Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe

June 1, 2015

Vanilla Sponge Cake or even Hot Milk Sponge Cake is a name you may be more familiar, is a very light and delicate cake that is so very versatile with an array of fillings and icings to chose from.

It is a more dry style cake by nature, which requires a bit of simple syrup on the layers to make it shine at it’s best.

I have tried to simplify the mix method as best as possible, and honestly I have mixed this recipe several different ways and had great results every time!

So that tells me this a a very “friendly” recipe so don’t feel nervous when I say things like “liaison” and ask you to heat the eggs over a double boiler

Give this a go and see for yourself!

The combinations are endless here with this really great, basic cake recipe.

Read about What is Cake? to get a better idea of all the different styles of cake recipes to choose from and how to best pair up fillings and icings!

*Update: Now I hate to make anyone nervous about mixing this recipe since so many have had great success and LOVE this cake so much, it has now become their “go-to” cake recipe.

But others have had extreme failures here.

I mentioned in the video that this is my 5th time refilming this recipe and I have settled on a method that I found to be most “user friendly” but there are still some points to pay attention to for the best results for a nicely risen, fluffy cake.

The Ribbon Stage: Most important step here for your cake to be fluffy and light versus heavy and dense with no rise (as this is the complaint of most who have had failure)

A Sponge cake relies on foamed eggs to give it is lightness, airiness and most important- RISE.

This recipe has a bit of baking powder in it to help it along but a traditional sponge or genoise style cake will not.

The most important step in the mixing of this cake (well, there are 2) but #1 being that the eggs get foamed to their maximum possible foam-age but not over whipped to the point that they are going to shrink up upon baking and cause a tight crumb due to the overstretching of the egg white proteins.

Yes I know I just got all scientific here but it is important to understand in cake baking and well…CLICK HERE for more on “How to know if I’ve over whipped my eggs.”

That article was written more for egg whites and specifically for meringues and such, but the same scientific rules apply for whole eggs too, since whole eggs have egg whites in them right?

Although it is less apparent when you have over whipped your whole eggs than when you have over whipped your egg whites as I show in that video on that page.

So again I will stress that if you just do exactly what I do in the video (and achieving maximum foam-age in whole eggs is typically 5 – 7 minutes BUT the best way to know is to do the ribbon test.)

One you lift the beaters and the egg/sugar mixture falls back into the bowl forming ribbons that last about 3 seconds before disappearing you are good!

And last #2 Important Key Factor in the success of this cake, is do not over fold in the flour!

Originally I did the flour folding by hand, but I found that too many people were over-folding causing severe deflation of those eggs we just worked so hard to achieve!

So I adjusted the method to the mixer bowl so that on low speed it would incorporate the flour faster and more delicately, but *sigh* I suppose it is all up to the person mixing the recipe and how they perceive certain things. So if you feel like the mixer is going to be too damaging to the mixture by adding the flour that way, please by all means fold it in by hand!

I hope that this updated note will help folks understand just what the heck is happening in this recipe and why we have to be super careful at those 2 key points in the recipe.

But as always I stress: IF YOU MIX IT EXACTLY AS I SHOW YOU AND USE ALL THE SAME INGREDIENTS EXACTLY AS LISTED YOU WILL HAVE GREAT SUCCESS WITH MY RECIPES!

4.7 from 49 reviews

Best Vanilla Sponge Cake Recipe

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

50 mins

The milk / butter mixture should be hot (about 150°f) when adding to the liaison
A stand mixer is not necessary however it is the best at achieving the ribbon stage with the balloon whip attachment, a hand beater can be used but be aware it may take almost 20 minutes to reach ribbon stage
Grease pans with pan grease
Preheat oven to 350°f

Author: Gretchen's Bakery

Serves: 2 - 8" layers or 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Eggs Large 4 (200g)
Granulated Sugar 1 ¾ cup (350g)
Whole Milk 1 cup (237ml)
Unsalted Butter 1 Stick (8 Tablespoons) (112g)
Vanilla Extract 1 Tablespoon (15ml)
All Purpose Flour 1 cup (125g)
Cake Flour 1 cup (120g)
**most asked question: can I use one or the other of the flour? YES
Baking Powder 2 teaspoons (10g)
Salt ½ teaspoons (3g)

Instructions

In the bowl of your Kitchen Aid mixer combine the eggs and sugar over a double boiler and whisk with a hand whisk until the sugar has dissolved slightly and the mixture reaches approximately 115°f.
On high speed whip to ribbon stage, thick and pale colored and is almost 5X from original volume
The eggs will take about 5 - 7 minutes to reach the ribbon stage.
In the meantime combine the milk and butter in a microwave safe bowl or on the stove top and melt to just under a boil. Add the vanilla extract
By this time the eggs should be ready, fold in the sifted dry ingredients
Take out about 2 cups of the cake batter into a separate mixing bowl, and with a hand whisk add the hot milk-butter to that. Whisk vigorously
Add the "liaison" back into the remaining batter in the mixer bowl.
Pour batter between the two prepared pans.
Bake in preheated 350°f oven for about 35 minutes or UNTIL IT'S DONE

(Cupcakes may take 20-25 minutes)

Notes

For those wanting to make a marble cake divide the entire batter in half and add ½ cup of cocoa powder to one half, then swirl the batters together in each pan before baking

Store this cake wrapped well and freeze layers until ready to assemble your cake. Otherwise use immediately to build a cake.

A Note on Doubling this recipe:
Most recipes are no problem to simply double or triple the ingredients amount and proceed as the recipe states to mix.
However with a recipe such as this one, that requires the eggs reach a certain volume, you may have trouble to double and especially triple the quantities here, because you are severely limiting the amount of room for the eggs to gain volume.
If you have a 7qt Kitchen Aid bowl, you can double the recipes, but I will not advise to triple unless you have a commercial 12Qt or 20Qt Bowl

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CHOCOLATE SPONGE VERSION HERE!