Baking a sponge cake is quite challenging as it might raise too much at the centre when the oven is over heated and there's nothing more horrifying that having a sponge cake that turn out hard or sticky
My first attempt was a failure as the recipe doesn't taste good, let alone the texture. Second attempt was too a failure as the texture was totally wrong thou the taste is there. After searching online for tips, I succeed in my 3rd attempt!! Some blogger or author tend to hide some details or perhaps they assume everyone is a expert.
This light and airy recipe for sponge cake serves as the basis for many types of layered cake. Hope you will like it as much as I do. Oh, its normal if the cake shrink a little as no stabilising agent is used. So don't worry if yours sink after it has cooled down.
Recipe: Soft Sponge Cake
Makes: 8" square baking pan - eaten on its own OR
6" square tin if you are making a 3 layer sponge cake
Ingredients:
A
• 60g butter, melted
• 80g cake flour (sift)
• 80ml milk
• 1 egg + 5 egg yolks
B
• 5 egg whites
• 120g sugar (i use 80g)
• pinch of salt
Method:
1. Preheat oven at 170*C for 15 mins.
2. Beat 1 egg + 5 yolks until creamy & fluffy on high speed for a few minutes (i go 3mins) or until it double its original volume. Add in flour & alternate it with milk. Add in melted butter and mix well. Set aside.
3. Beat egg whites on high speed until white & frothy for about 40sec - 1min. Add in salt & sugar a bit at a time. Beat for about 2 mins until its stiff & thick formy. Once mixture clings & does not drip, it is ready.
4. Fold 1/3 whites with egg yolk batter with a spatula till well combined. Take another 1/3 egg whites, repeat the same step. And same for the last 1/3 egg white. DO NOT OVER MIX!
5. Pour batter into fully lined baking pan. Give the pan a few good shakes to remove air.
6. Bake a preheated oven 170C for 10mins, then reduce heat to 150C for another 30-35min or till done.
7. Remove from oven and
Normal baking tin - overturn for 5mins (to prevent cake from sinking) before unmould (to prevent cake from sinking).
Removable tin - Cool for 5min-10min, run a metal spatula or a small sharp knife around inside of pan to lossen cake and unmould.
8. Place them on a wire rack to cool completely (for at least half an hour), remove baking paper if any and spread the sponge with jam/cream/frosting as you desire.
*you can spread a layer or sandwiched it with some buttercream if you prefer. or cut into 2-3 layers and make Strawberry Shortcake.
Tips:
- Make sure that the mixer attachment and bowl are washed extremely clean at this point. If not, any fat that remains on these utensils will negatively affect the whipping of the egg whites. Keep the items spotless.
- Do not add the egg whites until you are ready to begin cooking your project. Sometimes batters may require refrigeration prior to the actual cooking, but folded egg whites tend to "settle" rather quickly, losing the benefit of having added them to begin with.
- Always fold the lighter ingredient (egg white) into the heavier ingredient (batter).
- Eggs at room temperature whip better than eggs straight out of the fridge.
Hi! I've tried this recipe, and the spongecake is great - fluffy and velvet soft, just what I was looking for. :)
ReplyDeleteI would only add that it is ready when the top is a darkish brown, because I took mine out of the oven when it was light brown, and despite the fact that the toothpick I stuck into the middle came out dry, the inside is a bit too wet for my taste.
i tried making one today. It is so far the best receipe i have tried over the past few weeks. It tasted like japanese cheese cake.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteGlad that you like the recipe! Have fun baking more Delish goody!
hi i havnt made this yet but was wondering isnt it alot of eggs?
ReplyDeleteHi S_mubasher,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that this recipe call for a lot of eggs, but the taste is very rich and goody. Is full of fragrant and soft, try the recipe and let us know if you are still bother by the number of eggs used. ;D
Came out wonderful :D Didn't sink, had a perfect flat top, and a nice fluffy texture. Thanks for the recipe :)
ReplyDeleteHey Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience. Glad the recipe turn out great. ;)
I tried the cake today.It raised while in the oven but when I took it out,it became flat and the cake is too wet.I want the to be more dry.How can I do that?
ReplyDeleteHi Rumpa,
ReplyDeleteDid you follow the instruction closely? Over beating the eggs, oven wrong temperature, cake may not be cooked for long enough, too little flour with too much eggs (don't use large eggs), or you had open the oven door before the cake has set causing the cake to collapse.
I followed all the instructions.temperature was correct and cooked for 50 mins in total and tests like pudding cake because of so much egg but it was soft though.Yes,I used large eggs.should I increase the flour a bit or reduce the number of eggs?
ReplyDeleteHi Rumpa,
ReplyDeleteYou should increase the flour a little if you are using large eggs. Or you can use standard egg. Different oven might have different heat even using the same temp... So perhaps you can try to increase the temp a little and see.
Hi, when you say cake flour is that just plain flour or self raising?
ReplyDeleteHi Meenu,
ReplyDeleteCake flour is not plain flour (all-purpose flour) nor self raising flour.
Cake flour is another type of flour that has more soft wheat than any other type of flour with a high starch content. It has the lowest protein content of any wheat flour too. It sets a cake faster and distributes fat more evenly through the batter. It has excellent tolerance for baking fine-textured cakes with greater volume.
If you can't get cake flour, you can easily substitute with plain flour + corn flour.
1) Measure out the plain flour (as stated for cake flour) needed for your recipe.
2) For every 1 cup of plain flour remove 2 tbsp of plain flour.
3) Add 2 tbsp Cornstarch for every 1 cup of flour. (replacing the tablespoons of plain flour taken out).
4 Sift the mixed flour 5-6 times and it's ready-to-use cake flour.
Thanks! This is very helpful. I will be trying this out soon and will let you know how it turned out.
ReplyDeleteHave fun baking Meenu!
ReplyDeleteDon't u use vanilla extract? Xx
ReplyDeleteHi Nikki,
ReplyDeleteNot for this recipe, the cake is good without it too. But feel free to add on if you like. ;)
Hi!! May I know what type of sugar do you use?? And is your butter salted or unsalted??
ReplyDeleteHi Nisha,
ReplyDeleteI usually use castor sugar and unsalted butter ;)
hello, thanks for the recipe.i noted there wasn't any flavour or baking powder, why?
ReplyDeleteHi DD,
ReplyDeleteYou don't need any flavour for sponge cake as the flavour comes from the eggs and butter. No baking powder as the skill used here is sufficient to make the cake raise the right way. It's natural and good ;D
hi, could you please tell me the measurements in cups for flour, sugar and butter, thanks
ReplyDeleteHi Chaitna,
ReplyDeleteYou can do a online convention at http://allrecipes.com/howto/cup-to-gram-conversions/ or http://onlineconversion.com/. ;D