30 sponge recipes

Lemon and coconut roulade spread with melted chocolate and rolled with whipped cream and fresh berries. A flourless sponge that's lighter than it looks.

Favourite walnut cake: a flourless, ground-walnut sponge held together with whipped eggs and a whisper of breadcrumbs. Tall, tender, and naturally gluten-free.

A New Orleans-style charlotte: chocolate sponge rolled with almond paste, sliced and pressed into a springform, filled with amaretto-soaked chocolate mousse. A Mardi Gras showstopper.

Rustic Mediterranean olive bread with dried mint, chopped onion, and black olives baked into a round loaf. Made with a sponge starter for deep, complex flavor.

Jim's buttermilk bread: a sponge-method white loaf with buttermilk tang, honey, and olive oil. Soft tender crumb, two loaves from one recipe, the kind of bread that makes toast worth waking up for.

Italian rainbow cookies (seven layer cookies): three almond paste sponge layers tinted red, green, and yellow, stacked with raspberry jam, and coated in chocolate. A classic holiday bakery tradition.

Rigo Jancsi, the classic Hungarian chocolate cake with two layers of rich sponge filled with rum-spiked chocolate cream and topped with a glossy chocolate glaze. An elegant European pastry.

A kosher-for-Passover chocolate fudge torte: a flourless matzo-meal sponge layered with rich chocolate fudge frosting. Dairy-free and parve, rising on whipped egg whites instead of leavening.

Frankfurter Kranz: a traditional German ring cake with three rum-soaked sponge layers, a rich egg-yolk buttercream filling, and a crunchy almond praline crown. The classic Frankfurt coffee-table cake.

Harvest pumpkin torte layers a fluffy chocolate sponge with spiced pumpkin filling four times over, then finishes with a glossy chocolate glaze. Fall baking that looks like a bakery-case showpiece.

Cocoa sponge cake hearts cut from a sheet pan, dusted with powdered sugar, and plated with pools of raspberry sauce and chocolate syrup. A stunning Valentine's Day or special occasion dessert for 8.

Monastery oatmeal bread made with a sponge starter, rolled oats, and whole wheat flour for a hearty, deeply flavoured loaf. Two free-form ovals with a rustic oat-dusted crust, perfect for toast or sandwiches.

Chocolate raspberry layer cake: a moist buttermilk-cocoa sponge cut into three layers and filled with an airy raspberry cream of Italian meringue folded into raspberry whipped cream. A showstopping, lighter-than-it-looks dessert.

Ethiopian injera flatbread made with self-rising, whole wheat, and cornmeal flours. Spongy, slightly sour fermented bread used as both plate and utensil for scooping stews.