Sponge Cake

Sponge Cake

A very tasty , Sponge like textured Cake can be done at home will little effort.  Major part of preparation is beating eggs.  If you have Stand mixer or Hand mixer for beating eggs, making Sponge cake is very very easy. 

But you can also do the same , even if you don’t have any electric mixer.  But don’t use food processor or mixie for beating eggs. 

If you don’t have stand mixer or hand mixer , it’s better to beat eggs with hands. 

As I don’t have electric mixer, I beat eggs with hands using wire whisk.  It may take time to beat eggs but still the effort we put will give excellent result in the form of very soft, spongy and tasty Cake.

Sponge cake can be prepared without eggs but the result will not be the same.  I don’t want to compromise in texture or taste, so I opted to make Sponge Cake using eggs.

Recipe:

6 : Eggs

87.5 grams ( 100 grams minus 2 tbsp) :  All-purpose flour / Maida

12. 5 grams (2 tbsp) :  Corn flour

1/4 teaspoon : baking powder

1/4 teaspoon  : salt

200 grams :  granulated white sugar, divided

1 teaspoon :  vanilla extract

2 tablespoons :  water

2 pinches : Zest of a lemon  or orange (outer skin)

3/4 teaspoon: lemon juice

. Grease the baking tin with oil and then dust it with the flour.

First we have to Separate Egg Whites and Yolks.  Separate the cold eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl. Cover the bowls with plastic wrap and bring the eggs to room temperature (about 30 minutes).

Meanwhile sift and weigh the All-purpose flour.  Again, sift the sifted flour with corn flour, the baking powder and salt. Set aside.  

Beating the eggs:

      Place the egg yolks and 2/3 cup (135 grams) of the sugar in the bowl .  Using egg beater ( wire whisk ) , Beat on high speed until they are thick, fluffy and light colored (when you slowly raise the beater the batter will fall back into the bowl in a slow ribbon). Then beat in the vanilla extract, water, and lemon zest. Set aside while you beat the egg whites.

     In a clean bowl using separate clean wire whisk , beat the egg whites until foamy. Don’t use the same whisk which is used for beating egg yolks.  Even a small amount of fat will prevent egg white to form good consistency.

 When the egg form foamy with log of bubbles, add the lemon juice and continue beating until soft peaks form. 

Gradually add the 1/3 cup (65 grams) of sugar.  Add 2 tbsp of sugar at a time. Let it mix nicely. Then add next batch of sugar.  Don’t pour all the sugar at a time, at one place.  Continue beating until the egg whites are shiny and just form stiff peaks. The process may take 4 to 5 minutes if done in electric hand mixer or stand mixer.  It may take 20 minutes , if you do it with your hand with egg beater.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Sifting flour is to get air trapped inside so don't miss the step. Sift the flour mixture over the beaten egg yolks (about one third of the flour mixture at a time) and gently but quickly fold (with a wire whisk or rubber spatula) the flour into the egg yolk batter.

Then gently fold a little of the beaten egg whites into the batter to lighten it, and then add the rest of the whites, folding just until incorporated. (Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.)

 Pour the batter into the greased and dusted baking pan, smoothing the top.  Don’t fill more than half of the tin.

Bake in preheated oven @ 180 degree C,  for 28 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and immediately invert the pan on the greased wire rack. (turn upside down).

 Allow the cake to cool completely before unmolding (about one hour). 

You can be able to unmold easily .

After Unmold... Back side of the Cake

Optionally you can remove the top layer of the cake . The cake can be served plain with a dusting of powdered sugar , sift powdered sugar on top of the cake. Can add fresh fruit and softly whipped cream.  Or can even dust,  Bournvita / Boost ( which we use for mixing with milk ) on top of sugar dust.  

Dusted with powdered Sugar.

Added Fruits as toppings

Dusted with Bournvita 

·       Lemon zest : Keep the Lemon in freezer for half an hour and grate only the top, yellow portion to get lemon zest.  Don’t grate white parts as it may taste bitter. 

·        Orange zest : For Orange , just grate the orange portion of the skin.  Don’t grate white portion.