Monday 24 September 2007

Perfect sponge cake recipe



How to make that "perfect sponge cake" by Chef Jeena.


Have you ever bought a sponge cake from a shop and thought to yourself that you could never make a cake as light and fluffy as the one you had just purchased ?

Well this recipe will show you that you can easily bake your own sponge cake at home that is even better than any shop bought version- Guaranteed.

Here is "Chef Jeenas perfect sponge cake recipe" that is soft and ultra spongy and light as a feather to hold.

The vanilla cream filling and strawberry jam are just wonderfully topped off by the crisp outer layer of the cake.

This recipe is a true sponge cake recipe at its best and you too will be 100% delighted with the results, bake it today and see for yourself, do let me know when you make it so we can let others know.

When you make this sponge cake recipe and taste it for the first time you will be amazed, we promise that it will taste so good that you will be wanting to bake it every day.


This Sponge cake recipe is so delicious you will have to just hold back from the temptation of eating so much of it as it is so delicious and wonderful.





Ingredients for sponge cake recipe
2 Eggs
3oz/75g Caster Sugar
3oz/75g Plain Flour

Filling & Top

1 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla Essence
300ml Fresh Double Cream
Strawberry Conserve/Jam
Powdered Sugar (for dusting)


For fast results use an electric whisk, if you use a hand whisk instead this is fine - it will just take a lot longer.



First crack the eggs into a large bowl, whisk them for a few seconds just lightly.

Add the caster sugar only and whisk until the cake mixture thickens and turns almost white in colour.

This will take 5-10 minutes using an electric whisk, do not try to cut corners and just give it a whisk for a minute or two.

You may also think that your mixture should be thicker but as long as the colour has gone almost white it should be just fine.




Take a sieve and gently add the flour.

Gently fold flour intothe egg mixture until you can see it has all mixed together nicely.

To fold - take a spoon and very gently stir the spoon over and under the mixture rather than just stiring as normal - the reason is to keep all the air bubbles inside of the cake mixture.




Pour the sponge cake mixture into a greased and floured round tin.

Place into a hot oven at 180C for approx 20-30 minutes (depending on your oven).

Do not open the oven door until you are checking it towards to end of being cooked.




To check if the sponge cake is ready you can lightly press on it with your finger and if it is bouncy it is ready.

Once cooked leave the cake in its tin to cool a little.

You can go around the edges with a knife to gently nudge it out, it should come out easily.




Take a large bread knife and gently slice the sponge cake in half.

If you cut into a warm cake it will crumble so make sure it has cooled.

Lay each half upside down- spread bottom half with a thin but coated layer of jam.

Whisk the fresh cream for a minute then add the table spoon of powdered sugar and vanilla essence - whisk until it is a thick whipped cream.

Spread the cream on top of the jam, do not spread cream right to the edge
of your cake as when you slice the cake it will spread to the edges.



Dust with powdered sugar using a sieve.




Enjoy Chef Jeenas delicious sponge cake recipe.



See more of Chefs step-by-step cake recipes:


Cake recipes page 1

Cake recipes page 2






84 comments:

FH said...

Beautiful Sponge cake!:))

Finla said...

Looks great. My hubby loves sponge cake, ofcourse i tell him that is for tge filling as he loves it when there is cream :-))

Unknown said...

Ur sponge looks fab!! Good job.

Pragyan said...

Yummy yummy cake. Also thanks for the lovely comment on my blog. :)

Padma said...

Looks fab!

Sharmi said...

beautiful looking sponge cake. the cream in middle and the pic make me drool. very tempting Jeena!

MR said...

excellent cake
my son will love this one for sure!!!!!!
thanks jeena for the recipe

Anonymous said...

No butter in the recipe???!!!...

swapna susarla said...

WOW Jeena
the cake looks yum!!i have a small q..can i use folloe the same recipe for icing ??(of any cake?)thanku.

Shubha Ravikoti said...

Lovely cake..... thanx jeena for ur comments on my blog.... will keep visitng urs... its a nice and sweet blog..:)

Sophie said...

Thanks for stopping by! I've been wanting to make a perfect sponge cake! I'll have to try this out :)

Nice meeting you~
Sophie

Anonymous said...

Oh, my goodness. I've gained two pounds just looking at this!

Great blog.

The Food Hunter said...

thanks for checking out my blog www.foodhunter.blogspot.com. I look forward to trying this cake real soon. I will back often to see what you add.

BC said...

The step by step pictures are very helpful. They are A1.

Anonymous said...

Wow, your recipes are so informative! Super!

Thanks for the beautiful blog!

SeeC said...

Lovely and tempting cake.
A Picture is worth thousand words.
Very nice step by step presentation

Carrie said...

Jeena, that sponge cake looks so GOOD!!! I wonder how it would work with gluten-free flours! Thanks for sharing!! That cream does look absolutely delicious!!

Anonymous said...

This sponge cake if tagged. Can't wait to try it. Thanks

Pam said...

Beautiful sponge cake Jeena. I'm going to follow the recipe, with the help of your pics, and see if I can make my first successful sponge. The world will definitely hear about it, if I do.

Edith said...

I failed in my sponge cake recipe and now I am hoping to try yours. Just wondering this recipe has no eggs? Normally I avoided sponge coz of the eggy smell too.

So So Simple said...

That is an excellent sponge. My husband's favourite when we were going out my Mother sealed the relationship by supplying him with sponge cake every Sunday...it worked we married and I have never made one since. I will now.
Cheers

Chandrika said...

That looks so yum, Jeena!

EC said...

looks really perfect...great going

Erin said...

Thanks for visiting my page. Your blog is beautiful. This cake is so pretty, and it looks delicious!

Unknown said...

hey jeena dear:) u look pretty and ur blog is a wonderful one , lots of good food and interesting recipes, will definitly try some :) .....thanks a lot for visiting my blog and for the comment! hope to see u more often in my kitchen :) take care...

kellypea said...

This looks like a great recipe. I just saw one like it in an old Williams-Sonoma Taste magazine. I had to smile at all your photos, because I try to do that, too. It's so hard to take photos while you're cooking isn't it? Nice job!

Anonymous said...

This recipe seems to me so delicious!

Susan said...

Hi, Jeena! Beautiful cake, rich but light. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your kind comments.
: )

Unknown said...

This looks delicious!

Tracy Tan said...

my first attempt at sponge cake was disastrous. it turned out hard like biscuits! it still tasted nice though ;)

Anonymous said...

ur sponge cake looks yummy.when i was in UK i buy from ASDA superstore the same kind spongecake.I will try it soon.

Anonymous said...

I JUST MADE THIS CAKE it came out just as in the pictures and tasted lovely. I added a bit of extra sugar to the cream and it was perfect.
I will definitely be trying out some other recipes on this site, thanks so much!

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Anonymous I am glad you like my food recipes, sometimes I add a little extra sugar to the cream also if I get a real sweet tooth. :-)

If you like you can send in a picture of the finished recipe to askjeena@googlemail.com my new recipe website will be online very soon and I will be having a section on people who have cooked my recipes. :-)

Thanks Jeena x

Anonymous said...

Finally found an easy way to bake a delicious cake will surely try it today

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Imrana Shams I am glad you like this recipe. I am sure you will love this cake recipe it is very tasty. I would love to hear how it goes, you can also email me a picture if you like at askjeena@googlemail.com as I have a new food recipe website coming soon and will have a page on people who cook my recipes.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Jeena xx

Anonymous said...

Been looking everywhere for a simple sponge cake recipe! The step-by-step pics are a great help too. Will be making my mom a Yam Layered Sponge Cake for Mother's Day! Hope it'll turn out good! :p

Anonymous said...

Hi. ive just made 1 for a group of ladies tomorrow.I want to decorate the cake with buttercream as i dont think double cream can stay.. could you please tell me how to store it and can i ice the whole cake (as i normally see they just put double cream and jam in the middle)

thanks

Chef Jeena said...

Hi there,

You can use butter cream for the filling if you like but if you whip up some double cream to a firm point the cake should hold fine. This cake is very tasty with double cream.

This is a traditional sponge cake recipe that uses no butter which produces a light and fluffy cake. They are not supposed to be iced alover. Adusting of icing on the top or some thick icing spread on the top should work just fine.

Because I use fresh cream in this recipe I wrap the cake in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge. The cake tastes amazing once it has been in the fridge.

Enjoy your cake. :-)

Anonymous said...

Oh jesus! This is the most appealing cake i've ever seen!

Sad. I had a practical examination in my school (cooking exam), and i am required to make sponge cake. I made my sponge cake following the method stated in my recipe book, and it turn out awfull. It's soft on the outside but hard in the inside.

But when i tried your recipe at home - just after my examination - it turned out perfect! And I was like Wow?? Is this even real?

However, i have a query for u.
The part where u sift the flour onto the mixture, my recipe books ask me to sift it in a mixing bowl and add the mixture. Then fold. But why is yours vice versa?

But thnks anyway for the recipe.
Love it! Gawd, im craving for MORE!!!

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Carl, I am glad you like my sponge cake recipe.

I do not know why the recipe you used stated to "sift it in a mixing bowl and add the mixture. Then fold."

Personally whenever I fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients I add the dry mixture straight into the wet. You can do this by adding half the mixture at a time.

The reason for folding the mixture carefully is to keep all the air bubbles in the cake mixture so that the cake cooks to a light and fluffy texture.

Different recipe vary, I guess you just have to find the recipes which you prefer best.

I hope this helps, good look which your next exams.

Thank you for visiting JeenasKitchen.Blogspot.com.

Jeena :-)

Anonymous said...

Erm, hi. Im Carl's aunt. He had been bugging me to 'drop by' this website of yours to see your so called "special recipe" on how to make a perfect sponge cake. I was wondering what's so special about it at that junture moment, only until I went in here and tried your recipe. It was very astounding and stupendous!

Let me tell you frankly, that im not very good at baking. But yours seemed so simple and the pictures you took makes me drool...

SO, i tried it at home, followed the step-by-step instructions, and it turned out marvelous!

But the best part is that, i tried substituting the strawberry jam into chocalate. Gosh, it's heaven do u noe that?

Maybe im gonna try using blueberry jam instead. Or maybe add more cream/mousse in it!!!

Thnks, and im really looking forward to the rest of your recipe.
Errr, are you making more "perfect" recipe? Cause im looking forward to it!

Ehertitude said...

Hi, i wanted to make a chocolate sponge cake with blueberry and cream filling. however, i was wondering how long does it takes for the whole process of this sponge cake?
and how long can the cake be stored for? Sorry for sounding so urgent cos i want to make a birthday cake for my sweetie despite my tight schedule...:)

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Ehertitude,

The whisking can take 7-10 minutes and the baking time 20-30 minutes.

Once you have placed the cake into the oven do NOT open the oven door for at least 20 minutes. Check if it is cooked after 20 minutes only, this is so that the cake does not sink when the door is opened, all ovens vary.

The cake can be stored only as long as the fresh cream will keep in the fridge which is normally 1-2 days.

Let me know if you have anymore questions about my recipes.

Thanks for visiting, Jeena. :-)

Anonymous said...

I am a total novice but had the urge to bake and rooted out some store staples.
I had no butter which is the reason google directed me to your page.
I am now fat full of beautiful sponge thanks to you.
I love the way you lay out your blog and how you make it so easy to follow. Big Thanks xxxx

Anonymous said...

I just found your blog - your recipe and instructions look very good. Everytime I try to bake a sponge cake it is everything but spongy :( I want to try your recipe and pray that I will be successful. Can you please provide the cup measurements for flour and sugar in your recipe?
Thanks,
-Nithu

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeena,
I love baking but I am everything but good at it. In fact, I'm a total disaster when it comes to baking. My cakes come out in all sort of forms but edible. Yeah, I'm that bad! When I came across your recipe for sponge cake, I was like... no baking powder and butter? Okay... this is different. But I went through with it - hoping for miracle - and well, what a miracle it was! It was the FIRST cake I baked which was both edible and really looked like a cake. My husband couldn't believe I baked it! He even eyed me suspiciously and said, "Now, from which bakery did you buy this?" Thanks, thanks and thanks a gazillion time Jeena for this wonderful and oh-so-simple-yet-worked recipe. Now I can claim to friends and relatives that I'm not a total disaster at baking. :)

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Mel, sometimes it is the simple recipes with few ingredients that truly taste fantastic.

When it comes to baking everybody is different and people cook well at one food recipe but not so good at another.

I am sure you are a great cook but just need recipes to suite you, I am glad mine worked for you.

Practice makes perfect when it comes to baking, we all have a fair share of kitchen disasters!

Let me know if you need anymore advise on any other of my food recipes - you can email me at jeenaskitchen (at) gmail.com

Thank you for the great feedback.

Jeena. :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi, just a query, is it right to use plain flour?

Chef Jeena said...

Yes you do not need self rasing flour in this recipe because it is the eggs being whisked so well that helps rise the cake.

Unknown said...

can i use powdered sugar instead or castor sugar? what will happen if i do?

thanks,
carrie

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, I just tried but my cake came back really flat! not tall enough to cut in two! i whisked the eggs really good though... dont know what I have done wrong here..

Chef Jeena said...

When you added the flour did you stir it into the eggs or fold it into the eggs? The mistake most people make is not folding the flour which results in the cake turning out flat.

To fold the flour gently move your spoon over and under the egg mixture - this is to keep the air bubbles in tact that you created when whisking.

Also you could have over whisked?

Thanks, Jeena.

Unknown said...

to Anonymous,

This happened to me too, I used an 8 inch round pan. Tried it again with a 6 inch and had success! Hope this helps!

MaryMoh said...

Thanks for the recipe & for showing every step. Looks easy. Will try.

Anonymous said...

Am a middle aged chap never cooked a cake before and this turned out brilliantly light and delicious....thank you

Anonymous said...

Hi Jeena, thank you for your wonderful recipe. I would like to know if I can add flavors to this recipe? I.e, matcha, chocolate, coffee, etc. If this is possible, how much of each of these flavors should I add, and at which juncture of the creaming process?

Thank you very much for your kind attention! :)

Anonymous said...

Been looking for a moist sponge cake recipe everywhere.

I wanted to make a larger cake, do you think it would be ok to just double the ingredients?

Also I wanted to bake a cake with fresh cream and fruit... like they sell in the shops. Any idea how they make the fresh cream??

Anonymous said...

what is the pan size are you using? can I use 10 in. round? or I need to double the recipe? thanks!

martin said...

This recipe is a winner! I doubled the ingredients for my 9" pan and it turned out fantastic. I found that after several hours in the fridge, the cake texture becomes smoother and "spongier". Next time, I'll use a little bit less sugar. If you don't have caster sugar, you can use a blender to process normal granulated sugar. Thanks for the recipe and great website.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jenna,

I just finished making the cake and I was rather surprised that I was only using 3oz of sugar and flour.
My cake came out like a pancake not fluffy like yours I did everything you told me to do and still all I have is this very tasty pancake.

HELP!!!

Maybe I needed to add a cup of flour and sugar and also I did not use cane sugar does that really matter?

Thank you for your beautiful recipies... I will try this cake again maybe with some words of advice from you it will turn out right.

Thanks Fa

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Fa,

No extra ingredients are needed for this cake recipe.

Did you stir the flour into the cake mixture? If the answer is yes, then this is why the cake did not rise.

When you whisk the eggs you are whisking air bubbles into the egg mixture. So when it comes to adding the flour you need to fold not stir.

'Stiring' breaks down all of the bubbles where as 'folding' keeps the bubbles intact.

To fold, use a metal spoon and gently move the spoon over and under the mixture in circles until the flour is fully combined into the cake mixture.

Do not stir like you would a standard cake.

I would love to hear how it goes.

Thanks, Jeena.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jenna,

I was so happy to recieve such a prompt reply WOW!!!

Your amazing...

Okay I used cane sugar do you think that is also the reason the cake didn't work out??

I wisked the eggs and cane sugar in the kitchenaid stand mixer.. Is that fine? I used the metal wisk to wisk. :)

I am going to wait for your reply before I attempt this again....

I can't wait to eat this lovely cake...

Thanks Jenna..

Oh by the way I used a rubber flat spoon thing to mix in the cake also when I did mix or fold the egg/sugar the mix was very watery or eggy at the bottom maybe the kitchen aid didn't get to mix it all which has never happened to me before or maybe the eggs were bad.

Just me thinking out load sorry!

Fa

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Fa,

Are your eggs large or medium? You need to use medium eggs for this recipe.

Also you need to use white caster sugar not granulated.

The problem is that the egg/sugar mixture is watery.

The egg/sugar mixture should be whisked into a thick batter with an almost pale white colour.

Do you have an eletric hand whisk? I suggest using an electric hand whisk rather than your kitchen aid, this way you will really have control on the mixing and I can guarantee that the egg mixture will not be watery.

I have a kitchen aid but I also use and electric hand whisk because I find that for certain recipes the hand whisk works best.

If you do not have one it is well worth investing in one as they only cost around $10 in the USA or £5 in UK, a basic one is all you need.

If the egg/sugar mixture is watery then the sponge cake will not work, get the mixture looking like the photos - thick and pale in colour.

You could even use your metal hand whisk, it will of course take much longer and lots of elbow grease!

To fold in the flour use a metal spoon.

I hope this helps, I would love to hear how it goes.

Thanks, Jeena.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jenna,

I have been searching everywhere for caster sugar. It seems in the US we do not have caster sugar. Is caster sugar the same as cane sugar?

I am so upset!

I really want to make this cake..

HELP!!

I have googled caster sugar and all they say is it's a very fine sugar.

Fa

Chef Jeena said...

Hi Fa,

C&H have some sugar called 'bakers sugar' in the USA.

Also if you put some white granulated sugar into a blender or grinder you can make your own.

Caster sugar is not as fine as powdered sugar but more lighter and fine than granulated sugar.

I hope this helps.

Sapphire said...

My cake didn't really go that well coz we left it a bit too long in the oven but, for the first time I had made a cake with no adults! It still has the flavour! Next time I will tell my mum to do the oven part and we will add jam with cream to taste even special thx for the recipe and step by step! U saved my life and I am so happy that we didn't need butter coz I don't have any butter! Byexxx

Anonymous said...

Looks Delish, gonna bake it as soon as you can tell me, which cake pan did u use, a 7 or 8 inch round pan?

Jiant said...

from the picture looks very good, I can not wait to try cooking it, thanks for the info you provide

Anonymous said...

Looks AWESOME!! *yummy* :D

even mine didnt go well :( it didnot rise *pouting* dont know where i went wrong..maybe while folding the mixture *thinking*

kzi said...

hi, jenna..

thanks for the recipe, i will try it.. :)

Anonymous said...

hi, how many g is 3oz/75g

Anonymous said...

hi, i just wondering do i put all the flour into the egg then fold or do i just put bit by bit and fold as i go along? please help.

Chef Jeena said...

You add the flour in 2 batches.

When you add the flour remember to 'fold' the mixture and not to mix it.

Unknown said...

Chef Jeenas, i've tried the receipe, but any idea why my cake turned out to be very hard to cut and not spongy? I guess it could be taken out earlier, but i just let it bake according to the length of time suggested. Does this affect the end result too?

Chef Jeena said...

When you added the flour did you stir it? If the answer is yes then that it the problem.

To be sure of a light perfect sponge, always fold the mixture never stir it.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jenna,

This cake looks wonderful! Just a quick question, what size was the pan you used?

Anonymous said...

Great recipe. I also added about a (1) Tbs. of green tea powder which gave it a nice different taste but didn't alter the light fluffy outcome of the cake itself. I think it helps this recipe doesn't have butter in it so the taste of the green tea comes out nice and clean.

Anonymous said...

Hello Jeena,

I thought this recipe was great, easy and well explained. It came out of the oven looking exactly like yours and I knew you you wrote exactly what you did which is why it came out the same. I've done so many other recipes from other sites but things never come out the same so I'm glad you shared this honestly and just as you would do.
Takes no ingredients and no time at all.
thanks

Anonymous said...

Any idea how this recipe works in high altitude. I am in Denver, a mile above sea level. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Sandra said...

Wonderful sponge cake. Simple and tasty!

Radhika said...

Hello jeena

Your cake looks fab. Is there really no butter in the cake mix?!Gosh...I am truly surprised.

cindy said...

Dear Chef Jeenas

I ve tried your receipe n its really simple. But I got a question, why is my cake taste so dry?

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I dont have a weighinh scale, is it possible to give me a recipe which uses cup measurements please?
thank you

Anonymous said...

Hello! I finally tried your recipe! It was good, a tad too sweet for my family though. By the way, should the surface be crispy or?

Thanks for sharing!!!!