Image is for illustrative purposes only.
This is a rich, buttery almond sponge built on a creamed butter and sugar base, with ground almonds doing most of the work that flour usually does. There is only a little cake flour in it, so the crumb stays close, moist and tender rather than light and airy, and it carries a warm marzipan flavour lifted by fresh lemon zest and vanilla.
It is a very useful sponge for cake work. Baked as a thin sheet it can be cut into layers, discs or shaped pieces for entremets and torte bases, and because it is moist on its own it does not need much syrup. It pairs beautifully with buttercream, chocolate ganache, praline and fruit fillings, and it holds its shape well when cut, which makes it a good base under heavier decorated cakes.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
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Weight Per Unit: 1453
Number of Units: 1
Unit Size: 30 x 40 cm sheet tray of sponge, approximately 1 cm thick
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WEIGHT
(grams)
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ALTERNATIVE METRIC
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INGREDIENT
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IMAGE
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CONDITION
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A
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360 |
12.7 ounces
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Butter
Butter is a solid dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk, to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk. It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water.
(Unsalted)
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Room temperature, soft |
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B
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360 |
12.7 ounces
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Sugar
Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. (In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose.) Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Longer chains of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Chemically-different substances may also have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugars. Some are used as lower-calorie food substitutes for sugar described as artificial sweeteners.
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C
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300 |
10.6 ounces
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Almond Meal
Almond meal, almond flour or ground almond is made from ground sweet almonds. Almond flour is usually made with blanched almonds (no skin), whereas almond meal can be made both with whole or blanched almonds. The consistency is more like corn meal than wheat flour.
It is used in pastry and confectionery – in the manufacture of almond macarons and other sweet pastries, in cake and pie filling, such as Sachertorte and is one of the two main ingredients of marzipan and almond paste. In France, almond meal is an important ingredient in frangipane, the filling of traditional galette des Rois cake.
Almond meal has recently become important in baking items for those on low carbohydrate diets. It adds moistness and a rich nutty taste to baked goods. Items baked with almond meal tend to be calorie-dense.
(Ground Almonds)
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Sifted |
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D
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60 |
2.1 ounces
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Cake Flour
Cake flour is a finely milled white flour made from soft wheat. It has very low protein content, between 8% and 10%, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher protein content of other flours would make the cakes tough. Highly sifted cake flours may require different volume amounts in recipes than all-purpose flour. Using the scoop and level method, well-sifted flour usually produces 125 g per cup. However, most American recipes are written with 140 g of flour per cup, so weighing and experimentation can be helpful in baking unfamiliar recipes. Small weight differences can greatly affect the texture. American Cake flour is bleached; in countries where bleached flour is prohibited, plain flour can be treated in a domestic microwave to improve the texture of the end product.
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Sifted |
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E
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360 |
12.7 ounces
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Whole Egg
Eggs are one of the most common ingredients in a typical cake. Egg yolks and whole eggs store significant amounts of protein and choline, and are widely used in baking. Usually an eggs role in a cake is to add moisture and richness, act as a raising agent as well as a glue to bind the ingredients together.
About 7 eggs
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Room temperature, lightly beaten |
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F
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10 |
1 tablespoon
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Lemon Zest
Lemon zest is the thin, brightly coloured outer layer of the lemon skin, removed with a fine grater or zester without taking the bitter white pith underneath. It holds the fruit's aromatic oils and gives a fresh citrus lift to batters and creams.
(Fresh)
From about 2 lemons
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Finely grated |
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G
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2 |
0.4 teaspoon
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Vanilla Essence
Vanilla Extract is made with 100% pure vanilla beans. With a sweet, syrupy consistency, this Vanilla is ideal for use in icings, drinks and whipped cream as well as classic baking recipes. Vanilla Essence is commercially manufactured by chemicals and is more of a watery consistency as opposed to vanilla extract which is thicker and a lot fuller and richer in flavour. You can replace one with the other but use 50% more of essence. For example, for 1 teaspoon of extract, use 1.5 teaspoons of essence.
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H
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1 |
0.2 teaspoon
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Salt
Common salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in its natural form as a crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater, where it is the main mineral constituent; the open ocean has about 35 grams (1.2 oz) of solids per litre, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for animal life, and saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous of food seasonings, and salting is an important method of food preservation.
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1453
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Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
STEP 1. Enter your Custom Weight Per Unit
The 'Custom Weight Per Unit' is already loaded with the weight per unit for this recipe but can be changed if required. If all you wish to do is change the number of units (or servings), just leave the current weight per unit.
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The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.
Method
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STEP
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ACTION
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DETAIL
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CONDITION
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1 |
Prepare |
Bring the butter and eggs to room temperature, sift the almond meal and cake flour together with the salt, and grate the lemon zest. |
Everything at room temperature. |
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2 |
Pre-heat |
Turn the oven on to 180 C and line a 30 x 40 cm sheet tray with baking paper. |
Fan off if possible. |
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3 |
Cream |
Whip the butter, caster sugar, lemon zest and vanilla essence together with the paddle attachment. |
Pale, light and creamy. |
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4 |
Scrape |
Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl. |
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5 |
Add |
Add the beaten egg a little at a time, letting each addition combine before adding more. |
If it looks like splitting, add a spoon of the sifted dry mix and keep going. |
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6 |
Scrape |
Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl again. |
Smooth, glossy batter. |
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7 |
Fold |
Fold in the sifted almond meal, cake flour and salt by hand or on the lowest speed. |
Just combined — do not overwork. |
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8 |
Spread |
Spread the batter evenly over the lined tray with an offset palette knife. |
About 1 cm thick, level in the corners. |
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9 |
Bake |
Bake at 180 C for about 15 - 18 minutes. |
Golden, springy in the centre and just pulling from the sides. |
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10 |
Cool |
Cool in the tray for a few minutes, then slide the sponge with its paper onto a rack. |
Cool completely before cutting or layering. |
Important Notes
This batch makes about 1,450 g of batter. In the bakery it is portioned at 215 g for each hexagon sponge, so this quantity gives about 6 sponges; a full large tray takes 2.5 kg and a marjolaine tray 3 kg, so treat this as roughly half a large tray or one home sheet pan.
Because of the high almond and butter content the sponge stays moist for days. Wrap it well in cling film once completely cool and keep it at room temperature for 2 days, in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze it flat for up to 3 months. It cuts most cleanly when cold, so chill the sheet before cutting discs or shapes. It rarely needs soaking syrup.
Tools & Arrangements
Stand mixer with paddle attachment, rubber scraper, fine grater or zester, sieve, digital scale, 30 x 40 cm sheet tray, baking paper, offset palette knife, cooling rack, oven.
