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Cakes & Tortes · Recipe No. 28

Irena's Sponge Cake

Fluffy, wonderfully eggy sponge cake from my magic notebook, with two methods and lessons learned from my not-quite-perfect baby cake.

3 min read 10/10 · 1 vote

Hello! Today looks like it will be a nicer but also a chillier day. Winter is getting closer and closer.

As I wrote yesterday, I made a cake to celebrate the birth of our neighbors' daughter. And of course, a cake needs a sponge cake.

I thought for a long time about whether to show you my not-quite-successful creation, but really, we learn from our mistakes. And not always just our own.

Here is the sponge cake, whose recipe is in my magic notebook.

sponge cake

The mistake you should not repeat is using a pan that's too small for the sponge. I made half a batch (though I'm giving the ingredients for a springform pan of "normal" size) and misjudged the size of the pan. On top of that, the batter rose so beautifully that it formed a "mushroom" top. I trimmed off the edges of the "mushroom" and after that they didn't get in my way at all.

Luckily the looks didn't hurt the taste, and the sponge came out wonderfully eggy and fluffy. What I like about it is that it didn't sink after baking.

Ingredients:

  • 5 eggs

  • just under 1 cup sugar

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour

  • 1 tbsp potato starch

  • 1.5 tsp baking powder

EDIT: I'm editing the recipe, because after looking through many other recipes I decided to try a different way of making this sponge (method 2), which makes the sponge seem fluffier. I left the amounts of ingredients unchanged. I'm giving both methods, though.

Method 1:

Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F).

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Beat the yolks with the sugar until fluffy and white. Add the sifted flour with the baking powder, and the potato starch. Beat the egg whites until stiff enough to cut with a knife. This is important, because the whites have to be "strong" enough to hold up the rest of the batter.

Gently but thoroughly fold everything together with the rest of the ingredients and bake for 30 minutes. After baking, take it out of the oven and let it cool.

Method 2:

Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F).

Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Beat the whites until stiff peaks form, slowly adding the sugar at the very end of beating. When the whites start to look glossy, add the yolks one at a time. Finally, add the flours mixed together with the baking powder and sifted, a spoonful at a time, stirring lightly. Mix gently, only until the ingredients come together. Spread the batter in the pan and bake as in method 1.

If you're planning to slice the sponge into layers, it's best to bake it the day before. It's easier to slice then.

And this is my second slightly "oops" creation: the cake. I spotted the design at aga0286's on mniammniam.com. I'll still have to work on it a bit, though.

little crying baby cake

I had already read before that you shouldn't roll out marshmallow fondant too thin. Now I know why, and I'm telling you too, just in case. It's actually logical, but blondes don't always think logically, right? (no offense to blondes, of course ;)) When the fondant is too thin, it starts to show through and tear. Besides, here and there some bubbles formed under the fondant and they were hard to get rid of. Next time I'll remember. Unfortunately, the fussy baby didn't let me make any more fixes. Luckily the neighbors liked the cake and it tasted good.

For the cake filling I used a mascarpone cream, in the egg-free version.