How To Make A Sponge Cake From Scratch
Sponge cake is the quintessential and most common type of cake that provides the foundation in multi-layered cakes, being nestled in between creamy frosting and oft-times covered in more frosting or icing with beautiful decorative frosting-based swirls and flourishes, chocolate and sugar art.
On the other hand, it can be as simple as a Victoria sponge cake that is only filled with jam and whipped cream, or as plain as pound cake without any adornment. Thus, the humble sponge cake itself is relatively easy to make yet is very versatile, having numerous variants that allows you to make a whole host of delicious desserts, from really easy to very complex.
If you are starting out on your baking journey, you will probably not want to try a very complex recipe. As such, you will find the recipe to be quite easy to make, yielding a lemon-flavored sponge cake that does not require any decoration.
This recipe is also quite flexible: for example, if you don’t fancy lemons, you can substitute another citrus fruit such as an orange. Or skip the fruit entirely and double the vanilla extract to get a vanilla sponge cake!
Enjoy baking this sponge cake! And when you have made your very first sponge cake, do return here and drop us a comment below to tell us what you think of the recipe.
To your baking success!
Aldrin The Baker
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 50 minutes |
| Passive Time | 1 hour for cooling |
| Servings |
cake (12 servings each)
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- 7 oz sugar, white granulated (to mix with the egg yolks)
- 5.3 oz flour, all-purpose (plain)
- 6 eggs (about 2 oz or 55 g each)
- 1 lemon zest (zest of each lemon)
- 2 oz lemon juice
- 2 oz water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 0.5 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3.5 oz sugar, white granulated (to mix with the egg whites)
Ingredients
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- Gently separate eggs into yolks and whites and, if chilled, allow them to stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
- Get the ingredients ready for use by weighing/measuring each ingredient into separate bowls.
- Preheat oven to 325°F (165°C).
- In one mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks with the stand mixer or electric hand mixer on high speed for 5 minutes or until thick and light yellow in color. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and water and beat on low speed until combined. Gradually beat in 1 cup of sugar on low speed and continue to beat on low speed for 5 minutes until the egg yolk mixture has thickened and doubled in volume. Add the flour 1/4 cup at a time and using a spatula, gently fold the flour into the egg yolk mixture.
- Thoroughly wash the wire whisk for the stand mixer or electric hand mixer. In another mixing bowl, add the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat with the stand mixer or electric hand mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the 1/2 cup sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold about 1 cup of the egg white mixture in the egg yolk mixture. Then add all of the egg yolk mixture into the remainder of the egg white mixture and gently fold to combine. Pour the batter in the pan
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert the pan onto a wire rack.
- Cool the pan completely and then remove the cake from the pan by gently loosening the sides of the cake from the pan.
- Slice and serve the cake.
Equipment Required (in order of use)
- Up to 9 extra bowls to hold the ingredients
- Kitchen weighing scale (preferably digital)
- Measuring spoons
- Convection oven
- 10-inch round tube pan
- 2 mixing bowls
- Stand mixer or hand mixer with wire whisk attachment
- Silicone scraper spatula
- Oven mitts
- Wire rack