Time with Cynthia: Plain Sponge Cake

As requested by many, here's the recipe to a good plain sponge cake. This recipe is from Richard Goh, my favourite instructor for baking. This recipe calls for really simple ingredients but requires precision in terms of getting the batter whisked to the right stage of 'doneness'. 

I love this recipe as it's manageable when done right and it's perfectly soft when handled right. 

Even though this is merely a sponge cake, I'd term this as a bake with difficulty level 3 out of 5 as many fail to get the right doneness for the whisking of the batter, resulting in a kueh-like dense sponge cake. So do read on for tips! (:

Plain Sponge Cake Recipe

This recipe yields one 7" round cake

4 eggs

100g plain flour

100g unsalted butter

100g fine sugar

This recipe allows for a thick cake that can be easily cut into 3 layers for cakes. However, if you'd like a larger cake, this recipe works perfectly fine for 8" or 9" tins with the same amount of batter. You'll just yield a thinner cake and depending on your skill, you can still slice the 9" cake into 3 perfect layers.

Cake flour can also be used in place of plain flour to make the cake softer. I'd usually use 55g Seng Choon eggs. The fresher the eggs the better the cake. 

Steps

Preheat oven to 160 degree Celsius. Melt the butter on medium heat for about a minute in the microwave oven. Alternatively, you may double boil it till it's melted.

Sift the plain flour. You may use cake flour if you like the cake to be softer.

Grease and line the baking tin with baking paper.

Add the fine sugar to the eggs. Add the eggs to the fine sugar only when you are about to whisk the eggs. DO NOT leave the egg and sugar mixture to 'rot' while you run some other errands. 

Whisk the eggs and fine sugar till you get almost stiff peaks. You should be able to see tracks in the batter. This usually takes 6-7 minutes on maximum speed using my Philips hand held mixer when I tilt my bowl for maximum access to the batter. It should take about 10-15 minutes on a stand mixer. 

THIS TIMING IS ONLY A GAUGE. 

Please determine if the batter is right by eye power. The video shows you the folding of the batter and also the right stage the batter should be whisked till. Do not leave your batter unattended while you run some other errands. Else, the batter will turn watery with time. 

Fold in the flour and melted butter into the cake batter. 

Pour it into the baking tin and bake for 20 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean and dry when inserted into the middle of the cake.

Invert and peel off baking paper before flipping cake back into position (while cake is still hot)! Allow to cool completely in a cake caddy to prevent loss of moisture.

Do keep the cake covered in a cake caddy at all times before the assembly of the cake to prevent drying of the cake leading to a harder, tougher, drier sponge cake.

Have fun baking your plain sponge cake! 

I'd love to see the bakes or stuff you've cooked using the blog's recipe! Do share photos of stuff you've baked or cooked using the blog's recipe with me either via FB message to http://facebook.com/limcynthia OR http://facebook.com/thebakingbiatch OR via email at cynthia.lim.hl@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you! (: