Vanilla Sponge Cake
Submitted by tresh
A classic vanilla sponge cake that gets its lift from 10 whipped egg whites and cake flour with no butter or oil. Tall, airy, and springy with a delicate vanilla crumb.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
45 minREADY
75 minThis is baking at its most elemental. No butter. No oil. No leavening agents. Just eggs, sugar, flour, and the patient art of folding air into a batter until it practically floats.
Ten egg whites get whipped with cream of tartar to stiff, glossy peaks while the yolks are beaten separately until thick and lemon-colored. Cake flour sifted three times (yes, three) gets folded into the whites so gently that every air bubble stays intact.
Baked in an ungreased tube pan and cooled upside down, this sponge cake comes out impossibly tall, springy, and light. Eat it plain, dust it with powdered sugar, or use it as the foundation for trifles, strawberry shortcake, or any layered dessert that needs a cake that soaks up syrup without falling apart.
Kitchen Tips
- Sift the flour three times. It sounds fussy, but each pass aerates the flour and prevents dense pockets in the finished cake.
- Add sugar to the egg whites two tablespoons at a time. Dumping it all in at once deflates the whites and you’ll never get them back.
- Do not grease the pan. The batter needs to grip the sides of the pan as it rises. A greased pan means a collapsed cake.
- Cool the cake inverted for a full 40 minutes. Gravity pulls the delicate structure down if you leave it right-side up while it’s still warm.
Ingredients
Directions
Sift flour and ½ cup sugar together 3 times; set aside.
Beat egg yolks at high speed of an electric mixer 4 minutes or until thick and lemon colored.
Add ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract; beat at medium speed an additional 5 minutes or until thick.
Set aside. Beat egg whites until foamy.
Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form.
Add ¾ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time; continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Sprinkle one-fourth of flour mixture over egg whites; gently fold it in.
Repeat procedure with remaining flour, adding one-fourth of the mixture at a time.
Fold ½ teaspoon vanilla into the egg white mixture.
Gently fold beaten egg yolks into egg white mixture.
Pour the mixture into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.
Bake at 350℉ (180℃) for 45 to 50 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
Invert pan carefully.
Let cake cool in pan 40 minutes.
Loosen cake from sides of one 10-inch cake pan.
Comments
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