How to make sponge cake
How to make sponge cake
10 secrets to making the best-ever sponge cake
Before you reach for the flour and eggs, read these 10 tips on how to make your sponge cake the best ever.
Baker Adam Cox knows a thing or two about sponge, having made cakes for a number of celebrity customers, including Ralph Lauren, Damien Hirst, Jonathan Ross and Jimmy Carr. So who better to turn to for advice on how to make the ultimate cake?
Here Adam reveals all.
Ingredients at the ready!
Have all ingredients prepared and weighed out before before starting to mix. This will ensure that the mixing process can be completed without having to stop and start while you’re weighing out, which could result in over-mixing (see 5).
Room temperature
Keep all ingredients at room temperature (butter nice and soft, eggs not too cold!) By having the eggs at room temperature it means the yolks and whites combine more easily, ensuring a more even bake.
Mix it up
Use a mixer if possible to cream the butter and sugar first. I find this is the quickest and most effective way to get the creamy consistency that you are looking for at this stage.
Gently does it
Fold in the flour gently by hand. This is a method used when combining a heavy ingredient with a light one, to ensure that as much air is retained in the mixture as possible.
DON’T over-mix
Over-mixing can make the mixture curdle, which affects the overall bake of the cake.
Add milk
If the mixture looks too thick, add a drop of milk. This will help to keep your mixture and the consistency of the cake smooth. A thick, stodgy mix will most likely end up as a thick, stodgy cake!
Keep it real
When adding flavour, use real ingredients such as vanilla pods and lemon zest wherever possible, as these give the best flavour. With it being such a small part of the mix I feel there’s no excuse not to use the best!
Grease up
Line the tin using greaseproof paper. Using butter can make the cake greasy after it has finished baking.
Patience
Don’t open the oven too soon, no matter how eager you are! The air release will cause the cake to drop.
Enjoy making it!
If you are relaxed then it always comes across in the end result.
Find out more about Adam and his cakes at adamscakes.co.uk
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Sponge Cakes You’ll Make Again and Again
Claire Saffitz has tips and recipes for a perfectly fluffy dessert that’s as good alone as it is paired with supple summer fruit.
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By Claire Saffitz
Sponge cake doesn’t typically fall high on people’s list of favorite desserts. Its name doesn’t stir the heart, and so often it’s dry and tasteless. But, when properly made, sponge cake is tender and bouncy with a cloudlike crumb that deftly soaks up the flavors of whatever it’s paired with, like whipped cream, coffee or fruit.
With so few functional ingredients (eggs, fat, sugar, flour), sponge cake literally rises and falls on its proportions. Change one thing, and the balance may be disturbed. It took dozens of eggs and double-digits attempts, but this recipe strikes the ideal balance between structure and tenderness. It’s a hybrid of both chiffon and génoise cakes, but has the most in common with the oil-based sponge cakes frequently found in Asian bakeries.
Just as the proportion of ingredients is crucial, so is the way they’re combined. This recipe streamlines the process as much as possible, requiring just a couple of bowls and a hand mixer. (Not required: Sifting, a double boiler or cooking a sugar syrup.)
Below are some of the core concepts and techniques for a successful sponge cake. And though the process is sensitive, the recipe is sound — even easy. The sponge doesn’t need a syrup or flavoring to be palatable, though it would feel right at home in trifles, layer cakes, roulades and tres leches. Think of it simply as the ideal base for all of your summer stone fruit and berry desserts.
Say No to Nonstick
Nonstick bakeware seems to offer added convenience compared with regular bakeware. But this isn’t really the case. The dark synthetic coating that makes bakeware nonstick absorbs more heat and often overcooks the sides and bottom before the center is fully baked. (That’s why most bakers prefer lighter-colored bakeware made from anodized aluminum.) Nonstick bakeware is especially ineffective for egg foam-based cakes, like sponge and angel food, because they can’t cling to the sides of the pan as they bake, preventing them from rising properly and causing them to collapse immediately upon cooling. This is also why you don’t want to grease the pan, since the cake needs to be able to grip the sides as it rises.
Oil Makes a Supple Sponge
Like chiffon cake, this sponge cake calls for oil as the fat. Butter is solid at room temperature, so a butter-based cake firms up when it’s chilled. A sponge made with oil, however, stays flexible at any temperature and resists drying, so you can store it in the refrigerator for several days and it will maintain a supple texture. Olive oil or any neutral oil will work here.
There’s No Substitute for Cake Flour
Sponge cake batter is filled with tiny air bubbles from whipped egg whites and yolks. As the cake bakes, these air bubbles heat up and expand, lifting the cake to a light, spongy texture. At the same time, a critical mass of flour must be present to produce gluten (which happens when two proteins in flour interact with water), because gluten creates the internal scaffolding of a cake. Cake flour is the right flour for the job. It’s lower in protein than all-purpose flour, meaning it produces a relatively weak gluten matrix (and therefore a tender cake), but it’s still enough to support the airy crumb.
How to make a light, golden sponge
A light, golden sponge layer cake, covered in passionfruit icing, or filled with cream and berry jam, is a joyous occasion.
Usually made with just a few ingredients – eggs, sugar, flour, and, often, cornflour, milk and butter – a classic sponge is both light yet surprisingly sturdy and flexible. It can be layered, iced, soaked in syrup or rolled and filled.
It’s also a cake that sometimes causes fear in the hearts of some bakers – but it really doesn’t need to.
To help you master the classic Australian sponge, we talked to two baking experts: Anneka Manning, a long-time contributor to SBS with her Bakeproof column, runs Sydney-based cooking school BakeClub, which offers in-person and online classes in everything from the science of baking to souffle, sponges and sourdough. She’s also written several books on baking. Nelleke Gorton is an award-winning cake maker and competition judge who’s been baking her way around the world since she was a teenager – born in the Netherlands, she mostly grew up in India (her father was transferred to many parts of the world for work), and after she married she and her family moved a lot too, including time in the United States, where she worked as a pastry chef in hotels and restaurants. She joined the Country Women’s Association when she returned to Australia 15 years ago and is now the president of the CWA of NSW’s Bega branch. She’s won many awards for her baking, including her sponges, at competitions including the Sydney Royal Show and the CWA’s annual baking competition. She shares her cooking on her Facebook page.
The pair have generously shared their advice for mastering a sponge. Reassuringly, both say that there’s no need to fear a sponge. Just use their top tips and light golden layers can be yours, too.
Several sorts of sponges
The sponge family is a big one – around the world, it includes cakes ranging from the French-Italian genoise to the chiffon-style cakes popular in America and parts of Asia. They are all made with some combination of whisked eggs, flour and sugar, with variations on how they are mixed and what else is added. You can explore some of that variety in Manning’s Bakeproof column on sponge cake recipes.
Bakeproof sponge recipes include chiffon cake, a classic layer sponge, a citrus plava and Japanese castella cake
The way cakes are named can overlap a little but here’s a simple guide to sponge types:
Victoria sponge with gooseberry jam
What we’re talking about in this article is the classic Australian sponge most often seen layered with cream and jam or a simple passionfruit icing – like Manning’s glorious passionfruit sponge.
Bake without fear
Anneka Manning’s love of a sponge dates back to her childhood.
“My Mum used to make a regular cake which, when I was growing up, I didn’t realise a sponge. It was the cake that she made all the time, it didn’t matter whether we were going to a Pony Club camp or a picnic or a special occasion or whatever, she’d whip it up. I realised later in life when I started doing my training that it was a sponge, and it was something that she used to whip out without fear. There are certain things in baking where people tend to go “ooh, I can’t try that’ because there’s a sense that it’s difficult. But Mum grew up with her mother making that cake, it was something they made regularly, and there was no fear around it. So that’s how I learned to make sponges, with her hot milk sponge recipe.
“Then I learned more and realised that there was this whole genre of different sponges from all around the world, and different combinations of ingredients, but essentially the basis of it was whisking eggs and sugar and a little bit of flour, sometimes cornflour, sometimes milk, butter.»
Anneka Manning’s elderflower gin sponge with mascarpone cream and strawberries uses whole eggs
Essentially, it’s always the same basic ingredient list, she says, with slight variations in the method. “There are three different basic methods for making a sponge. One is to whisk whole eggs with sugar (such as her elderflower gin sponge); one is to whisk yolks with sugar and then the whites with sugar and then combine those two; the other method is to whisk egg whites and sugar and add yolks.
“When I went to college, I started to learn the science behind what the whisked eggs actually contributed to a sponge. It is the air that was being incorporated through that whisking but it was also the protein in the egg that was giving the sponges the structure and flexibility. A lot of people think sponges are quite fragile, but actually, they’re light and airy but also quite flexible because of that flexible protein that the eggs give them.”
Eggs are the key to a great sponge
“The size is also important. so I weigh them. Imagine a four-egg sponge made with small eggs weighing 55 g, let’s say. Another sponge made with 70 g eggs is going to be much higher. If you use small eggs, you will not be getting the result you want. So, look at the date and the size of the eggs before you buy them.”
Manning, too, advises using fresh eggs, at room temperature. Fresh eggs, she explains, take longer to whisk but will yield a more stable foam. Room temperature eggs are quicker and easier to whisk and will hold more air, creating more volume. (You can read more on this on her website)
The other key thing is to whisk the eggs and sugar for long enough. “Whisk the eggs for the length of time given in the recipe,” says Manning. “The protein in the egg can become weak if you over whisk it, but it’s quite hard to do and if you’ve incorporated sugar into them that acts as a stabiliser.
“You need to get to a point where most recipes will say a ribbon trail. What I teach my students is that you should be able to draw a figure eight slowly on top: lift your whisk up and with the trailing mixture draw a figure eight, and if that figure eight is still sitting on top of your mixture by the time you finish the figure eight, that’s when you can begin adding flour and milk, if that’s what you’re using.”
You may see some recipes that use both whole eggs and extra egg yolks – “that gives a richer flavour and it will also give a more tender cake crumb, but I’m not a fan of it, as it takes a little of the lightness away,” says Manning. The result is a ‘cakier’ sponge with a deeper colour. “Because you’re not only adding fat with the yolk, but also colour, it will darken the colour of your sponge cake as well. It will make it richer in mouthfeel, and slightly heavier in texture, although more tender as well.”
Milk and butter
Most often, Manning uses a whole egg hot milk sponge method: whole eggs are whipped till frothy, then sugar is added and the mixture is beaten until thick and pale before the addition of a mixture of hot milk and butter.
“I heat the milk until it’s almost simmering because the warmer the milk is the easier it is to incorporate through your mixture,” she says. This helps in two ways. “Firstly, you’re not going to overmix your mix incorporating it through, so it helps prevent developing the gluten, so that you don’t get a tough sponge. The other good thing about having using warm milk is that because it melds with your whisked egg mixture a lot more easily, you don’t lose a lot of the incorporated air.»
Flour and cornflour
The classic layer sponge is often made with self-raising flour. Because it contains baking powder, it contributes chemical leavening to the cake, with works along with the air incorporated during whisking to create the typical fine, light sponge cake texture.
A common question is whether using some cornflour along with wheat-based flour is the secret to a great cake. “I like cornflour in my sponges, although it depends on the type of sponge I want to create in the end,” Manning says.
Easy Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe
Easy Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe! If you have been on the hunt for a basic vanilla cake recipe then you are welcome, as I have just the right, easy and quick vanilla sponge cake for you. It is fluffy, light, moist and delicious!
I think everyone needs a classic sponge cake recipe in their lives that is foolproof and delicious. A cake that makes everyone believe that you are a star baker and you belong in the tent for GBBO (Great British Bake Off).
A perfect cake recipe for everyone’s birthday or an afternoon tea. This is the basic sponge cake recipe you can pull off and make everyone doff their hats to you.
This has been my go-to basic vanilla sponge cake recipe, it has become a staple now that I can make it with my eyes closed. Honestly, this cake is easy to make. It is light and fluffy and reliable.
I have had some few cakes fails in my life; this is not one of them. I tried making Mary Berry’s Gingerbread cake recently and I think it was a disaster, though my family endured and ate it, I knew it wasn’t right.
Related post: this is the best chocolate recipe you will ever make. It is moist, delicious super easy to make.
Easy Vanilla Sponge Cake
I want to learn how to make other types of cakes, but this easy vanilla cake recipe was the first cake I learnt to bake. Thanks, mum.
Although I learnt the hard way as we had no stand mixer or hand mixer. If we wanted cake then which my mum would happily bake, we had to cream the sugar and butter by hand until light and fluffy and I mean proper light and fluffy. I do not miss those days at all.
Before we start experimenting with other types of cake, it is important to be able to nail the basic which is this vanilla sponge cake here. No, I won’t make you do it the hard way.
As mentioned above, this is my basic and easy vanilla sponge cake recipe which only calls for self-raising flour instead of cake flour. I will share my cake flour recipe at some point but today, let’s do the classic.
Tools for making sponge cake (cake baking tools and equipment)
Every cake expert or beginner would need the following essential tools and equipment to make their baking experience stress free
You would need a hand mixer, in fact, it doesn’t have to be fancy. My hand trusted hand mixer was less than a tenner when I bought it and I have had it almost 9 years now. I would recommend using a hand mixer because of the quantity used in this recipe.
A mixing bowl, same as my hand mixer, my no fancy mixing bowl from ASDA (not sponsored by the way) has been serving me since forever. It is 8 years strong!
Kitchen timer, this is important as you don’t want to open that oven too quick or you will have sunken cake. Your phone timer would suffice too
Cake tins: in whatever form they come but if you are starting out I would suggest you stick to the basic cake tins.
Spatula: to scrape every bit of your batter into the cake tin, no messing about here and yes we are saying no to food waste too.
Cake tester: this could be a toothpick, skewers or an actual cake tester.
parchment paper or cake pan liner: use this to line the case of the cake pan for ease when removing the cake from the pan.
Tips
Ingredients for Easy Vanilla Sponge Cake
Self-raising flour sifted
Caster sugar better than granulated sugar. It makes creaming process easy
Cake butter or any other quality butter. Ensure this is at room temperature
Eggs (at room temperature): I hate eggy smell in cakes, so I always use one less egg than the recipe calls for. Eggs in cake recipes or any other baked goods are added to make the cake moist and to avoid it becoming too dry or chewy. I have used 3 large eggs for this sponge cake
Vanilla paste or vanilla extract flavouring: any of these works just fine
Milk: this is almost optional but recommended if you have it on hand. Without going into the baking science of why it is essential, use it if it’s available to you.
Baking powder: You don’t necessarily need this when using self-raising flour but I added about ½ teaspoon for good measure (I don’t have trust issues btw)
2 x 8-inch cake pans
How to Make Easy Vanilla Sponge Cake (Best Sponge Cake Recipe)
Preheat the oven at 180C/ 375F or 160C/320F for a fan oven
Prepare the cake pans (2 x 8” round). Butter and line the tin base with a circle parchment paper
Using a hand mixer or stand mixer
Start by creaming the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. This should be about 3 to 5 minutes
Then add the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla essence and mix until combined
Add the flour and baking powder if using.
Using a wooden spoon or spatula, fold the flour into the mixture until well combined. Lastly, add the milk and mix till well incorporated into the batter.
Divide the batter between the prepared tins and bake in the oven for between 25 to 30 minutes or until skewers/cake tester comes out clean.
Remove cake from the oven and leave to cool, remove from the tin and place on a cooling rack.
Make a Lemon sponge cake
Add the zest and juice of one lemon to the cake batter for a beautiful lemon sponge cake ever
Turn this cake to Victoria sponge cake by sandwiching two baked cakes with buttercream and jam. You can use store-bought or homemade strawberry or raspberry jam.
Do you love this easy cake recipe, why not give this orange cake a go? you would love it. It is one bowl, quick and super easy to make. Also if you love coffee then this delicious coffee cake has your name written all over it.
How to store sponge cake
This easy vanilla sponge cake would keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. Wrap in a cling film or airtight container. This prevents the cake from drying out especially from catching the smell of other foods in your fridge.
Sponge cake
Choose your favourite filling for this easy, perfectly fluffy sponge cake – we’ve opted for lemon curd and whipped cream, but you could have jam. Perfect for afternoon tea.
Vegetarian
| Nutrient | Unit |
|---|---|
| kcal | 376 |
| fat | 21 g |
| saturates | 12 g |
| carbs | 40 g |
| sugars | 23 g |
| fibre | 1 g |
| protein | 6 g |
| salt | 0.7 g |
Ingredients
Method
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4, butter and line the base of two 20cm spring-form cake tins with baking parchment.
Using an electric whisk beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Crack the eggs in one at a time and whisk well, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the lemon zest, vanilla, flour, milk and a pinch of salt. Whisk until just combined then divide the mixture between the two tins.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. After 10 mins remove the cakes from their tins and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Fill how you like. My personal favourite is a good dollop of lemon curd and some fresh cream, then dust the top with icing sugar. Will keep for 3 days.