Image is for illustrative purposes only.
This is a light, all-in-one whipped sponge made with a cake emulsifier (ovalett), the same kind of soft, cottony sponge you find in Japanese and South-East Asian bakeries. The emulsifier holds the air in the egg foam, so the batter stays stable while you fold in the flour and the oil, and the finished cake keeps a fine, springy crumb for days rather than drying out like a plain genoise.
It bakes flat and even, cuts cleanly into layers and takes syrup and cream beautifully, which makes it a very useful base for layer cakes, roll cakes and cut-out shapes. The flavour is gentle — egg, vanilla and a little fresh lemon zest — so it sits happily under almost any filling.
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.
Note: The Recipe Calculator Tool is available to subscribers.
Weight Per Unit: 964
Number of Units: 2
Unit Size: 20 cm round tin, about 7 cm high
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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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880 |
17.6 Whole Eggs
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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.
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room temperature |
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B
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80 |
2.7 fluid_ounces
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Water
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room temperature |
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C
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60 |
2.1 ounces
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Cake Emulsifier (ovalett)
Cake emulsifier, sold as Ovalett, Jilk or sponge gel, is a soft paste that helps fat and liquid stay combined and holds air in the batter. It gives a finer, more even crumb and makes the mixture much less likely to split when the eggs are added.
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D
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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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E
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325 |
11.4 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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F
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125 |
4.4 ounces
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Corn Starch
Corn starch, cornstarch, cornflour or maize starch or maize is the starch derived from the corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the corn kernel. Corn starch is a popular food ingredient used in thickening sauces or soups, and is used in making corn syrup and other sugars.
corn flour
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sifted |
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G
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5 |
0.2 ounce
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Baking Powder
Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid, and is used for increasing the volume and lightening the texture of baked goods. Baking powder works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid-base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture. It is used instead of yeast for end-products where fermentation flavors would be undesirable or where the batter lacks the elastic structure to hold gas bubbles for more than a few minutes, or for convenience. Because carbon dioxide is released at a faster rate through the acid-base reaction than through fermentation, breads made by chemical leavening are called quick breads.
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sifted |
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H
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80 |
2.7 fluid_ounces
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Cooking Oil
Cooking oil is plant, animal, or synthetic fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. It is also used in food preparation and flavouring not involving heat, such as salad dressings and bread dips, and in this sense might be more accurately termed edible oil. Cooking oil is typically a liquid at room temperature, although some oils that contain saturated fat, such as coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil are solid. There is a wide variety of cooking oils from plant sources such as olive oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil (rapeseed oil), corn oil, peanut oil and other vegetable oils, as well as animal-based oils like butter and lard. Oil can be flavoured with aromatic foodstuffs such as herbs, chillies or garlic.
neutral flavoured
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room temperature |
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I
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5 |
0.2 ounce
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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
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finely grated |
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J
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2 |
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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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K
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5 |
1 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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1927
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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.
STEP 2. Enter your Custom Number of Units
This is the number of units (or servings) you want this recipe to yield.
STEP 3. Click Calculate
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 |
Pre-heat |
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Line the base of two 20 cm round tins with baking paper, or line one slab tray. |
Tins ready before the batter is mixed; this batter should not stand |
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2 |
Combine |
Put A, B, C and D (whole egg, water, cake emulsifier and caster sugar) into the mixing bowl together. |
Emulsifier broken up into the eggs, not sitting in one lump |
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3 |
Whip |
Whip on high speed until the mixture is very thick, pale and at least tripled in volume. |
Batter falls from the whisk in a thick ribbon that holds its shape on the surface for a few seconds |
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4 |
Fold |
Sift E, F and G (cake flour, corn starch and baking powder) over the foam in two or three lots and fold through by hand. |
No dry flour left, as little air knocked out as possible |
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5 |
Mix |
Stir H, I, J and K (cooking oil, lemon zest, salt and vanilla essence) together in a small bowl, then slacken them with a large spoonful of the batter. |
Oil mixture smooth and loose so it blends in easily |
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6 |
Fold |
Fold the oil mixture back into the main batter. |
Evenly coloured, no streaks of oil sitting at the bottom of the bowl |
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7 |
Fill |
Divide the batter between the prepared tins, about 960 g in each 20 cm tin, and level the tops. Tap each tin once on the bench to release large bubbles. |
Tins filled a little over half way, surface level |
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8 |
Bake |
Bake at 170°C (340°F) for about 30 to 35 minutes. |
Golden on top, springs back when pressed lightly in the centre and a skewer comes out clean |
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9 |
Cool |
Rest the sponges in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. |
Completely cool before cutting into layers; wrap well if not using the same day |
Important Notes
The half batch given here makes about 1,927 g of batter, enough for two 20 cm round sponges or one deep slab tray. The cake emulsifier (ovalett) is what makes this sponge so soft and stable — it lets you whip everything in one bowl and still get a fine, even crumb. Keep the whipping going until the batter truly ribbons; under-whipped batter bakes dense. Fold the flour and the oil in gently and by hand. Once cool, the sponges keep well wrapped in plastic for two to three days at room temperature, or freeze them wrapped for up to a month. Chill the sponge before slicing into layers for the cleanest cut.
Tools & Arrangements
Stand mixer with whisk attachment, digital scales, sieve, large bowl and spatula for folding, two 20 cm round tins or a slab tray, baking paper, cooling rack, skewer.
