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I love this sponge cake recipe. It’s easy and you can make hundreds of different cakes with this base. This is a classic European sponge cake (aka Genoise). Once you have this recipe down (you’ll memorize it after a couple rounds), you’ll be baking things that look and taste like they are from a fancy bakery.
This cake base takes on moisture really well from fruit, frostings, liqueurs and syrups. As you can tell from my cake recipes, I’m a sucker for moist cakes. Read on to see 11 marvelous recipes you can make using this sponge cake base.
Over the years, I’ve tested countless different ways to make this cake and this is the best, most fail-proof method for genoise that I’ve tested. This is not like American cakes and readers often question if it can really be that easy and only have 4 ingredients.
I want you to discover this gem of a cake and succeed EVERY TIME you make it. I hope you find this video helpful. We had you in mind! 🙂
Watch How To Make Sponge Cake:
Tips for Success (Read First!):
1. When no streaks of flour remain in the dough, fold a few extra times to ensure you aren’t missing pockets of flour at the bottom
2. Bake the cake layers right after folding in the flour – they should not sit too long
3. Always use a conventional oven setting (not a convection/fan setting)
4. An electric hand mixer will take 2-4 minutes longer to beat the eggs
5. Tip from reader, Hilda: “How do you know u get the right consistency? Lift up your beater (whisk) from the batter. Make a figure “8” using the batter that drip off the beater. Then count to 10 seconds. If the figure 8 still remains on top of the batter, then u have the right consistency. If the figure 8 sinks into the batter before 10 secs, then u need to beat it longer.”
6. Bake in the center of the oven
7. Place cake in a fully pre-heated oven
8. Do not open the oven door to check on the cake until towards the end
9. Let the cake cool in a room without any outdoor draft which can make it seem eggy
Sponge Cake Recipes you can master at home:
Blackberry Lemon Cake – soft and moist and has a fluffy lemon blackberry buttercream frosting.
Charlotte Cake – layers of raspberry mousse, lady fingers and fluffy cake.
Poppy Seed Cake – fluffy and moist with a hint of rum and it’s not overly sweet.
Strawberry Sponge Cake – boasts 1 1/2 lbs of fresh strawberries. You’ll love the simple and delicious whipped cream cheese frosting.
Black Forest Cake – A chocolate version of classic genoise with 1 lb of kirsch infused cherries and whipped cream. So good!!
Russian Apple Cake (Sharlotka) – Just 5 ingredients and 15 min of prep, then your oven does the rest!
Poppy Seed Cake Roll – Moist, generously filled with a cream cheese frosting, covered with velvety chocolate ganache and pummeled with salted pistachios.
Pomegranate Christmas Cake – With a crown of glistening pom seeds, this one’s a stunner for the holidays.
Story Book Cake Roll – This cake roll is moist, rolled with a vanilla butter cream, covered in decadent chocolate and the cookie crumbs give it a subtle crunch.
Kiwi Berry Cake – If you love fruit, this cake will make your dreams come true. Layer after layer of gorgeous berries.
Tiramisu – if you like tiramisu, you will love this!
I told you I loved this cake base. I’m Completely smitten 🙂
4-Ingredient Sponge Cake (Video Recipe)
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract, *
Instructions
Prep:
- Preheat Oven to 350˚F. Line bottoms of two 9″ cake pans with parchment paper (do not grease the sides).
How to Make this Sponge Cake:
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment (this is the one I have), beat 6 large eggs for 1 minute on high speed. With the mixer on, gradually add 1 cup sugar and continue beating 8-10 minutes until thick and fluffy.
- Whisk together 1 cup flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder then sift this mixture into fluffy egg mixture one third at a time. Fold with a spatula with each addition just until incorporated. Scrape spatula from the bottom to catch any pockets of flour and stop mixing when no streaks of flour remain. Lastly, fold in the vanilla extract. Do not over-mix or you will deflate the batter.
- Divide evenly between prepared cake pans (it helps if you have a kitchen scale to weight the pans). Bake at 350˚F for 23-28 minutes (my oven took 25 min), or until top is golden brown. Remove from pan by sliding a thin spatula (here’s the one I love for cakes) around the edges then transfer to a wire rack and remove parchment backing. Cool cakes to room temperature then slice layers equally in half with a serrated knife.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
What are the metric measurements for 1, 9-inch sponge cake?
Hi BT! I updated the recipe card so you can scale it down accurately now, just change the servings to 1.
Since the original recipe says it’s 10 servings, seems like it would be 5 servings (not one) for a half recipe. Right?
That’s correct, J. The recipe card was updated again afterwards because I added a nutrition facts label to reflect each serving rather than 1 large cake.
Fantastic recipe, thank you! FYI there seems to be an error when increasing the quantity of ingredients— the metric measurements stay the same regardless of the number of servings
Hi there! We recently had an upgraded feature added, which we will be able to fix this issue. It’s just taking a bit to update all of the recipes. I’ve updated this one for you.
I only have an 11x15x2 pan. How do I scale this for that size pan?
Hi Adriana, I haven’t tried this recipe in that size pan, but I recommend using This helpful guide.
I have been making this recipe for years and it never fails. I reduce the sugar to half a cup and I add a bit of lemon zest for the eggy smell. I usually assemble the cake with whipped cream and fresh or canned fruits and use some of the fruit liquid to hydrate the cake before assembling. All my family and friends love this cake. Thank you Natasha.
Love love this cake, make it for all my family members! I have trouble making it sometimes. The cake tends to sink after I take it out of oven, what’s the reason for this? Also when folding in dry ingredients I try to get rid of the flour clumps but they seem to never go away and I don’t want to over mix. Do you have a suggestion for this?
Hi Anita, I’m so happy you loved this recipe. The main culprit of the cake sinking is often under-beating the eggs and sugar. Did you start with room-temperature eggs and use a high-powered stand mixer to beat together the eggs and sugar and then fold the flour in with a spatula so as not to deflate the batter? This cake relies on the eggs being whipped well for volume. I would watch the video attached above to see my process and to see what my batter looked like. Also, make sure to fully preheat your oven before baking your cakes and do not open the oven door during the baking process because the drastic change in temperature can make the cake collapse.
Can I use whole wheat flour as a substitute?
I haven’t tested that to advise. If you do an experiment, let us know how it goes!
Hello Natasha, can you bake these, then store in the fridge in plastic wrap the day before assembling and serving? Or should they be left at room temp in plastic wrap? Or no plastic wrap?
Hi Ana! You’ll want to keep them wrapped or in an air tight container so they don’t dry out. Room temperature storage is fine if you’re using it within 1-2 days. For longer storage, I would freeze the cake sponge for freshness.
I realized after I put the cake in the oven, the recipe doesn’t mention salt. Is there supposed to be salt?
Hi Lori! That’s correct, no salt in this recipe. Traditional European sponge usually do not contain salt.
how can I make this a chocolate cake ? should I use ¾ cup flour and ¼ cup cocoa?
Hi Kat, Thank you for that wonderful compliment! I haven’t really tested a chocolate sponge to advise. I do have a chocolate cake recipe here too if you would like to try.
Can I use cake flour instead of all purpose?
Hi Beata, I have tested this with cake flour and it didn’t provide enough structure to hold the cake shape. I suggest all-purpose for this sponge cake.
Smelled like baked eggs and tasted slightly like them also. Easy recipe & turned out pretty, but too eggy tasting for me. Almost an angle food cake texture on the outside. I only made 1/2 the recipe. Luckily, I had fresh picked, locally grown strawberries to mask the smell of baked eggs. Won’t make again.
Hi Maureen, I have found that folding in 1 tsp of vanilla extract really helps with an eggy smell. Another tip is to make sure you don’t cool the cake in a drafty area. Outdoor drafts will make any egg-based dessert smell ‘eggy’.
I have been searching for a tiramisu recipe using sponge cake instead of lay fingers. This recipe is going to be made in the very near future, thank you! I plan on baking the cake in a half sheet pan to create 2 square cakes for layering. Looking forward to giving this recipe a try.
I hope you love it with this sponge, Beth!
Beth, how many mins did you bake the 11×17 pan for? I’m assuming you doubled the recipe
This sponge cake is hands down, by a mile, the best sponge cake I have ever tried. I’ve tried Richard Sax, and a Cook’s Illustrated with minimal success, but this one has delivered every time.
Thank you for your kind words, Kim! That makes me happy!
Hello! I’m planning on making this recipe soon, however I have not seen anyone ask about how well this recipe would transfer to cupcakes.. any advise.
Hi Quinn! It’s possible, but it’s not ideal. This cake base does not work well for cupcakes since it will stick badly to the wrappers as there is no butter or oil in the cake.
Can I bake and store in fridge to frost later?…any idea how I should do that
This sponge cake holds up well at room temperature for 1-2 days. Just be sure to let it cool completely and then wrap it well in plastic wrap or an airtight container. For icing/frosting- it depends on the recipe you’re using and what ingredients it contains.
I only have a hand mixer. Will it work. Dontha e whisk attachment, just my old hand mixer
Hi Tina! Whisk attachments for a hand mixer are necessary. It would be very difficult to achieve the results without them.
Approx how high would you expect these to raise to on a good bake?
Hi, I recommend taking a look at my recipe photo and video for reference on the height and the pan size we ise. This recipe is very popular and used for various types of cakes.
Can I use this sponge cake recipe to make milk cakes?
Hi Kalthum, while I haven’t tried that, I imagine it will work, this sponge cake is very versatile, we have used it for our Tres Leches cake.