Easy Chocolate Sponge Cake Recipe

INGREDIENTS

My easy sponge cake recipe uses simple ingredients. Eggs, as you know, are an essential ingredient in sponge cake baking. Their function is to leaven and to help build the cake structure. Whipped egg whites – meringue contains lots of tiny air bubbles that help leaven and lighten the cake. Eggs help create that signature sponge-like texture.

• Large Eggs, separated and at room temperature.
• Sugar
• Vanilla Extract
• Oil
• Cocoa Powder – Dutch processed (recommended) or natural/unsweetened cocoa powder
• Hot water – or use other hot liquid such as milk or coffee
• Flour
• Baking Powder
• Salt

PREPARE A BAKING PAN

When making a chocolate sponge cake, I like to brush the inside of the pan with soft butter and dust it with cocoa powder. Take the pan over to the kitchen sink, turn it over, and shake out the excess.

FLOUR MIXTURE

Another great thing about this recipe is that it uses all-purpose flour, no need for special flower and I absolutely love that! To help leaven the chocolate sponge cake, I rely on the meringue and baking powder.

PREPARE EGG YOLK BASE | WHAT IS RIBBON STAGE?

In this step, beat the egg yolks with sugar until the mixture reaches the ribbon stage, about 3-5 minutes. The mixture will become thicker, pale in color, and it will increase in volume. The ribbon stage refers to how well the egg yolks and sugar are incorporated. What you are looking for is a thick mixture. When lifted with the whisk, the mixture should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon-like stream, briefly sit on the surface before blending in.

• On medium-high speed, beat half of the sugar with the egg yolks for about 3-5 minutes, until the mixture has doubled in volume and is pale in color. Scraped down the bowl a few times.
• Gradually beat in oil and vanilla extract (steps 1-6).

ADD COCOA POWDER – HOW TO ENHANCE THE CHOCOLATE FLAVOR

To give the sponge cake its chocolate flavor, I used cocoa powder. And to intensify the chocolate flavor, I employed a simple blooming technique using hot liquid.

• Into the egg-sugar batter, add sifted cocoa powder. Beat on medium-low speed until most of the cocoa powder is incorporated into the egg yolk-sugar mixture.
• Then scrape the sides of the bowl, and increase the speed to medium-high and beat until well combined, about 30 seconds (steps 1-5).
• At this point, you can lower the speed to medium-low and gradually pour in hot water, milk, or coffee. Don’t pour hot liquid in the middle of the mixing bowl; instead, aim for the sides of the bowl.
• Pour the hot liquid in gradually in a slow stream, wait for it to mix before adding more water, and scrape the bowl a few times to ensure everything is mixed (steps 5-8).

HOW TO MAKE MERINGUE – WHY I ADD CREAM OF TARTAR

Meringue is made by whipping egg whites. When you beat egg whites, you incorporate lots of tiny air bubbles into the liquid egg whites, creating an airy white foam – meringue. During heating/baking, these tiny air bubbles expand, causing the cake to rise.

Pour the egg whites into a grease-free bowl and add cream of tartar. Beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form; gradually add granulated sugar (steps 1-4). Continue beating until a stiff, thick, glossy meringue forms (steps 5-6).

• Cream of Tartar – I always add cream of tartar, lemon juice or white distilled vinegar to egg whites prior to whipping them into meringue. An acidic ingredient helps loosen tight egg white proteins, creating more room for air bubbles, stabilizing meringue. And it make is harder to overbeat meringue. This can happen easily, resulting in a dry cake.
• Sugar – Sugar acts like a stabilizer; it binds with the water in the egg whites, making the meringue more stable. For example, when you make meringue without sugar, the water eventually sinks to the bottom of the mixing bowl, leaving the foam part dry.

HOW TO FOLD CAKE BATTER

This sponge cake recipe uses a folding technique to blend the dry and wet ingredients. We have to combine airy meringue with a thick egg yolk mixture and flour. If you just stir everything together, you’ll end up with a batter that yields a dense cake. The reason we don’t want to stir the batter is to prevent the light, airy meringue from collapsing. The goal of folding is to maintain the lightness and airated batter that bakes beautifully into a soft, fluffy cake.

• Start by adding lighter ingredients (flour and meringue) on top of a heavier egg yolk mixture.
• Sift about 1/3 of the flour mixture onto the cocoa mixture.
• Use a spatula and run it through the flour, bring it up, and repeat.
• Alternate with meringue. Turn the bowl clockwise as you fold the ingredients into the thick egg yolk mixture.
• You will start to notice that batter is becoming lighter, more fluffier.
• Fold the flour and meringue into the egg yolk mixture until no streaks of flour or meringue remain (steps 1-4).

BAKE SPONGE CAKE

Pour the chocolate batter into a prepared baking pan, then smooth the top with a spatula.

Finally, we are ready to bake the cake. Bake the cake in the preheated oven at 340°F/170 °C for 25-30 minutes. Don’t open the oven for the first 20 minutes. If you see the top of the cake is browning too quickly, use a foil dome. (steps 1- 2).

HOW TO TELL IF THE CAKE IS BAKED

Bake the cake until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center comes out clean (steps 1-2).

COOL THE SPONGE CAKE

Let the cake sit for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely. You can cover it with a kitchen towel or a foil as it cools; it helps to keep the cake moist (steps 1-5).

HOW TO STORE CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE

Store the unfilled cake in the fridge for 5-6 days. To prevent the cake from drying out, I wrap it in food wrap. Cake can be stored at room temperature for 3-4 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Wrap the cake well in the food wrap and freeze it in freezer-safe bags.

SPONGE CAKE FILLING IDEAS

• Whipped Cream
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Chocolate Whipped Ganache
• Fresh Fruit and Whipped Cream Yogurt Frosting

NATURAL/UNSWEETENED COCOA VERSUS DUTCH PROCESS COCOA

As you can see in the picture below. The top cake is darker than the bottom one. This is the result of using two types of cocoa powder.

• Top, dark brown sponge cake is made using Dutch-processed cocoa powder – as a result, the cake is darker and it has more chocolate flavor and smells very chocolaty.
• Bottom, the light brown cake is made using unsweetened, natural cocoa – the chocolate flavor is excellent but milder than the cake made with Dutch-processed cocoa powder.

SUCCESS BAKING TIPS

• The cake sank in the middle. What happened?
  • Opening the oven door during the first 20 minutes can cause cake to sink in the middle.
  • Also, closing the oven door too abruptly.
  • Cooling the cake too quickly. Don’t move hot cake to a cool, drafty room.
  • The batter sits too long before it goes into the oven. This can cause egg whites to deflate and compromise the cake structure..
  • Over-beating of the batter at the last stage. Fold the batter, don’t stir it.
• My sponge cake is dry, why? This Overwhipped egg whites usually cause this. When meringue is overmixed, it becomes grainy and dry. Or if you bake the cake for too long, it will dry out. To amend a dry sponge, use simple syrup.
• I’m making 9×13 inch cake, should I double the recipe?  Yes, double the recipe. Use a flower nail for even baking.
• How long does sponge cake last? At room temperature for 3-4 days and in the fridge for 5-6 days, well covered. Or freeze for up to 3 months.
• Why is my sponge cake dense? Sugar crystals were not completely dissolved. Also, under-mixing can be an issue. Stirring instead of folding at the last stage of batter mixing.
• My sponge cake didn’t rise; what happened? Check the leavening agent expiration date. It can also mean that the cake wasn’t baked long enough.
• Why do I have giant holes and tunnels in a cake? This is usually caused by over-mixing. Quick solution – fill the holes with buttercream.
• Can I make a 2 tier cake using this recipe? Yes, you can. Use a proper stacking method. Don’t stack a heavy cake (pound cake) on top of a sponge cake.

MORE CHOCOLATE RECIPES

• Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
• How to Temper Chocolate
• Chocolate Chip Cookies via Joy Food Sunshine
• Chocolate German Buttercream
• Truffles via Recipe Tin Eats
• Chocolate Cut Out Cookies