Thursday, April 18, 2013

[Super Soft Sponge Cake] Feather Light Sponge Cake with Chocolate with Chocolate Frosting

I've always baked cakes for my three guys' birthdays, and Remi and Pablo have put their requests a few weeks/months ahead. 

Remi made a request for a white cake with chocolate frosting, for his ninth birthday a few weeks ago. 

Actually he asked for a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, but I slightly modified it by changing from vanilla cake to a super soft sponge cake.

As the angel food cake was ultimately light and soft, I adapted the angel food cake recipe and applied it to sponge cake baking, a few years ago, for an experiment. I'm sorry to brag about it, but it was a hit. Since then, I've always used this feather light sponge cake recipe. The main difference between angel food cake and this super-soft-sponge cake is that Super soft sponge cake uses egg yolks while angel food cake only uses egg whites.

Remi was content with the cake!

Here goes the recipe for a Super Soft Sponge Cake

Ingredients
7/8 cup cake flour, sifted
(Take 2 tablespoons flour out from one cup flour scooped)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup milk
6 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt



Directions
1. Preheat the oven at 350 F.

2. Sift flour.

Line the baking pan with parchment paper.

3. Beat 1 egg and 5 egg yolks until foamy and the yolk and white are combined, on high speed.

4. Add in flour and milk in 2-3 times: start with flour and finish with flour, i.e.
1/3 flour → 1/2 milk → 1/3 flour → 1/2 milk → 1/3 flour.

5. Add in melted butter and mix. Set aside.

6.  Beat egg whites on high speed until white & frothy for about 2 minutes. 

7. Add in salt & sugar little by little while running the mixer. Beat until stiff & thick foamy, for another 2-3 minutes.

8.  Fold in 1/3 egg whites into egg yolk batter with a spatula until combined. 

Then, repeat the same step for two more times. Never ever ever ever overmix if you want to bake a fluffy cake.

9. Pour batter into the lined baking pan. Gently bang or rattle the pan on the counter for a few times, to get the air bubbles out of the batter.

10. Bake a preheated oven 350 F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 310F and bake for 30-35 more minutes.

11. Remove the cake pan from oven and cool for 5-10 minutes, before running a metal spatula around the inside edge of the pan. Remove the cake from the pan. Place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make chocolate frosting.
(adapted from Food Network)

Ingredients
3 cups confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 stick butter, softened
3 - 4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla


Directions






1. Sift sugar and cocoa together into a large bowl. 



2. In another bowl combine 1 cup of sugar mixture with butter and 1 tablespoon cream, beating until smooth. 



3. Add another cup of sugar and another tablespoon of cream, beating well. Continue until all ingredients are combined and frosting is fluffy. Beat in vanilla. 



Once cake is completely cooled, spread frosting on top sides of the cake with frosting.




Tara~
That big ugly dots were meant to be hearts :(



Nonetheless, it was just so light and soft :)
Super Scrumptious!



(Cupcakes for daycare.)


Slice and serve :)


Super Soft Sponge Cake

23 comments:

  1. This recipe is just the one I need:D Your angel food cake recipe was such a hit that my dad asked me to bake another one several times but I was always hesitant to bake one since I didn't know what to do with the leftover egg yolks. No leftover yolks and only a quarter cup butter.. this could be the ultimate recipe!

    Happy birthday to Remi! Hope his birthday wish came true:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Julia,
      I'm glad that you could get something useful out of here :)I should post the angel food cake recipe soon.
      This sponge cake is amazingly soft and light. You will love it.
      Have a nice weekend!

      Delete
  2. Happy belated Birthday to Remi!!!! I think he is getting handsome.:) I love your simple white cake and super simple chocolate cake. Because I can only bake nice cakes using these recipes. Have a good weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi YH,
      thanks for your kind comments. I'm not sure 'handsome' is a right adjective to describe Remi, but thanks anyway :) I'm glad you find my recipes useful. I like simple recipes very much. This one is not hard to make either.

      Delete
  3. Hi,

    Thanks for this recipe! Is the cake flour meant to be plain or self raising flour?

    Also what's the size of the cake tin do you use?

    Thanks =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi JoJo,
      my pleasure :)
      Like all purpose flour, cake flour is just a standard flour. You can find it down a baking aisle at any grocery store. I bake this sponge cake in a 9-inch pan.

      Delete
    2. Hi Colleen,

      Can I use this on a lightly greased, non-stick cake tin?

      Thanks =)

      Delete
    3. Absolutely,
      any kind of tin should do the job :)

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Such a beautiful cake! Nut please tell me more exactly about quantity of cake flour you used in this recipe(quoted from7/8 cup cake flour, sifted
    (Take 2 tablespoons flour out from one cup flour scooped)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Chotanun,
      well, let me reiterate this.
      7/8 cup is hard to measure, isn't it? So I suggest you to take an easier way.
      As you know,1 cup = 16 tablespoons. 7/8 cup = (1 - 1/8) cup = (16 - 2) tablespoons.
      So, please measure 1 cup flour. Then, take out 2 tablespoons flour from there. Then you have exactly 7/8 cup to use!

      Hope it answers your question.

      Delete
    2. Thanks a lot,Colleen. I have learned about baking only by myself. I have one thing in my mind. I think you know about Chiffon cake. Colleen you know how to make supersoft chiffon cake. I did a lot but ended in a little bit sticky chiffon even I tried so much to fold soft peak egg whites with batter with tender and fast.

      Delete
    3. Hi Chotanun,
      hmmmm, that's weird... Maybe egg whites were not well blended in? I can't really guess any other reasons... And hopefully you sifted "cake" flour before you make the batter?
      I'll post a chiffon cake recipe in September~ hopefully I can show you something helpful there? :)
      Have a nice weekend.

      Delete
  6. Can you please tell me the substitute for cake flour as in uk we have either plain flour or self raisinf flour.
    thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi miz-luvly,
      you can make a substitute for cake flour by add two tablespoons cornstarch to every 3/4 cup of all purpose flour or plain flour. :)

      Delete
    2. Ok thanks :) i will give it a go

      Delete
  7. What's the size of the pan? Can I add cocoa powder to this recipe if I want to make chocolate sponge? How much cocoa powder would you suggest to add?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lee, It's 8-inch(20cm) pan. I guess you can add 100% cocoa powder such as dutch cocoa to the recipe. I would suggest no more than 2-3 tablespoons, sifted. Could you please let me know how it turns out? :)

      Delete
    2. Thank you Colleen!! Will give it a try soon.

      Delete
  8. Hi ..ur cake looks fabulous...I wanna make...but without eggs..so plz help....:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jyoti,
      In this recipe, eggs play the role of the leavening agent, to help it rise.
      So~ eggs play a big role, if not the biggest, for this cake. :(
      That being said, I still found some useful substitute for eggs:

      Eggs as a Leavening Agent

      For recipes which use eggs primarily as a leavening agent you can try a commercial egg replacement product (see above) or the following mixture:
      1-1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil mixed with 1-1/2 tablespoons water and 1 teaspoon baking powder per egg.
      (Reference: http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=104)
      Hopefully it helps!
      Happy baking!

      Delete
  9. Nice cake. I love chocolate cake. Whenever I am in a mood of eating a chocolate cake, I always order them from Monginis online cake shop. But this time I will try your recipe. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  10. A printable version would have been nice. Nothing is more frustrating then having to constantly scroll to do a recipe, and it also makes for more mistakes........

    ReplyDelete