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Sponge cakes are named for their springy texture and airiness. They may be baked in tube pans, loaf pans, sheet pans, layer cake pans, muffin cups and just about any pan you can think of. You can flavor the cakes just about any way you like—they take to all sorts of fillings and frostings. And whipped cream—flavored with vanilla, coffee, chocolate, liqueur—is always a welcome companion. Because we’ll be in the world of foam cakes in the next couple of blog posts, and the techniques to make these cakes are essentially the same, I’ll provide links so that you can review what to do and how to do it at your leisure.
Anytime you have a question, please make a comment at the end of a post and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
The recipe here is for Orange Sponge Cake. It has a lovely orange flavor that I get by mashing or pounding the finely grated zest with some granulated sugar. This method extracts as much of the natural oils as possible giving the cake its special taste.
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Beat the yolks with the orange sugar and plain granulated sugar until they are thick and pale and form a slowly dissolving ribbon.
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Beat in the orange juice, salt, and cake flour.
Whip the whites with the remaining granulated sugar until they form stiff, moist peaks.
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Fold the whites and yolks together only until no whites show, transfer to the cake pan, and bake. Note that you put the cake into a cold oven. The oven is not preheated. I bake most of my foam cakes this way because gentle heating allows the air bubbles to expand slowly, and they’ll reach full volume at about the same time that the protein around them sets. Not sure about folding? There’s a detailed explanation in the recipe. Happy baking!