Biscuit is a universal pastry that can be the basis for any cake or a wide variety of desserts. The classic fluffy sponge cake, the recipe for which I offer, is prepared without adding baking powder or soda. The dough will rise well by beating the whites into an “airy” mass.
I will then divide the finished sponge cake into three parts and make a cake out of it, the name of which I have not yet come up with. It will probably be “Sponge web cake with custard”; I will share the recipe for this cake (by the way, very tasty) in the next article. In general, you can make any cake from a sponge cake using cream of your choice: butter cream with condensed milk or custard, or some other. You can decorate the top with the same cream that was used to coat the cakes, or pour melted chocolate on top, sprinkle with nuts – in general, as your imagination allows. But first, let’s bake the base – our sponge cake.
Ingredients for classic sponge cake:
Eggs https://greenelly.com/ 6 pcs.
Sugar 200 g
Wheat flour 160 g
Vanilla sugar 1 sachet
Butter (for greasing the pan)
How to make dough for a classic sponge cake:
1. Carefully separate the whites from the yolks so that not a drop of yolk gets into the whites. Place the egg whites in a deep, clean, dry bowl and start beating with a mixer at low speed, gradually increasing the speed. After a few minutes, gradually add half the amount of sugar; beat until the whites form sharp, stable peaks. If you tilt the bowl and the whites stay in place and don’t leak out, then whisking is enough. It is necessary to take into account that this is one of the most important moments in the cooking process, because if you do not beat the whites enough, the sponge cake will not turn out fluffy.
2. Beat the yolks with the remaining half of the sugar and vanilla sugar. This can be done either manually with a whisk or using a mixer. You should end up with a slightly increased mass of a light shade.
3. Add about a third of the whipped whites to the resulting yolk mixture and gently mix from bottom to top. Then add another portion of the whites and mix again.
4. Gradually add the pre-sifted flour and mix with the same movements – from bottom to top. You should get a homogeneous mass without lumps.
5. When all the flour has been mixed in, add the remaining whites to the mixture and still gently mix from bottom to top (so that the dough does not settle).
The second stage is baking the biscuit:
6. In a biscuit baking dish, line the bottom with parchment and grease the bottom and walls with softened butter, pour in the biscuit mixture. My mold has a diameter of 24 cm; if you take a mold with a larger diameter, the sponge cake will be less tall. But since I’m going to make a cake, a low sponge cake won’t work for me.
7. Place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees and bake for 30-40 minutes until the biscuit is golden brown. It is not recommended to open the oven for the first 20 minutes so that our sponge cake does not settle. 15 minutes before cooking, when the biscuit has already risen and browned a little, you can lower the temperature a little so that it does not burn and, at the same time, is well baked inside. Check readiness with a toothpick by plunging it into the center of the biscuit; if it remains dry, the baked goods are ready. It is better to avoid a sharp change in temperature, which can also cause the biscuit to settle somewhat. Therefore, at the end of cooking, it is better not to immediately remove it from the oven, but to leave it until it cools completely with the door ajar.
8. Before preparing a cake or other desserts with sponge cake, it is recommended to leave it to “ripen” for 8-10 hours, be sure to cover it with a towel or cling film. You can bake a sponge cake in the evening and start preparing the cake in the morning. A ripened biscuit does not crumble so much when cutting it into layers and does not become soggy from soaking.
In this recipe for a classic sponge cake, I tried to describe the most important nuances to make a fluffy sponge cake. It’s not as difficult as it might seem! If you have any comments or tips, please share them in the comments.
