Light, airy, and versatile, a classic sponge cake is the perfect base for syrups, liquors, and fruit sauces. Learn how to make a basic recipe using just 3 ingredients, complete with step-by-step instructions, photos, and expert tips!
Classic Sponge Cake
Why you’ll love this sponge cake recipe:
Beautifully tall, fluffy, and light, sponge cake is a type of foam cake with a tall and airy structure that comes from whipped eggs, not the chemical leaveners like baking soda or baking powder you find in other cake recipes.
In addition, classic sponge cakes, like this one, are fat-free, meaning there is no butter or oil in the batter to weigh it down.
Sponge cake tends to be on the drier side, but this is actually an advantage! The dry cake layers easily infuse with flavor and moisture from syrups and sauces.
This is a seriously easy recipe, made using just 3 ingredients: eggs, sugar, and cake flour.
This simple sponge cake is the perfect canvas for all kinds of layered recipes, like this lemon layer cake with lemon curd or pineapple layer cake.
Sponge cakes are an ideal make-ahead cake because it’s better to bake them at least a day in advance. Plus, pretty much all sauces and fillings can be prepared beforehand, too!
Key Ingredient Notes:
- Eggs – Be sure to use room-temperature eggs, because they’re easier to beat air into.
- Sugar – Superfine sugar, or caster sugar, is ideal for sponge cakes because it dissolves more quickly than regular granulated sugar.
- Cake flour – For a lighter, more tender crumb. Compared to all-purpose flour, cake flour is higher in protein and lower in gluten, resulting in a softer, more delicate cake.
No cake flour? No problem!
If you don’t have cake flour on hand, don’t worry! Simply measure 1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour. Then, remove 3 tablespoons. Replace the 3 tablespoons of flour with cornstarch, and sift it well before using. It’s seriously that easy to make!
How to make a basic sponge cake:
CONTINUE READING ON THE NEXT PAGE 🥰💕
