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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
Do I just use regular maple syrup to make the cake more moist and flavourful?
Hi Paige, If you like a moist cake, simple syrup is always a nice edition. You can lightly brush the layers with syrup since the cake itself is pretty dry without it.
I followed the instructions exactly except that I baked it all in 1 rectangular 9×13 aluminum pan for 30 minutes. It came out perfectly! Going to use it in a berry tiramisu recipe in place of Lady Fingers. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Yum! That sounds so good! Thank you for sharing that with us!
Natasha,
Could I do this cake with just egg whites and cake flour? Would that make it more airy?
Thanks!
Hi Mari, that would be more of an angel food cake and has a slightly different method.
Hi! Just to start off I LOVE this recipe; it’s amazing!! I’ve made it many times before and it’s always turned out great! I wanted to ask how I should alter the recipe to bake two 8 inch round cakes instead of two 9 inch cakes?
Hi Avi, you may want to do 2 sets of 5 eggs each and adjust the flour and sugar proportionally. So each sponge cake recipe would have 5 eggs.
Hello; I just made the cake but could only find 10” pans, so I did the recipe 1 1/2 times. Now I’m about to take them out of the oven and they look like they have sank a bit in the center. What did I do wrong? I made sure all the flour was incorporated, didn’t look like the mixture deflated. So frustrated
Hi Dawn! 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!
Baked this cake with my grandaughters for my 77th birthday. Filled it with strawberries and whipped cream. Perfect! About 16 minutes using a hand mixer. Thank you!
Thank you for the wonderful review, Judith! & Happy 77th Birthday! I’m sure your granddaughters will cherish this memory baking with you forever!
Hello,
I absolutely love the sponge cake recipe! Thank you for it. I was wondering if it was possible to make slightly larger cake layers? In some recipes I would like a little more cake. If I were to increase the recipe by half, how long would I bake the layers?
Thanks
Rita Scanlon
Hi Rita, it can be done but keep in mind you will probably need a 6Qt mixer bowl and add 5 minutes to the eggs and sugar mixing time to make sure enough air is incorporated. Also, You would probably need larger pans or divide into 3 pans. If you divide into 3 pans, the bake time should be about the same; possibly 2-3 minutes longer.
Hello Natasha 🙂 I making a birthday cake for my daughters and I am wondering what I can soak the sponge cake with so it’s nice and moist. I am making it with your Swiss meringue buttercream frosting. Thank you,
Alena
Alena, If you like a moist cake, simple syrup is always a nice edition. You can lightly brush the layers with syrup since the cake itself is pretty dry without it.
If i want to try this moisturizing trick, how should i prepare the simple strip? Thanks!
Hi Julie, it depends on the cake, but generally, this is what I prepare for cakes that are not chocolate cakes: Ingredients for Simple Syrup: 1/2 cup water, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
My favorite cake is one in which I soak the cake with a hot almond syrup, which is just simple syrup with almond extract….it’s breathtaking!
That sounds so good, Patricia! Thanks for sharing that with our readers.
It sounds nice for a yammy cake .. Gonna try soon.. Thanks for the recipe
You are very welcome, Shinjeeny!
Hi dear, can u please tell me what is the weight of this cake with this proportion of ingredients? And please also share if you have any eggless sponge cake recipe.. Wanna try both..
Thanks much,
Hi Shinjeeny, I don’t currently have an eggless sponge cake. Also, I have the grams measurements in the print friendly recipe below. I hope you love it!
I am trying to make a mango mousse/whipped cream cake – would this cake base be a good starting point? Once it’s baked – can a light syrup be added on top to make it moist? Thinking of making 2 layers and then do a butter cream frosting outside with a frill or roses … ?
That sounds amazing, Mohammed! If you like a moist cake, syrup is always a nice edition. You can lightly brush the layers with syrup since the cake itself is pretty dry without it.
Hey Natasha!
Your blog is lovely. Is it possible for you to give the sponge cake measures by weight? I’m disastrous at measuring by cups and spoons.
Thanks much,
Mala
Hi Mala, if you scroll down to the bottom where the print friendly recipe card is, I have the measurements in grams 🙂 I hope you love it and make sure to read through the tips before starting 🙂
Thank you. Will do!
You’re welcome!
I just want to say that I tried this sponge cake recipe today and was really impressed. I had lost my old one, as I hadn’t made in quite a few years, I knew the ingredients, but had forgotten the amounts. This one seems close to the that I had. I like the texture of the cake and the simplicity of it as well, I tried a piece and was very good, the big test will be tonight when hubby tries it. I have copied recipes of the internet before because they seemed good and looked delicious, there has been some good ones, AND there have been some disasters that have litterly hit the garbage after one bite, This one is a KEEPER.
That’s so great Doreen! It sounds like you have a new favorite! Thanks for sharing that with me.
Hello, is this recipe suitable for a funfetti layer cake, by adding sprinkles to the batter?
HI Anna, I haven’t experimented that way but I think it’s worth testing! If you try it out, let me know how it goes 🙂
I made the sponge cake as directed, everything went fine left it to cool and the cake from being nice and high, fell to half the size what did I do wrong? The taste is. Bit eggy but still good. Thank you
Marysa, Oshawa, Ontario.
Hi Marysa, I am always happy to help troubleshoot. The #1 reason for not rising uniformly is if the eggs and sugar are underbeaten. If you are using an electric hand mixer, add a few minutes to the mixing time on high speed. Also, did you possibly open the oven door while the cakes were baking – that could cause it to fall, or if the cakes are removed from the oven too early. I hope that helps!
Hi Natasha! I wanna make a lemon cake, what kind of syrup can I make to apply to the layers of the cake?
Hi Tanya, a simple syrup with water, lemon juice and sugar would work. For a lemon cake, I would add extra lemon juice to taste to really bump up the lemon flavors.
hi Natasha !! I tried your vanilla sponge cake ….it was awesome
thanks for the recipe
You are very welcome Joannah and thank you for the nice review 😀
Hi Natasha,
I want to make a chocolate sponge cake. Do I omit something or just add cocoa? And how much?
Thanks
Hi Sharon, just replace some of the flour with equal amount of cocoa.
Thanks, you’re the best!
Natasha, I used your sponge cake recipe to make a version of the Lemon Elderflower Royal Wedding Cake and it was a huge hit. I’ll be making it again and again this summer with various fruits. Thanks!
My pleasure Lorna! That sounds amazing just reading about it. I’m glad you enjoy the recipe so much, thanks for sharing your great review!
Hi Natasha, I’m looking to make this recipe as a rectangle/sheet cake – I’m not even sure what size it is at the moment – would there need to be any alterations made to the measurements? Probably not helpful if I don’t have my cake size sorry!
Hi Caroline, I would suggest following the instructions from our sponge cake roll 🙂 It’s not the ideal sheet cake cake as you do have to remove it to remove the parchment paper underneath or it would stick badly to the pan.