Monday, May 18, 2009

Vanilla Sponge Cake


This is the recipe for the vanilla sponge which is adapted from the book 'A Profit-Making Bakery Shop' by Wendy Kor. I believe this is a malaysian book. It doesn't really matter that the acknowlegdement and some parts of the book is written in chinese, all the recipes are bilingual though. I have tried many sponge recipes and this one is the one that I have been looking for. It could be the milk powder that is being used here that makes the difference. The texture is very soft and compact. No eggy taste and it is fairly white but of course taste is very subjective. My taste and others can differ, it may be good to me but not others :-D

Here goes:

Ingredients:

(A)
150g cake flour/superfine flour
1/2 tsp (2g) baking powder
1/4 tsp (1g) salt
10g milk powder

(B)
60g cooking oil
50g water
4 (75g) yolks
80g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

(C)
4 (150g) whites
90g castor sugar (original 100g)
1/4 tsp (1g) cream of tartar

Method
1. Sift ingredients (A) and put it aside
2. Whisk yolks and sugar till it turns lemon color
3. Add oil, water and vanilla and mix till well blended
4. Add ingredients (A) and mix it slowly till it forms a smooth batter
5. Whisk (C) till stiff
6. Fold in 1/3 of egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture and gently stir, then fold in the remaining egg white mixture and mix well gently
7. Pour batter into a lined 9" round cake tin
8. Bake in a preheated oven 180C for 35-40 mins or till it springs back when touched
9. Once cooked, removed from oven and invert the cake on the wire rack until completed cooled
10.Removed from mould and decorate it

50 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing! Now your digital spoon is tempting me. hahahah

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  2. You are welcome edith :-)

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  3. huhuhu... sweet..sweet...looks delish...drooling~
    I have added you on my blogroll, hope you will do the same..
    thanks..see ya!

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  4. Anonymous10:03 AM

    hI Zurynee

    i am interested to try this recipe but may i ask, for whisking the egg yolk, did you do it manually or should i use a mixer? also, the flour should be folded in manually or should i use the mixer?
    thks
    regards
    octopusmum

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  5. hi octopusnum, you can whisk the egg manually and likewise for the flour. If you want to use the mixer, try to do it fast.

    HTH
    Zu

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  6. Anonymous11:24 AM

    HI Zu

    thks for the quick response, roughly, how long do i have to whisk the egg yolk to get to the stage required?
    octopusmum

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  7. hi octopusmum, it should not take long about 4-5mins.

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  8. Anonymous2:41 PM

    HI Zu

    thks v much. need to ask that question because when i do that step for my chiffon cake, i don't really know when to stop...
    have printed out this recipe and will try it soon!
    regards
    octopusmum

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  9. You are welcome octopusmum. Usually for me, I will stop once most of the sugar has dissolved.

    Zu

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  10. Anonymous3:24 PM

    Hi Zu

    when i read the instructions in detail, i notice they are v similar to chiffon cakes recipes. the only difference is that this recipe doesn't use tube pan...can enlighten me on the differences?
    thks
    regards
    octopusmum

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  11. octopusmum, chiffon can also be considered as sponge cakes. You can also bake chiffon in regular baking tin and not the tube. Just that using the tube pan can make it climb higher. There is not much difference except that chiffon may contain less fat. If you use regular cake pan, don't grease the sides, lined the bottom of pan only and once it is out of the oven, invert it so that it will not shrink too much and is more spongy. Separating eggs is use to make the cake's texture softer. You can try that for butter cake too.

    HTH
    Zu

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  12. Anonymous3:59 PM

    wow, thks for the detailed explanation! hope i can make this real soon..

    regards
    octopusmum

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  13. Hi Zu,
    I've added this to my To Do list, let's hope I get to bake this real soon.

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  14. Anonymous10:47 AM

    hi
    can i use this recipe with your japanese strawbery shortcake filling???

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  15. blessed homemaker, hope you can find time to do it :-)

    anonymous, yes you can use it for the japanse strawberry cake.

    Zu

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  16. Anonymous11:47 AM

    hi zu
    this cake look very yummie
    may i know what u use for the filling and the topping?

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  17. i didnt put any filling, it's just purely buttercream. You can use fresh cream and filling wise, it is entirely up to you :-)

    HTH
    Zu

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  18. Anonymous2:28 PM

    hi.
    what is the different btween butter cream n whipped cream???
    which 1 is taste better???
    n on top of your cake, what r u use for the red colour??
    sory. i'm a beginner. a lot of thing i dont know
    huhu

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  19. buttercream in singapore context is the old fashion cream you get buying from bakery shops. Whereas whipped cream is what some would call fresh cream. You can buy from supermarket non-dairy cream (preferably due to it's stability) and whip it till stiff. If you are from Singapore, you can one from either Phoon Huat, Sunlik or Kitchencapers.

    HTH

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  20. forgot to add that the red thing is actually strawberry filling which I got from Ailin at katong. You can use jam or buy piping gel and add some coloring and flavoring.

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  21. Wow! that cake looks great! will have to try some time...all you have to do is step outside for some of the ingredients...up here i always had a hard time trying to find ingredients...one of my friend introduced me to a great resource www.myethnicworld.com...thanks for sharing.

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  22. you are welcome dawn :-)

    Zu

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  23. sandra6:26 PM

    hi,

    i'm trying to make a japanese strawberry shortcake recipe and trying to decide between this vanilla sponge and the earlier one you posted based on yochana's recipe. Which do you think is more fail-proof? Can't serve a collapsed cake to my mother in law!

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  24. Anonymous4:21 PM

    Hi Zu

    may i know if i can make this using a 8 inch pan while following the same qty as stated on the recipe?
    tks
    regards
    octopusmum

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  25. Hi sandra, sorry for the late reply. Both are similar in terms of technique. Just make sure that you fold the egg whites into the flour mixture gently to avoid the cake from collapsing. Also don't overwhipped the egg whites as this will cause the cake to collapse.

    HTH

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  26. hi octupusmom,

    8 inch is a bit too small unless you have a relatively high pan. You can still use it but fill up till slightly above half the pan height and bake the balance in cuppies or a very small pan.

    HTH

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  27. Anonymous8:14 AM

    HI Zu

    tks for your prompt response! never thought of that.

    regards
    octopusmum

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  28. Anonymous8:34 PM

    Hi Zu

    sorry to bother u again. i read that the tin is to be lined. would like to confirm if i need to grease it too? thk
    octopusmum

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  29. hi octopusmom,

    I usually lined and slightly grease the bottom of the pan only. I don't grease the sides.

    HTH
    Zu

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  30. Anonymous11:18 AM

    HI Zu

    thks once again for your patience.
    do u think i can use 2 (50g eggs with shell, the medium type) and 2 (70 g eggs with shell, the large type)to make this? reason being, i am left with 2 large eggs and want ot get rid of them so thinking of using them for this cake tomorrow.
    I promise this would be the last qtn...so sorry...
    octopusmum

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  31. hi octopusmum,

    You can use them no problem because I used a 4 60g eggs which come to about the same weight as what you have.

    HTH
    Zu

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  32. Anonymous1:07 PM

    HI Zu

    thks v much!
    regards
    octopusmum

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  33. Anonymous8:12 AM

    HI Zu

    i finally tried out the recipe last friday. must say the texture is very close to what i want, juz that it is a bit sweet. think i will cut down the sugar by about 20g the next time i make this. the cake rose beautifully but not sure why, when it cooled, i noticed one side was higher than the other. do u happen to know why? when i just took it out, it was levelled. another qtn, i intend to fill it with durian pulp and cream. the recipe said i need to brush the cake with sugar syrup to prevent it from drying before filling it with cream. may i know is that step necessary if i use this sponge cake recipe to make the cake? thks
    regards
    octopusmum

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  34. Hi octopusmom, I have to agree that the cake is on the sweet side and I think no issue with reducing the sugar slightly more. As for cake not level, hmm .. i am not sure what could be the reason but usually for me, I will shake the pan a bit to ensure the batter is leveled before putting it into the oven. Also I rotate the pan in between baking to ensure that the cake bake evenly. For this recipe, I don't think you need to brush it with syrup because I find it moist enough. If you think your cake is dry, then it will be good to brush it with syrup otherwise omit it.

    HTH
    Zu

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  35. Anonymous2:03 PM

    HI Zu

    thks! planning to make it again this weekend for my dad's bday. first time making a filled cake for someone's bday so feeling a bit nervous... if the cake is still not levelled, i intend to fill it up with more cream..hope that works!
    thks for sharing this recipe!
    regards
    octopusmum

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  36. Anonymous9:37 PM

    Hi Zurynee

    I just baked your sponge cake. I LOVE the texture, it is light but moist though. Definitely my favorite so far.
    thanks for sharing with us

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  37. You are welcome anonymous. You may want to either bake it a little longer or cut down the liquid a little bit.

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  38. Anyone tried layering the cake with a heavy fruit filling (hmm.. think strawberry shortcake.. somewhere along that line)? Will this cake be 'strong' yet light enough to hold that?

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  39. Yes I have tried filling with strawberry. I have no problem with it.

    Zu

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  40. Thanks Zu! I'll try it out for my niece's birthday cake!

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  41. Hi Zurynee,

    I hv been looking for a good sponge cake reicpe with fine texture and I finally found your blog and tried out the recipe yesterday.

    The cake texture was really soft and fine but I encountered a problem where after baking, the top of the cake was beautifully browned but it has a very strong egg white smell and taste wise too. May I know what causes this problem?

    I wld appreaciate if you could advise me.

    Thanks.

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  42. Hi Jo,

    What is the size of the egg that you used? I normally use 55g-60g eggs and have never encountered eggy taste with this recipe. You can try a slightly smaller eggs or add a bit more vanilla.

    HTH
    Zu

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  43. Anonymous9:00 PM

    I would like to know, why my sponge was 'so flat' after following the recipe 'TOO the letter'....

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  44. One reason could be that you baking powder is not working or you overmixed the batter. If you have tried making chiffon, this is exactly the same method.

    HTH
    Zu

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  45. Hi Zurynee,

    I have tried making this vanilla sponge cake many times and each time I have failed. I guessed that I did not follow your directions properly as I used a handheld mixer to mix 'A' with 'B' and the resultant mixture was so thick that it was hard to combine this with the egg white mixture.

    How do you actually mix 'A' with 'B' so that it does not become this thick mixture that is so thick and sticky that it does not want to mix with the egg white. I think this is the hard part, perhaps overcoming this I will have more success as I am able to bake a chiffron cake ok but somehow can't seem to make this sponge cake.

    Thanks for your help.

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  46. Hi Thuy, I used the whisk and gently mix it bit by bit. There is no harm to use the mixer but you mix till they are well combined. Also, do not overwhipped the egg white as this will make it very difficult to mix to the yolk batter. I usually take about 1/3 or the egg white batter and add to the yolk mixture and mix it till it gets a bit glossy then add the rest of the egg white.

    HTH

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  47. Hi Thuy, I used the whisk and gently mix it bit by bit. There is no harm to use the mixer but you mix till they are well combined. Also, do not overwhipped the egg white as this will make it very difficult to mix to the yolk batter. I usually take about 1/3 or the egg white batter and add to the yolk mixture and mix it till it gets a bit glossy then add the rest of the egg white.

    HTH

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  48. Anonymous5:51 PM

    Hi, i am Betty from Alor Star. I read about your sponge cake recepi. Haven't tried yet.I would like to share this with you. I usually used the sponge cake mix bought from the ingredient shop and the result has always been successful.It is as nice as the traditional sponge cake and lesser hassle required.

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  49. This cake looks great. I'm going to be making a thick mousse cake with fruit on top of a base layer of sponge. Is this cake very light? I just don't want the heaviness of the fruit and mousse to condense the sponge layer.

    Thanks

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  50. This cake is not too light. It should be able to stand the weight of the mousse and the fruit.

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