Monday, February 6, 2017

Vanilla Sponge Cake

I developed this sponge cake recipe after first making it for the coconut cake that I made for my dad's 90th birthday. It is more of a white sponge cake than a yellow, but it's most definitely vanilla in flavor. The texture is just right - soft, moist and fluffy, so I now use it as my go-to recipe for any dessert that requires a sponge cake. 


Ingredients:
1 tbsp. butter, room temperature (for the pans)
1 cup whole milk, room temperature

5 large egg whites, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. iodized salt
12 tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pcs. (slightly cold)


1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Butter and flour two 9 x 2" round cake pans; line the bottoms with rounds of parchment (you can buy parchment rounds in some specialty food stores, or just use scissors and cut them out.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, egg whites, whole egg, and vanilla bean paste or extract; set aside.



4. In the bowl of a stand mixer (use the paddle attachment), add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 


5. With mixer on low speed, add the butter, one piece at a time.


 6. Continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs. 


7. Add all but 1/2 cup of the reserved milk & egg mixture and beat on medium until pale and fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes. 


8. With mixer on low, add remaining 1/2 cup of milk & egg mixture. Increase speed to medium and beat 30 seconds more. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix for another 20 seconds. 

























9. Divide batter evenly between the 2 cake pans and smooth tops over with a rubber spatula. 


10. Bake 22-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in pans on baking rack for 10 minutes. Run a small knife around the sides of the pan and invert the cakes onto a baking rack. Let cool completely, about 45 minutes.

Use in whatever cake recipe you'd like. 

2 comments:

  1. The recipe directions are not correct. In the beginning you instruct to add the milk, egg whites, whole egg, vanilla seeds, then later you instruct to add half of the milk after the butter, and then toward the end, add the remaining half a cup of milk. So needless to say, my cake did not turn out.

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    1. Thanks for letting me know about the error in my recipe instructions. I've corrected the instructions so that it shows that the milk should be combined with the eggs and vanilla and then added to the flour & sugar mixture. Hope you'll try this again!
      Best, Arleen

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