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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
Can you bake this in 9 inch square pans, or 9 by 13 pan, or as a sheet cake for a jelly roll?
HI Susan, I think the 9″ square pans would work fine. For a 2-layer rectangular cake, follow this recipe and for a jelly roll pan, follow this recipe.
Can you make the batter ahead of time or will this deflate the batter?
Dan, cake needs to be baked right away. The baked cake layers can be refrigerated or even frozen.
Hi Natasha, I’ve made a few of your cakes, and they came out delicious! 🙂 Thank you! My question is, for the biskvit/sponge cake, can I add cocoa powder to make it chocolate/brown? And if so, how much cocoa powder should I use? I want to make my son a chocolate cake 🙂
Hi Alina, you can! You basically substitute some of the flour with cocoa. So you could try 1/4 cup sifted cocoa and 3/4 cup flour and sift them together before folding them into the batter. 🙂
I am really thrilled to find this blog. Many great recipes and fantastic video demonstration. Much much better than those commercial driven sites.
I’m happy to hear that! Thanks for following! 😀
Hi Natasha this cake is really good! My mom makes it all the time. Only she separates the egg whites and egg yolks. Is that ok? Because it doesn’t seem wrong. Thanks!
Hi Olga, I know exactly what you mean and that is just a different method of making the same cake. I used to do it that way also and that was my Mom’s method as well, but then I realized it’s easier not to separate and it still works just as well 🙂 It’s just a matter of preference. I think our Moms’ version is the original way 🙂
I did try your recipe and I had never made a sponge cake before, but mine came out tasting rather eggy. Maybe it was using fresh eggs from my chickens. Is this how it’s supposed to taste?
Hi Cyndi, even though it has a considerable amount of eggs, it should not taste eggy. If you use fresh eggs, it will look yellow in color because the yolks have so much more color with fresh eggs than store-bought ones. If you whip the eggs for the specified amount of time with a high powered mixer, it should sufficiently incorporate enough air to result in a fluffy soft and non-eggy sponge cake. One thing I have noticed is that this cake can have an egg scent when set in a drafty area – where you have outdoor air draft. I’m not sure why but it’s the same with meringue desserts and cakes – something about baked egg desserts and outdoor draft don’t meld well. 🙂 I hope that helps for next time!!
Hi Natasha, trying to read through all the reviews, but just curious about a comment I saw that you stated to use a syrup to moisten cake?
My idea is to slice these so I have 4 layers and to make a naked cake with whip cream frosting and berries. Could you explain to me if I would need to wipe with a simple syrup on each layer before applying the whip cream? Thank you
Hi Krystal, it depends on what kind of cream and how much fruit is in the cake. For my kiwi berry cake, my frosting was softer so the cake absorbs some of it and there is no need to add extra syrup. However, with my blackberry cake, the frosting was thicker and I did use a syrup. I hope that helps!
THOSE LOOK and sound amazing! I hate to be a pain, but just found out due to dietary restrictions we have to skip any type of frosting…only cake and fruit. Any suggestions or ideas? That you for your feedback
Oh YES I have just the thing: This blueberry lemon cake 🙂 There is no frosting but it absolutely does not need it 🙂
Hi Natasha, Firstly you’re recipes are wonderful and my favourite amongst them all is the blackberry cake, black forest and the blueberry and lemon! Absolutely delicious and always a success in the oven and for the wow factor! This weekens is my partners birthday and being a chocolate lover i am seeking to make a layered chocolate gateau. It would be a 2 layer sponge with a cream frosting. Would this biskvit recipe be too dry? How could i add moisture to it? I’m european myself so not too keen on the american recipes with added oil which i find too dense. For the cream filling and frosting i prefer something less buttery and sweet (think french style gateaus!). Could i omit some of the sugar in your cream cheese frosting? Or i have seen condensed milk used instead? Also with the butter could i use heavy whipping cream instead to make the teture and taste more fluffier and less ‘buttery’? Basically i LOVE the black forest gateau for it’s fluffy moist sponge and fluffy icing/filling and would like to re create a similar texture but as a plain chocolate gateau! Apologies if asking for a miracle here! Thank you
To make it a chocolate sponge cake, substitute 2 to 3 tablespoons of cocoa for flour. Make sure you sift the Coco and flour together before adding it to the egg mixture so you don’t end up with Coco clumps. You can definitely make this a moist chocolate cake by adding a simple syrup. I do have several cream cheese frosting’s posted, and it really depends on which one and what purpose the sugar serves in the frosting. For some of the creams, the sugar serves to sweeten and create a stiffer frosting. You might try my cupcake frosting which uses cream cheese and heavy whipping cream and is not overly sweet. Let me know how it all works out!
Hi, Can I make this in a 6 inch round cake tin?
Hi Krishma, I have not tested this in a six-inch round baking pan to say for sure, so I’m not certain if it would overflow the pan. That would be my main concern. You may need to scale the recipe back. Let me know if you experiment.
Hi Natasha
I wanted to try putting the batter into one pan, a decorative pan, and then adding fresh fruit after baking and cooling. Do you think a decorative pan the kind with patterns inside would work? Your all look amazing..Thank you
Hi Noel, I don’t think a decorative pan would work for this cake at all. It doesn’t have any butter or oil in it so it would stick to the pan, which is also why I don’t recommend it for cupcakes.
Hi Natasha, thank you for the recipe. I am always using it! I was also wondering, would it be possible to make this in chocolate form? I have a customer who would like chocolate biskvit in their cake and I’ve never made it, any way you could help me out?
Hi Anna, I have made it chocolate before and generally, you want to replace equal parts of cocoa and flour. Make sure you sift the flour together with the cocoa before folding it in. I’ll usually do 2 Tbsp worth of cocoa.
Thank you!! God bless! 🙂
You’re welcome Anna! God Bless you!
Can this cake be frozen to use/decorate at a later time?
Hi Krista, yes this works great for the freezer. Let it come to room temp, place a sheet of parchment between layers and freeze up to 3 months covered loosely but fully in plastic wrap or a plastic bag.
Hi Natasha!
I can’t wait to try all your cake recipes! I am relatively new to baking. I followed your steps using my KitchenAid mixer. The egg and sugar mixture were nice and fluffy; they made lovely ribbons. I folded the sifted flower in three batches without over mixing. However, I found that around minute 18 in the oven, the cakes depressed in the middle. I am letting the cakes cool right now. I am sure they are going to taste great once I add the raspberry mixture with mascarpone cream. Any ideas why the cakes depressed in the middle?
Hi Laura, did you make sure to beat the mixture for the same amount of time? I have found that the best way to combat that is beating the eggs and sugar long enough. I hope that helps! Some slight depression happens from time to time but anything more than that would be unusual. I did have it turn into a bowl once for me when I used way too much baking powder in one of my tests but it should not happen with the amount called for in the recipe.
Hi ! This looks sooo Good ! The only thing I’m adding is a teaspoon of good vanilla. It’s just something I thought it needed….my thing.
And, for real flavor, I thought putting some homemade lemon curd between the layers! I adore Lemon! I put it between a Victoria Sponge cake & it’s So Yummy !!! So…Why Not ! 🤗
Yum! Please let me know how it turns out Joanie!
Hi Sherry, the only 2 reasons that I have found for the classic European sponge cake to seem “eggy” is if you put it in a drafty area to dry – particularly outdoor draft. It’s the same with meringue desserts – they just seem more eggy being near outdoor draft. I’m not sure why, but that is the case. Also, if you underbeat the eggs and sugar, it won’t rise and may stay dense/eggy since the cake relies on the volume of the eggs as leavening. If you are using an electric hand mixer, add a few minutes to the beating time on high speed. It’s one of my all-time favorite cake bases and I hope this helps to troubleshoot your questions. Also, this cake is not meant to be moist, but to be moistened with a syrup after it is baked. It takes on moisture (and nearly any flavor) really well without getting soggy and lasts in the fridge for days. 🙂
Hi Natasha, the cakes came out with good color, but sunk in the middle as they cooled. What should I do differently in the process to keep this from happening?
Hi Krista, the primary thing is to make sure you beat the eggs and sugar long enough on high speed with a high powered mixer. If you are using an electric hand mixer, add a few minutes to the mixing time since it doesn’t whip the air in as well as a stand mixer with whisk attachment. I hope that helps!
Hi, I only have 1 pan: can I let the batter sit?
Hi Joann, I would not recommend letting this sit – you definitely run the risk of the second cake not rising properly. Do you have a taller springform pan where you could bake the full batch at once and then cut the layer in half?
Hi! Can the cake be baked in spring form pans? I don’t know if that would make a difference between regular round pans.
If you have two 9″ springform pans, you sure can! You can also put it in 1 springform pan and bake it longer and then slice the layer in half but I think they rise more evenly in 2 separate pans.
Hi!
I Don’t have a wire cooling rack. Could I cool it on a plate?
Also, How would I add flavor to the cake?
Thanks,
Lizzie
Hi Lizzie, cooling on a plate or cutting board would be just fine. You might check out the recipes I posted above that use this cake base to get ideas. I have shared several variations for syrups you could soak the cake with for more flavor and moisture :). Enjoy!!
hi Natasha. If I only have 8″ round cake pans, will the time in the oven be the same as for 9″ cake pans?
Hi Anna, I always bake these in 9″ pans but the bake time should be pretty close. You may need 3 to 5 minutes longer since your cake layers will be taller.