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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, 210 grams
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, 130 grams
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
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. 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.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Hi Natasha! Your sponge cake tutorial was AMAZING! I’m only 13 and I never baked a cake before. Tomorrow is mother’s day and this is the best present she could ever wish for! She always wanted me to start baking but I never had any interest. Your videos made it seem so easy and I tried it. I never thought I would start baking or cooking until now. Your really the best baker ever. Thank you so much:)
You’re welcome Diyora! I’m happy to hear how much you enjoy the recipe. How sweet of you to do this for your Mom! Thanks for sharing your excellent review and I hope you continue cooking!
Hi Natasha,
I would like to put flavor in the sponge cake, I’ve tried putting 1TBS while beating the egg and the sponge does not rise as usual. Any suggestions? Thank you
Hi Abbie, I would suggest adding flavor to the final cake unless it is something like vanilla which you would want to fold in gently at the end just before transferring batter to the pan for baking.
Loving the recipe and am using it for a strawberry cake. Yum! But, I’ve got a problem-I’ve got an eggy cake. Also, I was short on vanilla, coud that be the cause of the eggy-ness? My kitchen isn’t drafty that I’ve ever noticed. Could making a vanilla simple syrup to put on the cake before icing help with the egg taste, or would it just make for a sloppy cake?
Hi Claire, is the cake dense or fluffy? If the cake is not whipped properly, it can be dense and seem eggy. Vanilla helps a little bit but it normally should not be “eggy”
Love this Recipe. I was wondering if you could use it to make shortcakes like you see in the store ? Thanks !
I haven’t tried that but this would be a different texture from shortcakes.
Ive been hand beating the eggs and sugar for over 15 minutes now and it’s still not yet light and fluffy. Do I just pour in the flour like that or add more eggs or keep beating?
Hi Gift, I think it would be extremely difficult to adequately beat this by hand. I haven’t attempted with anything besides a high powered mixer. Since the cake relies on the volume of eggs and sugar to rise, it is extremely important to beat them adequately. I would highly suggest switching to an electric hand held or stand mixer with whisk or egg beater attachments and beating on high speed.
Have you ever made this replacing the sugar with something such as zylitol? It is granular like white sugar but not sure whether it would work or not!
Hi Cathy, I honestly have not tried that so I’m not sure how it would beat together with the eggs. Maybe someone else has tried? If so, please let us know and thanks in advance! 🙂
Thank you Natasha. This sponge recipe is really a must have.
Thank you
You’re welcome, I’m glad you love the recipe! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi Natasha! Thank you for the recipe! I’ve made it so many times and it’s so good. But I just now read your tips. Why should it be on a conventional setting? I have a convention oven with a fan. Does the fan make it rise less? Just curious. Again, you’re awesome and keep up the good work! 🙂
Hi Yana, I have only been able to test it in a conventional oven so the recipe is written for a conventional oven. A convection oven circulates the air and bakes recipes faster so the bake time would have to be modified.
I am SO pleased that this recipe turned out beautifully. The cake is moist, and soft and was the perfect base for my raspberry/whipped cream filling. I bisected each of the two cake layers and put raspberry jam and simple whipped cream in between each layer; the topper was whipped cream and fresh raspberries. I got so many compliments on the cake and I’ve shared your recipe with everyone. The most significant pro on this recipe, besides the time and ingredient saving factor, was that the cake could be easily eaten without any topping, it is genuinely a lovely European style cake (I’m from Russia). I can’t say enough good things. If you’re thinking about making this cake, just do it, and be sure to beat those eggs for the full 8-10 mins.
YAY! I’m happy to hear the recipe is an absolute hit!! Thanks for sharing your excellent review with other readers Anna!
Taste and texture were perfect. And it would have made a lovely cake, but it stuck like heck to the sides of the nonstick pan, and running a sharp knife around the edge ruined it. Will try it again, but I’ll grease and flour the sides of the pan next time.
Hi Nadja, you can butter the sides but I have found that buttering the sides causes the cake to pull away from the sides a little and isn’t as level but the cake will still work 🙂 It sticks because there is no oil or butter in the batter but we have found that a thin edged spatula works best, scraping along the inside wall of the pan as you loosen it from the pan.
Hi! Just to let you know that I baked the cake in the instant pot, (my oven doesn’t work), and came out great! I set it for 12 minutes manual with 200 ml of water and the trivet, and let it rest for 5 minutes and then quick release. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome Sara! I’m happy to hear the recipe works in the IP, I’ll have to try that sometime. Thanks for sharing your helpful tip with other readers!
Hi. I just made this cake and it turned out chewy. What do you think I did wrong?
Hi Violeta, after watching the video tutorial, I would strongly suggest reading through the tips for success which which should answer most frequently asked questions. Chewy texture is almost always due to under-beating the eggs and sugar. Make sure you are using a high powered mixer with whisk attachment and beating for the time indicated and the right consistency.
Hi,
What about using a 1:1 gluten free flour? I have been looking for a good sponge base.
Hi Anne, several of my readers have reported that this works great as a gluten free sponge cake using a 1:1 gluten free flour. 🙂 I made a similar cake with almond flour over the weekend and will be posting it soon but gluten free flour for this one should work great.
Hi Natasha,
I have a little one who is dairy/soy allergic and this recipe would fit the bill. The only problem is that she wants a fondant covered cake as she has never had a “special birthday cake.” Is the structure of this cake suitable for a ganache and fondant covering? Thank you.
HI Shirley, I have put ganache on it but I honestly don’t have any experience with fondant. It may be a little soft for fondant unless you put a stiffer buttercream over it first – that may work.
Hi Natasha
I tried the easy sponge cake. The method is pretty easy but it was just way too sweet. Is there a reason why you do not add milk and oil/butter?
It was my first cake and less intimidating than any recipe I had ever seen.
Hi Maki, this ratio of eggs to sugar is pretty standard for this classic European sponge cake and for a 2-layer cake is a fair amount of sugar. Most of our cakes are not overly sweet but I guess it depends on taste preference. Milk, oil and butter are not necessary in sponge cake and can actually deflate the batter.
Help! My cake sank. I followed all of the instructions and tips but it still sank.
Hi Marice, 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? I sure hope that helps!
Hi Marice:
My two cents. Mine sank too the first time. The reason was that I used ‘cake’ flour, meaning flour that had already baking powder in it. I didn’t click Natasha’s link for cake flour that explains regular flour and corn starch. Reading on the internet, I discovered that another reason sponge cakes sink is because of too much baking powder. Using the cornstarch/flour mixture the next time solved the problem for me.
Hi! I’ve make this cake many times and love it! One question.. is it moist enough to be used for cake pops?
Hi Irina, you could use it for cake pops but would need to mix something else in to add moisture. Here is an example of our chocolate cake balls/pops.
Hi Natasha, my mother-in-law used to make a walnut torte with alternating layers of plain cake and layers with ground walnuts. Can I just fold the nuts in or do I need to remove some of the flour? I’m worried about the walnut layers being dry!
Hi Cathy, I have a walnut cake here – hopefully that gives you some good ideas 🙂
Thank you!
Hi Natasha…. Can you make this sponge cake ahead of time??
Hi Azmeina, you can make the cake base ahead of time and store it either in the fridge or at room temperature for a day or wrap and freeze up to 3 months.
Hi Natasha!
I made your Mango Cake and it was given rave reviews at my last dinner party.
When you say that if you use an electric mixer that you should beat the eggs 2 – 4 minutes longer, do you mean the eggs before the addition of the sugar or after the sugar, ie a total of 10 – 12 minutes, rather than the 8 – 10 for a stand mixer.
Hi Sylvia, I mean beating an extra 2-4 minute after the sugar is added so the eggs and sugar should beat a total of 10-12 minutes rather than 8-10 with a stand mixer. 🙂 I’m so glad you loved the cake!
Thanks! I figured, but wasn’t quite sure. My next challenge for Easter will be the Poppyseed Cake!