like – and disintegrates on the palate with just a gentle push of the tongue, leaving behind a clean, ever-so-slightly bitter dark chocolate flavour that lingers for several seconds.

With the sweetness kept well in check, this is an adult treat that I can’t imagine appealing to younger tastebuds.

Adding a little dried orange or even a touch of chilli powder to the mix could also do wonders.

This is proper cooking that suggests its recipients are being treated with some dignity. One would hope that all government institutions, such as hospitals, would be doing the same or better.