Sponge Cake
Unlike other cakes that rely on chemical leaveners like baking soda, sponge cake achieves its rise through the air trapped in beaten eggs. It has lower liquid content and higher flour content, resulting in a denser texture that offers better support - ideal for serving as the foundation of a fondant cake or intricate birthday cake.
Equipment
- Kitchen scale
- Aluminum cake pan (6 inch round cake pan)
- Parchment paper
- Mixing bowls
- Large Pot
- hand mixer
- fine mesh strainer
- candy thermometer
- Silicone spatula
- oven
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 90 g granulated sugar
- 90 g cake flour (or use 72g all purpose flour + 18g cornstarch to substitute 90g cake flour)
- 30 g butter (unsalted)
- 30 g milk (Or soymilk, coconut milk, oat milk, almond milk …)
- 4 g vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- Cut the parchment paper into a 6-inch circle and place it in a 6-inch aluminum cake pan. Do not grease the cake pan. Measure out 90g of cake flour and 90g of granulated sugar into two separate bowls.
- Preheat oven to 160℃/320℉.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil, then remove it from the heat and set it aside.
- Crack 3 eggs into a grease-free and water-free mixing bowl, and beat until uniform. Attach a candy thermometer to the mixing bowl, then position the mixing bowl over the hot water bath, stirring the mixture gently with a whisk to ensure even heating. Once the thermometer registers 40°C/104°F, remove the mixing bowl from the hot water bath. (If you don't have a thermometer, you can use your finger to gauge the temperature; when you feel warmth on your finger, it's ready.)
- Combine butter, milk, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Set the bowl over the hot water bath to melt the butter.
- Beat the egg mixture with a hand mixer on high speed until many large bubbles form; then pour all the granulated sugar into the egg mixture.
- Switch the hand mixer to medium speed and continue beating the egg mixture. When the color of the egg mixture turns beige and there are streaks visible while beating, lift the mixer to check the state. If the dripped egg mixture disappears quickly, continue beating. Lift the mixer; if the egg batter flows smoothly like a ribbon, dripping onto the surface of the batter and forming folds that slowly blend into the mixture, it indicates that the eggs are properly beaten. This process takes about 15 minutes.
- Sift the cake flour into the egg batter in 3 batches. After each sift, use a spatula to gently fold the batter from the bottom to the top to incorporate the cake flour into the batter. Be gentle to avoid deflating the batter.
- Remove the bowl containing melted butter and milk from the hot water bath. Transfer ¼ of the egg batter into the bowl with melted butter and milk, and gently mix well with a spatula.
- Pour the butter milk batter into the remaining ¾ of the batter, and gently fold well.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Quickly place the mold on the lower rack of the preheated oven (160℃/320℉) and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (The oven's setting temperature may not be the same as the actual temperature, so adjust the time according to your observation; If the surface is already colored but the toothpick doesn't come out clean, you can loosely cover the cake with foil to prevent excessive browning.)
- Once baked, quickly invert the cake pan onto a cooling rack until the cake is cooled to room temperature. Then, remove the cake from the pan and proceed to decorate or serve as desired.