Cooking For Beginners How To Make Sponge Cake

Sponge is a basis for many desserts both as cake, as the bottom layer in trifle and upside down cakes and as a topping over fruit for pudding.

Sponge cake is one of the earliest cakes made without yeast. The earliest recorded sponge cake recipe in English appears in a goodhousekeeping book from 1615 by the English poet Gervase Markham, entitled “The English Huswife”. It is a staple of European cuisine and versions have spread to every part of the globe that European settlers have made their home.

The lightness of the cake comes from the amount of air incorporated into the foamed eggs and the other ingredients. Some versions use a raising agent to obtain a more consistent result. Cooks seeking the perfect sponge cake will sift the flour several times to remove any lumps and increase the amount of air as much as possible but nowadays electric mixers provide a quite adequate light and airy batter for a quick everyday cake not seeking to be an Olympic contender.

Sponge cake was certainly a firm favorite of Queen Victoria, who took a slice most afternoons with afternoon tea. The version to which she gave her name is given below.

Victoria Sponge Cake Recipe

Queen Victoria’s sponge cake uses a raising agent for consistency (the Queen was renowned for being outspoken) and is served simply filled with raspberry or strawberry preserve and dredged with powdered sugar. This cake recipe can also be used as a topping (for instance for Eve’s Pudding) but a quick and simple recipe for a sponge topping is given below.

This recipe uses self-raising flour. All-purpose flour can be used instead, simply add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and a dash of salt to the recipe. In the Imperial measurements used in Victorian times, the recipe is very easy to remember: 6 ounces each of self-raising flour, sugar and butter plus 3 eggs (also approx. 6 ounces).

1½ sticks (6oz / 170g) of butter
1½ cups (6oz / 170g) of self-raising flour
3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup (6oz / 170g) of caster sugar
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
Strawberry or raspberry preserve

Pre-heat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

1. Beat the eggs with an electric mixer until very pale in color.
2. Clean the mixer blades and beat together the butter and sugar until the mixture is very pale in color.
3. Fold in the flour and the well-beaten eggs together with the vanilla extract. Add a little milk if necessary to obtain a soft mixture.
4. Place the batter in two greased 7½” (19cm) cake tins.
5. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven at 350°F (180°C) for 20-25 minutes until pale gold and spongy to the touch.

Remove the cakes from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pans and transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

When they are completely cool, sandwich the two cakes together with raspberry or strawberry preserves, or a filling of your choice (other preserves, lemon curd, butter icing, sweetened heavy whipped cream, etc.).

Dredge the top with icing sugar.

Quick & Easy Basic Sponge Cake

This is quick recipe for a sponge topping or a base for an upside down cake. When catering for a crowd, the recipe can be doubled and baked in a 9×13” (225x325mm) pan.

2 eggs
1 cup (4oz / 110g) of sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon (5ml) of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (1/2oz / 15ml) of melted butter / vegetable oil
1/2 cup (4oz / 120ml) boiling hot milk
1 cup (4oz / 110g) of sifted self-raising flour
OR 1 cup of all-purpose flour plus ¼ tsp of baking soda and a dash of salt

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F (180°C)

1. If you are using all-purpose flour, combine the flour and the baking soda.
2. Beat the eggs until they are very pale.
3. Beat in the sugar, salt and vanilla extract.
4. Beat in the butter and then the hot milk.
5. Now, immediately add the flour to the mixture and beat quickly because the hot liquids start to cook the eggs.
6. Immediately pour the mixture into a greased 9-inch round pan or 8×8” dish.
7. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 25 to 30 minutes until set in the center.

The cake can be serves with custard or topped with syrup as a pudding. Other flavorings can be added – rum esssence and/or almond essence for instance or 1/4 cup of lemon juice and lemon zest can be added in place of 1/4 cup of hot milk (the lemon juice must be boiling, like the milk, and the sponge may take a little longer to set completely).

The sponge can be used in the production of fruit puddings such as Eve’s Pudding and desserts such as pineapple upside down cake.