Easy Sponge Cake : so soft & moist!…
Sponge cake is one of the basic Italian pastry preparations that everyone who loves to cook has prepared at least once to give life to a wonderful birthday cake or a dessert based on this soft preparation! A simple recipe, but often the simplest things in the kitchen require a lot of care for a perfect result! The fluffy texture of the sponge cake, as well as the high and honeycombed result, are due to the use of a part of weak flour such as 00, which allows for a non-elastic dough, and a part of starch, which, by absorbing moisture, will return an even fluffier cake.
Ingredients:
Ingredients for a 9-inch (24 cm) cake pan:
- 5 medium eggs, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup (75g) cake flour (self-raising flour)
- 2/3 cup (75g) potato starch (cornstarch can be substituted)
- 1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 1 pinch of salt
For greasing and flouring the pan:
- Butter, as needed
- Cake flour (self-raising flour), as needed
How to make easy Sponge Cake:
- To prepare the sponge cake, break the eggs in the bowl of a planetary mixer; then take the vanilla pod, cut it in half, and with the blade of a smooth small knife scoop out the inner seeds. Add them to the eggs and also add a pinch of salt. Then run the planetary mixer on medium-high speed and pour in the sugar a little at a time.
- Knead the mixture for about 15 to 20 minutes total. In the meantime, thoroughly butter and flour the 24-cm mold and as soon as the egg and sugar mixture has become light, puffy, and fluffy you can stop working it. As an alternative to the planetary mixer, you can use an electric beater. To tell if the dough is ready in jargon it is said to “write”: by letting a part of it slide over the whipped mixture it should not join the rest but create a clearly distinguishable thread. At this point place a fine-mesh sieve over the bowl of the planetary mixer and add both flour and starch.
- Sift the powders and mix everything together with a hand whisk or spatula making motions from the bottom to the top. Do this step very gently so as not to disassemble the mixture. As soon as the powders are completely blended pour everything into the mold and use a spatula to level the surface; alternatively, you can rotate the mold on the work surface. In this step, it is essential not to bang the mold on the surface to level it, otherwise the mass will fall apart.
- Bake the sponge cake in a static oven preheated to 160°C (320°F) on the lowest shelf for about 50 minutes. Avoid opening the oven during this time and, before taking the cake out of the oven, always check the baking by doing the toothpick test, as every oven bakes differently: by sticking the toothpick in the center of the cake this should come out completely dry. Once cooked, take the sponge cake out of the oven. Before unmolding let it cool in the cake pan upside down on a sheet of parchment paper, then let it cool completely. Your sponge cake is ready to be served, cut, or stuffed!
Bon Appetit!
