Making the Perfect Sponge Cake – Бисквит

The sponge cake is a light and fluffy cake that serves as the foundation for many wonderful recipes. It’s based on beaten eggs, sugar and flour. This is a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, and they call it Fool Proof  Sponge Cake. Not only does it turn out perfectly every time, but it also tastes great too, with a small addition of butter, milk and vanilla.

Yields: 2 (8 or 9 inch) round cakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cake flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons milk

2 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 eggs, separated and at room temperature

10 Tablespoons sugar

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of 2 (8 or 9 inch) round cake pans with parchment paper and brush only the bottom, not the sides of the cake pan, with oil.
Whisk the flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl to combine and set aside. In a liquid measuring cup or mug place heat the milk and butter in the microwave until the butter is completely melted. Add vanilla, cover and set aside. Meanwhile, using a whisk attachment on a standing mixer or using a medium bowl and and hand mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form, adding 5 Tablespoons of sugar gradually. Set aside. Repeat with the egg yolks and the remaining 5 Tablespoons of sugar, until pale yellow and thick. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the egg yolks, being careful not to deflate the batter as much as possible. Sift the flour mixture over the folded eggs and gently fold in the flour also. When there are still some remaining streaks of flour, pour in the warm milk and butter by the side of the bowl. Continue gently folding until evenly distributed. Divide the batter in half, pouring into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. The parchment paper should peel right off.

Use in many wonderful recipes. My two favorites are Cannoli Cake and Italian Rum and Peaches Cake.

Making the Perfect Sponge Cake - Бисквит
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Sweets
Serves: 2 (8 or 9 inch) round cakes
Ingredients
  • ½ cup cake flour
  • ¼ cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 3 Tablespoons milk
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 5 eggs, separated and at room temperature
  • 10 Tablespoons sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of 2 (8 or 9 inch) round cake pans with parchment paper and brush only the bottom, not the sides of the cake pan, with oil.
  2. Whisk the flours, baking powder and salt in a small bowl to combine and set aside.
  3. In a liquid measuring cup or mug place heat the milk and butter in the microwave until the butter is completely melted. Add vanilla, cover and set aside.
  4. Meanwhile, using a whisk attachment on a standing mixer or using a medium bowl and and hand mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form, adding 5 Tablespoons of sugar gradually. Set aside.
  5. Repeat with the egg yolks and the remaining 5 Tablespoons of sugar, until pale yellow and thick.
  6. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the egg yolks, being careful not to deflate the batter as much as possible.
  7. Sift the flour mixture over the folded eggs and gently fold in the flour also. When there are still some remaining streaks of flour, pour in the warm milk and butter by the side of the bowl. Continue gently folding until evenly distributed.
  8. Divide the batter in half, pouring into the prepared cake pans.
  9. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.
  10. Cool on a wire rack. The parchment paper should peel right off.
  11. Use in many wonderful recipes. My two favorites are Cannoli Cake and Italian Rum and Peaches Cake.

34 Comments

    • olgak7

      Hi Paramitha,
      I’ve never made Rainbow Cake. What is it made with?
      I use this cake for a lot of different recipes. It’s such a great texture, and always comes out perfectly fluffy.

      • Paramitha Nasimova

        Sorry for late reply, just seen notification. Rainbow cake made from sponge cake like this one you’ve made (your sponge cake recipe is awesome!). Only we put rainbow food color to each layer. There are 6layers: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. And spread evenly each layer and the side of cake with any frosting you like. I found link for you to see the idea http://www.meganscookin.com/rainbow-cake

        I like your blog! Like all the sweets you’ve made 😀

  • Natalka

    Olga – just made this sponge cake ( its still hot) look everything like yours, but ya ispolzyvala bolwoye dechko (because i am going to make sladkaya kartowka) rewula vse vulut v odno dechko. My ?, this sponge cake on vurastaet nemnowko or not, because my I think not….thanks

    • olgak7

      Hi Natalka,
      I’m having a hard time understanding your question. Are you asking if this cake rises? This sponge cake is very fluffy and soft and does rise as much as a sponge cake needs to rise. Every time I make it, i never have any issues with it. The important thing is to beat the eggs long enough and fold it very carefully not to deflate it as much as possible.

  • Tatyana

    Hi Olga, for the egg whites, is there such a thing as over mixing them to a real high stiffness? Should I stop just when peaks start to form?

    • olgak7

      Alina,
      If you substitute brown sugar, the cake may not be as light as when using white sugar. The cake may turn out denser and flatter. The flavor of the cake will be affected also.

  • oksana

    Hi Olga,
    So I was very careful when folding in the flour and egg whites but in the end, I still had spots of egg whites and I didn’t have very much batter to end with..it looks like the one recipe would have been good for cone cake pan. But I still went along with the directions and made two, but both did not rise even a quarter of the way. What do you think I did wrong?

  • Inna

    My sister in law taught me this biskvit recipe, she calls it the 511 method.
    5eggs, 1c sugar, and 1c sifted flower. Very simple.
    In a stand mixer beat your eggs on high until double or triple in volume, slowly add the sugar, beat until sugar is dissolved and the eggs have gone up in volume even more so and are pale in color. In to the egg mixture sift in your 1c of flour and gently fold it in until it’s incorporated. Done. Anna for a chocolate flavor biskvit, you could probably add a Tbsp of cocoa powder, although I’ve never actually tried it.

    • olgak7

      My aunt makes the same cake, Inna! That’s great. Thanks for sharing your recipe:).
      I prefer this cake, simply because I think the butter, milk and vanilla give great flavor to the cake.

  • Priyanka

    Hi. I have a general question regarding measures. If you say a cup how much do you mean in grams? I guess 1 cup flour equals 120 g flour. Actually the issue is I have cups which measures out differently. So just wanted to check what is the standard cup measurement you using here? I have this issue at a number of places where cup is mentioned and conversion confuses sometimes as the cups I have measures out differently.

    Thanks.

    • olgak7

      Hi Priyanka!
      I’m not sure which country you are from, but the measuring cups should all be the same in the US. 1 cup of flour is 4.25 – 4.5 oz, or 120-125 grams.

  • Patricia

    Hi Olga,

    It will be great if you could kindly let me know the conversion of your cup measurement. I normally use gram and ml.

    Thank you.
    Patricia

    • olgak7

      I don’t use a specific brand,Inna. I use whatever kind is available. Cake flour is sold in most grocery stores in the baking aisle. Sometimes it’s next to the other flours and other times it’s next to the cake mixes.

  • Dolly Goolsby

    I notice that the cake part of your Cannoli cake is different from the recipe I downloaded (and have lost) from a couple years ago. Is there a reason that you changed the cake part?
    Is everything else the same?

    • olgak7

      I made some minor adjustments to the cake over the years, perfecting it each time I made it to get better results, with less unnecessary steps. Otherwise, everything is the same.

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