In Search of the Perfect Sponge

[TheCulinaryLibrary]

I've been experimenting, trying to make the perfect sponge, trying to get that balance between flavor and lightness. I stick with butter for flavor and loose a little lightness, so I add potato or arrowroot starch to my flour to get it back again, I try an egg/sugar aeration, a fat/sugar aeration and a sugar/fat/yolk aeration with the whites peaked on the side. I fold flour in last as gentle as a lamb and cook only between 175-190C to avoid peaks(head too high) or troughs (heat too low) and cook in a dull, not shiny, not black, buttered but not papered pan.It's still not perfect, the texture crumb is light, flavorsome but too big to be melt in your mouth soft. I think I need help on the ratios of sugar/flour/fat/egg or any other tips if anyone has cracked the code.

[Mjx]

ATK's The Best Recipe claims to have nailed it (it isn't one of their recipes I've tried, but so far, I've found them consistently reliable), have you tried that one yet? An approximately two-page discussion of their efforts precedes the recipe, so it gives a clear idea of the effect of various tweaks, which is the sort of thing that comes in handy, if their idea of perfection differs from yours.

[offcentre]

I'm no perfectionist but I find weighing the eggs then adding the same weight of butter, sugar, flour makes the best sponge for me. I saw this in a Hugh Firmly Whippingbottom recipe which he credited to Mrs Beeton.

Cooked in an Aga it gives a nice crust - which I like on a sponge.

[ChrisZ]

I think I need help on the ratios of sugar/flour/fat/egg or any other tips if anyone has cracked the code.

I've always been interested in the ratios used in various cake recipes. I think it's worth recognising that there are a number of well recognised cake types and usually a recipe will fall clearly into one category. Each type of cake has its own characteristics, messing around with the ingredients will generally be taking you away from one category and towards another.

- A cake that has equal quantities of butter, sugar, eggs & flour is a pound cake. I love pound cakes for their buttery flavour, and all the cupcake recipes I've seen fall into this category.

- If you have equal quantities of flour and sugar, but half that amount of butter and eggs then you've got a butter cake (which oddly enough has less butter than a pound cake).

Both these types of cakes are made by initially beating together the butter and sugar, and the cake will rely on a chemical reaction to rise, such as baking powder.

- A true sponge cake has no butter, and the eggs are separated so the whites can be whipped. The initial beating is of the egg yolks and the sugar, not butter and sugar.

- If you add melted butter to a sponge cake then you get a Genoise sponge.

As well as those common types of cake, you've also got a Chiffon cake which is a hybrid of a butter cake and a sponge cake, and 'foam' cakes such as the angel food cake - which may use only egg whites. If you use almond meal instead of flour it's a Jaconde sponge, which is traditionally baked very thin.

The point is that a cake only has 3 or 4 ingredients and all the different permutations and combinations will determine what type of cake you're making and the ratios that work well have been established and given different names...

[TheTInCook]

- A true sponge cake has no butter, and the eggs are separated so the whites can be whipped. The initial beating is of the egg yolks and the sugar, not butter and sugar.

- If you add melted butter to a sponge cake then you get a Genoise sponge.

As well as those common types of cake, you've also got a Chiffon cake which is a hybrid of a butter cake and a sponge cake, and 'foam' cakes such as the angel food cake - which may use only egg whites. If you use almond meal instead of flour it's a Jaconde sponge, which is traditionally baked very thin.

The point is that a cake only has 3 or 4 ingredients and all the different permutations and combinations will determine what type of cake you're making and the ratios that work well have been established and given different names...

I quibble on a couple points.

Genoise is made with the plain sponge method. Whole eggs and sugar are foamed, then flour folded in in installments.

European genoise doesn't have butter. North American genoise does. Different traditions I guess. I usually leave out the butter, due to laziness.

Jocand is more like a chiffon method, then a sponge method. The egg yolks aren't foamed, but mixed into a paste with the almond, sugar, and flour.

To OP: I generally use a genoise when I need to bake a cake, because the formula is so easy to remember

Eggs 150

Flour 100

Sugar 100

Butter 33

[Blether]

Genoise is made with the plain sponge method. Whole eggs and sugar are foamed...

Over (bain marie) heat, right ?

[Blether]

You might enjoy the classic, weight of eggs:same of flour:same of sugar:same of butter approach to a sponge cake. For example, as here: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/may/15/victoria-sandwich-recipes-fearnley-whittingstall

 

Hugh credits Mrs. Beeton. I'm pretty sure I remember reading that it was also a popular approach in France (and has broader roots).

[Anna N]

You might enjoy the classic, weight of eggs:same of flour:same of sugar:same of butter approach to a sponge cake. For example, as here: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/may/15/victoria-sandwich-recipes-fearnley-whittingstall

 

Hugh credits Mrs. Beeton. I'm pretty sure I remember reading that it was also a popular approach in France (and has broader roots).

Put into my Manitoulin 2014 file! When Kerry Beal and I get to the Island in July I will be attempting this. I grew up with Victoria sponge and cafe au lait made with Camp's coffee essence for elevensies on Sunday. Thanks for the memory.

[Shel_B]

You might enjoy the classic, weight of eggs:same of flour:same of sugar:same of butter approach to a sponge cake. For example, as here: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/may/15/victoria-sandwich-recipes-fearnley-whittingstall

 

Hugh credits Mrs. Beeton. I'm pretty sure I remember reading that it was also a popular approach in France (and has broader roots).

 

Nice recipe idea ... what's self raising flour, and do I need it?

[Blether]

I didn't notice the SR flour - sorry.  It has a raising agent in it - basically baking powder.  It's very much a standard product in the UK.

 

Nigella.com says 2tsp baking powder per cup/150g of flour.  That's kinda high - the BBC reckons 1tsp per 110g.  Don't use plain flour where SR is specified - you'll end up with very solid baked goods.

 

Hi, Anna - I'd forgotten about Camp coffee 

[Anna N]

Nice recipe idea ... what's self raising flour, and do I need it?

Both Amazon.com and King Arthur flour carry self-raising/rising flours.

[keychris]

Nigella.com says 2tsp baking powder per cup/150g of flour.  That's kinda high - the BBC reckons 1tsp per 110g.

 

I use the 2tsp / cup, works perfectly. When I've run out of regular SR flour, that is

[Anna N]

I use the 2tsp / cup, works perfectly. When I've run out of regular SR flour, that is

I had fewer failures using s/r flour. YMMV.

[Blether]

Yikes.  When you merge threads like that, it's like ghosts from the cupboard.

 

The French reference I was trying to remember is this: the equal-proportions cake is known in French as "Quatre quarts" (lit. 'four quarters').  Yes, the same as a pound cake, which, I read, was originally made with a pound of each ingredient ?  The Wikipedia entry on sponge cake has information on the history of it in English:

 

The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first of the non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in the 1615 book of English poet and author Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman.^[1] Though it does not appear in Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery in the late 18th century, it is found in Lydia Maria Child's The American Frugal Housewife

 

Edited March 22, 2014 by Blether (log)

[helenjp]

I'm most curious about the flour...when I moved to Japan, I started noticing protein content in flour. Cake flour in Japan is usually around 8% protein. Flours with 6-7% protein are much harder to find, with Nisshin's Super Violet probably the best known, and even that is only found in specialty shops. What are the usual suspects for baking sponge cakes in north American kitchens?

[helenjp]

Gosh, a year has passed, and it's birthday cake season again in my family! I made a fatless sponge for the first time in ages, and was really surprised at the different ratios people use - somehow thought that fatless sponges (Biscuit de Savoie, hotwater sponge cake etc.) were the least variable of all the sponge cakes.

Quick check of my recipes shows: per 50g or larger egg - from 20g to  35g flour, with modern recipes using less flour (maybe because of mechanical mixers???). Sugar typically over 30g per egg, but surely 20g would do the trick, especially if the greased pan is sugared and floured. Oven temps - 150degC (350F) to 190degC....I like lower, but in my very small oven, 150 seems too low - probably lose too much heat when I put the cake in.

I DO like the effect of a little hot or warm water on the texture. I don't know whether that just means I'm a sloppy baker.

 

Additives - I used the zest of an orange plus the tiniest bit of finely chopped fresh rosemary, plus some vanilla to smooth things over. Like this better than my usual lemon zest!

Fatless sponges - what are your golden rules?

[jmacnaughtan]

 

Fatless sponges - what are your golden rules?

[CatPoet]

My normal cake bottom cake / moss cake  ( yeap that is the name for the recipe)  is on it own rather plain but  with jam,  vanilla cream or mousse or fruit and  whipped cream or ganach on top it is just perfect,

 

And this is even good at its own, so I like it.