Sponge cake

• 20 minutes to prepare • 40 minutes to cook • Serves 12

Back to basics 

 

Sponge cake is one of the basic preparations of Italian pastry-making that all those who love to bake have prepared at least once to give life to a wonderful birthday cake or to a dessert based on this soft preparation.

It is a simple recipe, but often the simplest things in the kitchen require a lot of care to obtain a perfect result, and all the cake height you deserve.

The softness of the sponge cake with a typical honeycomb texture is due to the use of a low-protein flour so that the dough is not elastic. In addition, the use of starch that absorbs humidity will allow you to obtain an even softer cake. There are different varieties of this recipe; while the procedures are different, the result does not change.

For special occasions, prepare the sponge cake filled with custard, pistachio cream or chocolate ganache, or to assemble a delicious trifle. Today I used chantilly cream and whipped cream.

Here are ingredients for a 12-serving recipe (24-cm diameter baking pan):

200 g sugar
150 g flour 00
100 g frumina
10 g butter
1 sachet vanilla baking powder
5 eggs
1 vanilla bean
salt

1. Preheat oven to 180°
2. To prepare the sponge cake, separate the egg whites from the yolks and beat egg whites with half the sugar until stiff
3. Place egg yolks into the bowl of a stand mixer, then take the vanilla bean, cut it in half and remove the seeds with the blade of a smooth knife
4. Add them to the eggs yolks with a pinch of salt. Then turn the stand mixer on at medium speed and mix for about 15-20 minutes, adding the rest of the sugar a little at a time for it to be absorbed well
5. In the meantime, carefully grease and flour the 24-cm cake mold and, as soon as the mixture of eggs and sugar has become clear, fluffed up and frothy, turn off the machine. As an alternative to a stand mixer, you can use an electric beater. To understand if the mixture is ready, lift out a part and “write” on the rest of the mixture. It should create a clearly distinguishable thread without being absorbed
6. At this point, add the wites, and place a fine sieve on the bowl of the mixer and pour both the flour and the frumina, and the baking powder in the sieve
7. Sift the powders and mix everything with a hand whisk or a spatula making movements from the bottom up. Do this step very gently so as not to deflate the mixture
8. As soon as the powders are completely incorporated, pour everything into the cake mold and use a spatula to level the surface. At this point, it is essential not to beat the mold on the surface to level it, otherwise the mixture will deflate
9. Bake the sponge cake in a static oven preheated to 180°C on the lowest rack for about 40 minutes. Avoid opening the oven during this time and before taking the cake out of the oven, check its readiness with the toothpick test since each oven is different. The toothpick must be completely dry when pulled out from the center of the cake
10. Once ready, let the cake partially cool in the pan before removing it. Then let it cool completely on a wire rack before serving or filling it

Nutrition Facts are detailed in the table below. Data is provided per serving.