Cookbook:Sponge Cake

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes

| Dessert | Cake

Sponge cake is the most commonly recognised variety of baked confectionery in Britain. It has a sweet taste, often flavoured with vanilla, chocolate or other additions. It can be cut and displayed in a very large number of different ways.

A more difficult version of this recipe is available for those having a kitchen scale and wanting to use it.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 3 eggs
• 1 Cup minus 2 Tablespoon Self-Rising Flour (or regular flour with 1 mounded tablespoon baking soda added)
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1/2 cup butter

If your eggs seem kind of big, you might want to increase the amounts of some ingredients. Add an extra teaspoon each of sugar and butter, and two extra teaspoons of flour. Also, note the adjustments below based on usage of optional ingredients.

Extras (Optional)

• vanilla extract (1-2 T)
• food coloring (according to looks)
• cocoa powder (according to taste. Use 3 parts less flour for every 4 parts added.)

For the filling

Choose one of these to spread between two cakes if making a cake with more than two eggs.

• 2 to 4 T jelly (softened with pallette knife or similar) or
• Buttercream (cream together 1/2 c superfine sugar and 1/2 c butter)

For dredging

• 1/3 cup sugar, any type

Procedure

1. Preheat an oven to 400°F.
2. Cream together the sugar and butter in the mixing bowl. They should achieve a creamy texture with quite a thick consistency. The longer, harder and faster the butter and sugar are creamed the lighter the cake will be when cooked.
3. Add both eggs and mix well.
4. Add all the flour and mix well.
5. Add any food coloring, flavoring etc. at this point. If you add liquid ingredients, add the same volume again of sugar-and-flour mix to compensate. If adding dry ingredients, ensure to use 3 parts less flour for every 4 parts of extra ingredient added.
6. Beat with wooden spoon in a circular motion, trying to incorporate as much air as possible.
7. Grease one or two cake pan(s) with butter. You may wish to use a springform pan for this recipe.
8. Spoon, then scrape, as much cake mixture as possible into the pan(s). If using two pans, try to ensure that both tins have an equal amount of cake mixture in them and that both are not more than 3/4 filled.
9. Put the cake tins into the oven and leave them for approximately 10 minutes before checking them. The cooking time should eventually reach around 15 minutes: keep checking them regularly after about 8 minutes since ovens vary.
10. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool.
11. If doing two layers, turn one of them upside down and spread your filling onto its base, then stick the other cake (top up) onto the upside-down cake.
12. Dredge the cake with sugar using a spoon.