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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 there! I want to make this cake but am hoping to halve the recipe since it’s for an isolation birthday just for 2 people. Do you have any recommendations on what size cake pans I should use, if I should just halve the recipe, and adjustments for baking time? Thank you so much!
Hi Tu, you can halve the recipe and just use one 9″ pan. I hope that helps.
Followed the receipe to the T , loved it !!! Baked my first sponge cake today , thank you !
That so great! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe!
In your 4 ingredient sponge cake…don’t you add butter or oil
Hi Avril, we do not. This batter does not require butter or oil.
Could we add some lemon or orange zest to your recipe?
That should work. Please share with us how it goes.
You’re amazing.
I really enjoyed watching your video.
Just a suggestion.
Can you please give time to flush into the screen all ingredients needed before you start cooking… That’s what mostly the video I watched in any cooking video. That made us easy.
Thanks
Corazon
Thank you Natasha for the recipe. Well i have a little question. Why shouldn’t the sides be greased. I thought no greasing could make the cake stick onto the baking pan.
Hi Kevin, greasing the pan won’t help much to get the cake to release, it can adversely affect the rise though by greasing the pan – the batter may pull away from the sides and not rise as evenly. That has been my experience.
Hi Natasha,
I’ve tried so many of your recipes and all of it turned out so good! Prepping our ingredients right now for your strawberry layer cake. For this sponge cake, can I use a 9×13 cake pan instead of the round pans?
Hi Anne, here is where I made the strawberry layer cake in a 9×13 but it required a double recipe and making the batter in 2 separate batches (or it would overwhelm the mixer).
Made this cake and loved it. It did collapse a little bit, perhaps the pan was a little small. In any case it was extremely easy and quick. I sandwiched it with fresh cut up strawberries and fresh creme.I will be keeping this one. Thx Natasha. I can’t wait to try your other recipes.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that Safeera!
Hi,
I am mixing the eggs and sugar for quite some time now with a hand held mixer and they still look quite liquid. Did I mix the sugar with eggs to soon?
Thank you!
Hi, a handheld electric mixer will take longer than a stand mixer because it isn’t as efficient. Also, make sure the eggs are at room temperature or it will take even longer.
Mixer wouldnt whip enough air in it. Probably knocking it down. I made 2 of these tonight. I finished with a drizzle of Remy Martin 1738 cognac. This is a very rich cake and the cognac really sets it off. Very simple, very effective. I bake a lot. Mostly breads, but I like doing pastry too. My favorite is rugalach. real crowd pleasers.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
Hi Natasha,
Should the 340 F oven setting be on fan forced?
Hi Angela, I don’t have any experience with a “forced oven” fan to be honest. Have you looked online to see if modifications need to be made for baking? I think it’s definitely worth an experiment.
Hi all I had was a spring pan. Will this work? And also can I use large cupcake pan?
Hi Debbie, a springform cake pan will work with this recipe. Make sure it is tall enough if using the full recipe in one pan. I have not tested this in a cupcake pan to advise. 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.
Tried it…. nice, light, spongy and sweet Natasha.
They collapsed a little when i took them out of the oven to cool, so will leave in oven next time with the door cracked to see if a slower cooling will keep them more level on top.
…love the printable recipe that allows you to change the number of cakes and automatically updates the ingredient amounts (but noticed the ingredients by weight did not change… easy enough calculation, but thought it might have been an oversight).
Thanks again!
Hi Shaka, that weight measurement is just a notation fo the full recipe. Unfortunately, the scaling up and down doesn’t apply to the notes, but only to the primary ingredient measurements.
Hello!
I’m really looking forward to trying your recipe but I only have one 9 inch baking pan at home. Do you know how long and at what temperature I should be baking the sponge cake at if I am halving the whole recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Crystal, did you bake the entire cake batch in the one pan? In that case, it should be baked for 30 minutes.
Hi Natasha, I’ve made many of your recipes and they have been delicious and keepers for my family, thank you for sharing.
As for this sponge cake, I made it a couple of times, it tastes great but unfortunately, both times the cake sunk in the middle after I removed it from the oven. I followed your directions exactly as well as timed accordingly, any thoughts on what I may doing wrong? Thanks again!
Hi Vangie, Since this cake relies on the volume of the eggs and sugar to rise, it is critical to follow every step in the recipe and use the right tools. Under-beating the eggs and sugar or over folding after adding flour will result in a flat cake. I suggest reading the troubleshooting section in this pot and watching the video to see where things started to look different.
I added some vanilla extract and lemon. I also used almond flour to make it gluten free. It was delicious!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review Sarah!
hi can i use this recipe in 10 inch pans?
Hi Mavra, that may work. It will be a thinner cake in a ten in an so it may work better to make a little more batter.
Hi Natasha, I tried this recipe and the cake turned out dry. Did I just leave it in the oven for too long or I over mixed it? I don’t know but I want to try it again.
Hi Anne, 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.
Hi, Could you please tell me a substitution for the eggs in the sponge cake recipe. Thank you so much.
Hi Amrit, this cake relies on the volume of eggs and sugar to rise so I haven’t tried it without eggs yet.
This cake looks great! I would really like a subtle taste of lemon in the cake though so how much lemon zest would you suggest I add?
Hi Maria, You are welcome to use a simple syrup with lemon flavor in it. Here is a simple syrup recipe we use, Simple Syrup: 1/2 cup water, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp granulated sugar. For a lemon cake, I would add extra lemon juice to taste to really bump up the lemon flavors.
Delicious
It turned out amazing!! Smells a little eggy but that might have been my fault in some way, super easy to make though!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review!
I just came across this recipe and am excited to try it tomorrow! I would like to know if there is a recipe for chocolate sponge cake. my friend likes
chocolate cake but not chocolate frosting . Any ideas would be wonderful.
Hi Betty, unfortunately, I don’t have a recipe for that yet but that’s a good suggestion for a future video!
My first time baking a cake experience was flawless !!!! All thanks to your amazing video and step by step instructions!
I loved the texture and the taste of the cake! Thank you so much!
Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m all smiles!
Hi , can I use one 9inch pan for the whole cake ? Or a Bundt Pan maybe ?
Hi Sara, if your pan is tall enough you can bake the entire cake batch in the one pan. In that case, it should be baked for 30 minutes. I have done this successfully with my tiramisu cake. I hope that helps!