Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Simple Sponge Cake

For Weng.....hope this will help you if you do not have optima flour.

Ingredients:

4 eggs
120 gm. sugar

100 gm. cake flour

65 gm. melted buter or cornoil
1 tsp. vanilla essence

Method:

(1) Whisk eggs and sugar till light and fluffy.
(2) Fold in the cake flour, preferably use your palms (open up like a claw) and fold lightly taking care not to deflate the eggs.
(3) Pour in melted butter and vanilla essence and stir lightly.
(4) Pour into a 9" round cake tin and bake at 175C for about 40 mins or till a skewer comes out clean.

** for chocolate sponge cake, use 80 gm. cake flour + 20 gm. cocoa powder but increase your sugar to 130 gm.

63 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi aunty!! I just baked the simple sponge cake! It's v nice! Thank you for sharing the recipe!! Do i have to grease the cake pan n will it be better to use a tube pan?

Anonymous said...

For tube pan, i m referring also for the sponge cake. Was reading tips for baking sponge cakes on 'how stuff works' and it says to use tube pans for better heat distribution. But not necessary right?
Thanks Aunty!!

Aunty Yochana said...

ioyces,

funny some people call sponge cake as chiffon cake so they used tube pan. Tube pan cannot grease cos you need it to stand to get the tall look when cooled. This simple sponge cake is more for decorating cakes..You can use this sponge for cakes like blueberry, blackforest, etc etc

rgds

ioyces said...

:) okies got it! So for this cake, when i use the 9" cake pan, should i grease n flour it?
I did this time and also, what would be the best?
To leave in the pan to cool or to take it out?
And if i leave in the pan, should i invert the pan?
Thanks for your patience in answering my questions!

Aunty Yochana said...

ioyces,

For the simple sponge cake, just line the cake at the base will do. When the cake is cooked, remove from the oven and then leave it sitting on the wire rack for about 5 mins then remove from the tin and leave it to cool on a wire rack.

BTW, don't worry about asking questions, just go ahead.
rgds.

Anonymous said...

aunty, i made this cake last nite. it's very soft indeed. Only one thing i'll like to ask u, is the texture a bit crumbly? tq.

Anonymous said...

Hi Yochana, Jadelotus again :P
I(wrongly) brought a pack of Top Flour instead of Cake flour. Could i still use it to make the sponge cake? The packaging reads suitable for chiffon cake, swiss rolls, butter cookies. :P

Regrds,
Jadelotus

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi jadelotus,

oh yes, you can use Top flour which is actually a very good flour to use.

rgds.

Anonymous said...

Hi aunty yochana

I tried baking sponge cake using egg separation method. The cake rises high in oven but once it is taken out, it collapse.

Can you kindly advise me on the possible reason. I am very sure i beat the egg white to stiff peak.

Many thanks

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi shirley,

try using room temperature ingredients. Folding must be quick and light. YOu need skill here though, so keep practicing.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi aunty, I tried baking this twice but my cake rise for about 5 minutes then collapse in the oven. I wonder what's wrong.

Btw, I'm using a kenwood hand mixer power 1 to 5, which mode do you suggest for beating the eggs?
Thanks

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Bernice,

Think this simple sponge cake is not so simple after all...think it needs skill tho.

O.K. start by baking the optima sponge cake first. It's very easy and it's a non-failure sponge cake.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty!
I'm Liz.It's so wonderful to view lots and lots of great recipes here!

Unfortunately, I've tried couple of times baking sponge cake & choc marble cake, but they always ended up either too hard, or uncooked in the middle part of the cake. I don't understand, what went wrong?

What's the best way to beat the ingredients? Would beating them too long cause the cake to collapse? Is there any guidance of the beating timing? I supposed it depends on the type of beating machine too, rite? Mine is a very small, beginner-kind-of-beater =)
Thanks in advance for your tips.

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Liz,

Definitely don't overbeat or overcream. Overbeating eggs with sugar will make it turn watery and loses it's aeration and cause it to break and collapse. Roughly about 10 mins is more than enough for your small beater and for big beaters, 8 mins is enough.

rgds

Esther said...

Hi Aunty
U r such a patient aunty who answers all problems regarding cake baking. My hats off for u! :)

Recently, I baked a pandan chiffon cake using a 20cm round cake tin. When i cut the cake, the whole cake collapsed! :( But i cut the cake when it was still warm. Is this the reason it collapsed? Pls advise. Thx so much.

esther

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty! Thanks for the advise, I'll give it a try again the next time around =)

Yesterday, I was trying out on a simple kind of cookie which recipe I've got from a magazine, called Matchstick cookies.
It turned out nice, but after covering part of the cookies with melted chocolate ( I was using cocoa powder melted with hot water ), after cooling & set, the chocolate layer cracked. And the covered part also turned soft, it doesn't taste good any more, though the other half still ok.

Could it be caused by the cocoa powder instead of normal cooking chocolate melted on its own without additional water?

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi anonymous,

Yeah...I know matchstick cookies, I think it's by Vickie Chieng. No don't use cocoa powder with water. I will soften your cookies because of the water content. Use melted chocolate instead...get the cheap Tulip brand and it sets very well with cookies.

rgds

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi esther,

Yeah, you must wait till it's completely cooled before slicing. Remember to invert your pan during the cooling process.

Well, I will help those who need to know what I've experienced. Hahaha...it's fun anyway, keeps my brain working.

rgds

Esther said...

Hi Aunty

Thanks for your advice. I will try baking again.

Wishing you & your family a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

rgds
esther ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty! It's Liz again.
How was your Mid-autumn celebrations?
Thanks a lot for the great advises. I'll keep that in mind. ^o^

Anonymous said...

Hi Yochana,

I tried baking your sponge cake. It was a failure for me. When i whisk the eggs and sugar, they turn out quite watery and when i use my hand to fold in the flour, there aare clumps and the flour did not mixed well, so ended my cake did not rise and was hard with alot of holes. Can enlighten me what went wrong?

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi anonymous.

When the eggs and sugar are beaten, it should thick rather than watery. I suggest instead of pouring in one short, sift the flour into the egg and sugar mixture then fold.

rgds

MsCake said...

Hi Lucy

I was going thru those feedback abt baking this sponge cake using cake flour, is there any baking powder required for this ??

Next, remember u told me to try out using optima flr for the strawberry cream cake. Then, how much water; eggs or etc. If I am not wrong, Sunlik sold two types of optima flr: one optima sponge flr n the other optima flour.

I would like to say sorry for asking so many questions and I must really thank u for all the help given to me recently.

Catherine
p.s. hope to meet up with u one of these days. Which part of Singapore are u putting up ?

MsCake said...

Hi lucy

I just realised u hv 2 sponge cake recipes- the other one is 'traditional sponge cake'. May I know what's the difference between the two?? Which is good for baking strawberry cream cake ?

Thanks n HAPPY LABOUR DAY !

Catherine

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi catherine,
the traditional sponge cake is used by chefs and many bakeries. They don't use the optima flour recipe much although some might use it at random. The traditional sponge cake is good for cakes that needs to brush with liquer as it will absorb and doesn't make the cake soggy.

Optima sponge cake is very fine and nic to eat but not suitable for heavy brushing of liquer. It will become soggy and not nice to eat.

rgds

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi catherine,

optima sponge flour and optima flour are both the same flour.

for traditional sponge cake, no need baking powder because the eggs are enough to act as a leavening agent. It produces air while whisking.

You can find a lot of optima sponge cake recipe in my blog but anyway here it is:

for a 9" round cake tray:

4 eggs
1 tsp. ovalette
250 gm. optima flour
70 ml water
70 ml. cornoil

Whisk all together except cornoil till fluffy and thick. Then pour in cornoil and mix it till well combined. Pour into tray and bake at 175C for 45 mins or till cooked.

rgds

MsCake said...

Hi Lucy

Thanks for yr prompt reply.

Will try out this recipe for the strawberry cream cake this weekend.

Thanks again.

Catherine

MsCake said...

Oh, by the way, the cream used to sandwich the two sponge cakes is : butter with sugar (proportion) ? OR whipped cream with sugar ?

Sorry, forgot earlier to ask abt this.

Catherine

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi catherine,

Use the butter cream that is already posted in my blog. The one that uses meringue (egg white with hot sugar syrup).

rgds

Anonymous said...

hi aunty,

Tried baking today, but it doesnt turn out like sponge cake.

May I know how long do I have to beat the eggs n sugar? Is it just lighten beaten until the sugar dissolve or until the egg mixture turn lighter colour?

Thks
Kit

Aunty Yochana said...

hi kit,

whisking the eggs and sugar is simple. whisk till it's thick and creamy. The difficult part is folding the flour into the egg mixture. At this juncture, you might deflat the air bubbles and thus get a flat cake instead.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty,

Can i use the all purpose flour instead of? coz i bought the wrong flour... :)

Regards,
Kiwi

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Kiwi,

yes you can use all-purpose flour for sponge cake.

rgds

The Lee Girls said...

Hi Lucy,

I was looking at this recipe and it calls for ovalatte. What is that? What can I use as a substitute for this ingredient, as I don't think I can find this in US.

Will it affect the cake, if I omit this ingredient?

Thank you for your patience.

Cheers,
Angelia

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Angelia,

Ovaletter is a cake stabilizer. I don't where to get in US.

Rgds..

keira said...

Hi aunty,
how many millitres is 65 gram of melted butter or oil...would be I be able to get 65 gram butter in NTUC and wat brand do u suggest?
Sorry for bothering u wit the questions.

Really appreciate a reply...thank you!

Mal

keira said...

Hi aunty,

How many millitres is 65 gram melted butter/oil and can I use cannola oil?

And can I use fresh cream to decorate the chocolate cake..and I presume I need to whip the fresh cream right.

when can i purchase measuring cups...is it available in ghim lee at haig rd?

I know some questions sounds silly...but I'm a very poor baker..

Thank you

Mal

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Mal,

gm and ml are the same. meaning 100 gm = 100 ml.

Yes you can buy measuring cups and spoon from Gim Hin Lee, Sun Lik, Phoon Huat, NTUC, Giant, Chong Trading.

rgds

keira said...

Thank you aunty yochana!

hugs
Mal

keira said...

Hi aunty...oops one more quest
I wanna decorate it with strawberry fresh cream totally so how do i go abt?

Can I whip the fresh cream together with 2 drops of red colouring only or icing sugar is also required?

Thanks
Mal

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Mal,

Just use whipping cream with 1 tsp. of strawberry paste and a drop of pink colouring.

rgds

keira said...

Hi aunty....thanks for patiently answering my questions

what is the difference btw fresh cream sold in a carton and whip cream? Which is better for frosting all over cake?

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi mal,

Fresh cream in a carton? I think it should mean whipping cream.

All whipping cream will come in liquid form and you have to whip it up.

rgds

keira said...

Okie aunty...thanks

hugs
MAl

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty,

Can I know how to bake this sponge cake using a 8x8 square tin and I prefer to do it in chocalate flavour.

Thanks
God bless u

Aunty Yochana said...

HI anonymous,

use the same recipe for an 8" sq cake. Cut down the flour to 80 gm and sub with 20 gm. of cocoa powder, making it a total of 100 gm.

rgds

keira said...

Hi aunty,

hw ru? I've been busy wit work...so I've missed baking for a while.
I would like to try out chocolate optima sponge cake using the optima sponge flour recipe.
So do i still use 250 gram flour and how much cocoa is needed?
Or should I just purchase chocolate optima sponge flour...is it available.

thank you and hugs
Mal

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty Yochana

Beautiful cakes on your blog!! I tried your Optima sponge recipe and it yielded exactly the kind of light, soft cottony texture you get when you order birthday cakes from commercial bakeries. It's what I'm aiming for. What I would like to know is, does your Simple Sponge Cake or Traditional Sponge Cake yield a similar texture to the Optima recipe you posted? Or is using the Optima Flour plus Ovalette the only way to get that texture? Can I add Ovalette to your Simple or Traditional sponge recipes to get the same texture?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi anonymous,

Oh NO...don't do the mix and match thing. Better follow my recipe to the "T". No exchange please otherwise you will get into big trouble.

hahaha...thumbs up on your optima cake sponge. You can even eat it at it's own.

rgds

Aunty Yochana said...

HI Mal,

Just use 230 optima flour with 20 gm. of cocoa powder. If your cocoa powder is of the lighter colour type, change it to 25 gm. instead.

rgds

keira said...

Hi aunty,
once again thanks for the prompt response...using van houten cocoa powder and also can I use tulip chocolate coating for ganache with whipping cream?
I can't wait to try but gotta make a trip down to sunlik only this weekend.
Phoon huat doesn't sell optima sponge flour...they don't even know wats that...hahaha.

Thank you aunty

kimberly said...

hi aunty...i tried to bake the sponge cake 2 times oredi but it's cames out cracked on top like fatt kou..can u tell me wat goes wrong? i want to bake a birthday cake for my father on 3rd dec. hope u can reply to me asap tq

Unknown said...

Hi Yochana, not sure if this is the right post to post this question in.. but i was just wondering.. for the optima flour sponge cake recipe, i noticed that there isn't any sugar required in the recipe... does it need any sugar, whereas the traditional sponge cake recipe does.. Is there a reason for this? Thanks!!! :)

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Serene,

Optima flour is a spongemix with sugar added into the flour.

rgds

Unknown said...

Hi Morn Aunty!
I was looking thru ur various cake recipes and found a few diff sponge cake recipe used. Some with ovalette and some w/o. Can advise why and the difference? Thanks!!

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Gardenia,

the simple songe cake is more on skill while the one with ovalette is a much easier recipe.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi aunty..

I am new to baking..Can i just check with you, for the folding in of flour..do i pour in the flour all at one goal or spoon by spoon into the egg mixture?

jess

Aunty Yochana said...

hi jess

do not dump in all at once. Split into 3 parts and fold in part by part.

rgds

Anonymous said...

thanks aunty.. i will try it out during the weekend..

cheerio

jess

Unknown said...

Hey Auntie,

Thanks for the advise earlier! Can also give a tip or 2 on folding method. I always tend to over-fold thus my sponge and chiffon cakes tend to be flat &/or heavy.

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Gardenia

It's either using your hands, spatula or whisk to fold.

rgds

eeyore said...

Hi Aunty,

How to make this cake more mosit? Can I add 2 tsp of milk? How do you keep this cake overnight and still maintain the freshness? I would like to bake my gal's cake a day before but not sure how to kip the freshness and moistness.
Hope you can help. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Lee
Hi Aunty, i baked d cake yesterday n was fluffy but only manage to slice 2 layers n a 3rd brown n slightly dome top. Is this how high it will rise to?