Joconde Sponge Recipe (Baked) Recipe

Image is for illustrative purposes only.

Joconde is the classic French almond sponge, baked thin and fast so it stays soft and flexible. Almond meal and icing sugar are whipped with whole eggs until light, a meringue of egg whites is folded through, and a little melted butter carries the richness. The result is a pale golden sheet with a fine, moist crumb and a gentle almond flavour.

Because it is baked as a thin sheet, joconde is the sponge to reach for when you need layers rather than height: entremets and mousse cakes, roulades, and the sides of ring cakes where a thin band of sponge is wrapped around the inside of the mould. It soaks up syrup well without falling apart and rolls without cracking while it is still fresh.

Ingredients

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Weight Per Unit: 548 Number of Units: 2 Unit Size: 30 x 40 cm sheet tray, thin
	WEIGHT (grams)	ALTERNATIVE METRIC	INGREDIENT	IMAGE	CONDITION
A	250	5 Whole Eggs	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.		room temperature
B	175	6.2 ounces	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. finely ground		sifted
C	175	6.2 ounces	Pure Icing Sugar Pure icing sugar is also made from pulverised granulated sugar but contains no cornflour. For everyday cooking, icing sugar mixture does the trick; the only place where pure icing sugar is a must is when making royal icing, modelling fondant and the like.		sifted
D	50	1.8 ounces	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.		sifted
E	40	1.4 ounces	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		melted and just warm
F	325	10.8 Egg Whites	Egg White Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms around fertilized or unfertilized egg yolks. The primary natural purpose of egg white is to protect the yolk and provide additional nutrition for the growth of the embryo (when fertilized). Egg white consists primarily of about 90% water into which is dissolved 10% proteins (including albumins, mucoproteins, and globulins). Unlike the yolk, which is high in lipids (fats), egg white contains almost no fat, and carbohydrate content is less than 1%. Egg whites contain just over 50% of the protein in the egg. Egg white has many uses in food (e.g. mousse) and also many other uses (e.g. in the preparation of vaccines such as those for influenza).		room temperature
G	80	2.8 ounces	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. caster
H	1		Cream of Tartar Cream of tartar, also known as potassium bitartrate or potassium hydrogen tartrate, is a byproduct of winemaking. It is known as cream of tartar in context with cooking. It is the potassium acid salt of tartaric acid (a carboxylic acid). In food, cream of tartar is used for: Stabilizing egg whites, increasing their heat tolerance and volume Stabilizing whipped cream, maintaining its texture and volume Anti-caking and thickening Preventing sugar syrups from crystallizing Reducing discoloration of boiled vegetables Additionally it is used as a component of: Baking powder, as an acid ingredient to activate baking soda Sodium-free salt substitutes, in combination with potassium chloride A similar acid salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate, can be confused with cream of tartar because of their common function as a component of baking powder.
	1096

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Method

STEP	ACTION	DETAIL	CONDITION
1	Pre-heat	Pre-heat the oven to 220°C (430°F) and line two flat sheet trays with baking paper.	Oven fully up to temperature before you start mixing
2	Beat	Beat A, B, C and D (whole egg, almond meal, icing sugar and cake flour) together in a mixer for 10 minutes.	Pale, light and thick, with the volume clearly increased
3	Whip	In a clean bowl, whip F, G and H (egg white, caster sugar and cream of tartar) to a meringue.	Just stiff, glossy and holding a peak; do not over-whip to dryness
4	Fold	Add the almond mixture into the meringue and fold together briefly.	Only just combined, so the air is not knocked out
5	Temper	Stir a spoonful or two of the folded mixture into E (melted butter) to loosen it.	Smooth and evenly blended, no separated butter
6	Combine	Fold the butter mixture back into the main batter.	Evenly mixed with no streaks; batter still light and airy
7	Spread	Weigh about 550 g of batter onto each lined tray and spread it out thinly and evenly with a palette knife.	An even sheet right to the corners, about 5 mm thick
8	Bake	Bake at 220°C (430°F) for 5 to 7 minutes.	Lightly golden and springy to the touch; do not dry it out or it will crack when rolled
9	Cool	Slide the sheet off the hot tray onto a cool bench or rack, still on its paper, and leave to cool.	Cool and still soft and flexible; peel the paper only when you are ready to use it

Important Notes

The full batch makes about 1,096 g of raw mixture, which is roughly 550 g per tray for two thin sheets. Spread evenly and keep the sheets thin; joconde is meant to be a layer, not a cake in its own right. Bake hot and fast so it stays flexible enough to roll or to line the inside of a ring. Once cool, keep the sheets flat, wrapped in plastic, for up to two days in the fridge, or freeze them flat between sheets of baking paper. Because they are thin, these sheets dry out quickly if left uncovered.

Tools & Arrangements

Stand mixer with whisk attachment, two large mixing bowls, sieve, rubber spatula, palette knife or offset spatula, two flat sheet trays (about 30 x 40 cm), baking paper, kitchen scales.