Chocolate Sponge Cake (Soft Like Cloud)
This recipe guides you through each step to make a cloud-like chocolate sponge cake, from lining the baking pan with parchment paper to achieving the perfect consistency of the batter. The cake bakes to perfection in a water bath, ensuring a tender and even crumb.
Equipment
- kitchen scale or measuring cups (I will provide ingredient measurements in both grams and measuring cups, but I highly recommend using a kitchen scale for greater accuracy and to ensure a more successful final dish.)
- Baking Pan (I used a 9x11x3 inch rectangle baking pan. You can also use two 8 inch round cake pans. Or Cut this recipe in half and use one 8 inch round cake pan.)
- Food thermometer
- hand mixer
- Mixing bowls
- Parchment paper
- oven
Ingredients
- 8 extra large eggs (The weight of each extra large egg, including the shell, is approximately 63g. If you're using large eggs instead, which weigh about 56g with the shell, you will need 9 eggs.)
- 100 g vegetable oil (⅓ cup + 2 tbsps; Or corn oil)
- 90 g cake flour (½ cup + 2 tbsps; Or use 72g all purpose flour + 18g cornstarch instead.)
- 40 g cocoa powder (4 tbsps)
- 120 g milk (½ cup; Or soymilk, coconut milk, oat milk, almond milk … )
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- 15 g lemon juice (1 tbsp; You can get about 1 tbsp of lemon juice by squeezing half lemon.)
- 120 g granulated sugar (½ cup + 2 tbsp)
Instructions
- Line a baking pan with parchment paper (refer to the step-by-step image illustrations above). Preheat the oven to 295℉/145℃.
- Separate 8 extra large eggs into yolks and whites. Place the egg yolks in a small bowl, set aside on countertop. Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl, keep in the freezer.
- Add 90g cake flour to a large mixing bowl. Use a small saucepan to heat up 100g vegetable/corn oil over medium heat until it reaches 165℉/75℃. Carefully pour the hot oil into the mixing bowl. Stir the mixture using a whisk until the cake flour is thoroughly incorporated with the oil.
- Add 40g cocoa powder to the flour oil mixture, mix with a whisk until smooth. Then add 120g milk, 8 egg yolks, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract (optional) to the mixture, stir with a whisk until smooth. Set aside.
- Take the egg white's mixing bowl out from the freezer. You might observe that the edges of the egg whites have started to freeze. Add 1 tbsp of lemon juice and 40g sugar into the egg whites. Use medium speed (speed 3 out of 5) of a hand mixer to whip the egg whites for 3 minutes until fish eye size bubbles form.
- Add another 40g sugar into the egg whites, use medium speed to whip the egg whites for 3 more minutes until the bubbles are too tiny to be seen.
- Add the remaining 40g sugar into the egg whites, use medium speed to whip the egg whites until medium peak forms (*see the pictures in content above for the differences between "soft peaks" and "medium peaks".) It will take approximately 15 minutes of total whipping time.
- Scoop ⅓ of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, fold until well combined.
- Transfer the egg yolk mixture to the egg white bowl, gently fold until the color looks even.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan, gently spread the batter with a spatula to create a smooth surface. Pour the batter into the cake pan, gently spread the batter with a spatula to create a smooth surface. Drop the cake pan on the kitchen counter a couple of times to eliminate large bubbles from the batter.
- Place the filled cake pan inside a larger cake pan or baking dish. Carefully pour cold water into the larger pan, taking care not to splash water into the cake batter. Add enough water to reach about halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
- Gently transfer the pans to the preheated oven. Bake at 295℉/145℃ for 75 minutes.
- Remove the cake pan from the oven, lift the cake pan out of the water bath, hold the edge of the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the cake pan. Place the cake on a wire rack, use a serrated knife to cut the cake into 8 pieces.
- Serve the chocolate sponge cake hot immediately. Or allow the cake to cool completely, place it in an airtight container, and keep it in the fridge (for 3 to 4 days) or in the freezer (for 2 to 3 months). Feel free to decorate the cake with whipped cream (see my whipped cream recipe here) or any other frosting of your choice before enjoying it.