Please share your foolproof sponge recipe

[PMmehunx]

I haven't properly baked a cake in a few years. Literally!

I've done a few cake mixes with my toddler, and we've baked cookies, but I want to make a real cake again and my daughter will enjoy mixing and helping measure things instead of just emptying the cake mix and mixing in an egg or whatever.

So, what is your foolproof no fail method?
Thanks

Beat sugar and butter together (preferably margarine suitable for baking) until completely mixed and has turned lighter. Add eggs in and beat. Fold in your SR flour!

For a 4oz cake use 4oz of all ingredients and 2 eggs. 6oz is 6oz of all ingredients and 3 eggs.

Mary Berry. Never fails.

Yes 4 oz of butter, sugar and flour and 1 egg for every 2oz. Size up or down. I go for 6oz for an average size sponge cake. I'm old fashioned and still use oz for baking rather than grams!

You can replace about a third of the flour with cocoa to make it a chocolate cake.

Or

Add different food colouring gels to make rainbow cakes.

Make one big cake or cupcakes or those tiny cases to make mini ones.

Or put the mixture in those flat bottomed ice cream cones and decorate them with flakes.

Weigh the eggs, same amount of everything else. Little bit of milk if you need to slacken it off. Plenty of vanilla.

Weigh eggs - 3 or perhaps 4 for a deep cake split over 2 tins. Weight of eggs in butter, sugar and sr flour. Cream butter and sugar (use stand mixer if you have one). Mix in eggs, tsp of vanilla essence, again in mixer, fold in flour (or replace 3-4 tbs of flour with cocoa for choc cake. Into greased and lined tins, 25 mins at 180'.

What size tin do you need for 4oz, 6oz etc.

The definitive foolproof Victoria Sponge

Oven 160 deg fan/180deg or gas mark 4
Grease and line 2 x 7" sandwich tins with baking parchment, not greaseproof paper

Weigh 3 eggs in their shells
Now weigh out the same weight in caster sugar, self raising flour and softened butter or tub Stork. So, if 3 eggs weigh 180g then use 180g each of the other ingredients. Place all the ingredients in a bowl with 1 teaspoon baking powder and some vanilla extract and, using a wooden spoon or electric whisk, mix together until combined. Don't overmix or the sponge won't rise.

Divide equally between the 2 tins and bake on the middle shelf for 25 minutes. Use a skewer to check if cooked. Sandwich together with jam and/or cream/buttercream. Sprinkle with caster sugar.

This recipe always always works for me.

Thank you, these sound perfect.

Will be trying it out on Monday, last day of half term.
I like the 4-4-2 and 6-6-3 rules too, easy to remember. Or just weighing the eggs and using the same weights for the rest, easy enough.

I'm going to try the splitting it into two tins too actually.

Now, let's just hope my sponge cake doesn't become a rock cake!

Was about to say don’t overmix but see that Lornica got in first. It’s what always makes my DS’s cakes fall flat, he’s a bit heavy handed and knocks all the air out of them.

I also use the 6/6/6/3egg method in two tins. Or 4/4/4/8 if I’m feeing frivolous.

160c and don’t open the oven until they’re probably done - 25/35 mins depending on size.

If I’m making a chocolate cake I add half a tsp of baking powder to make up for the SR flour that’s missing by replacing with cocoa.

Top tip for super moist cake (sorry for anyone who hates that word but soggy cake sounds gross!). Wrap the cake in cling film as soon as you turn it out of the tin. Let it cool with all the steam kept inside and it will stop it drying out and getting that ‘crust’ on the outside.

Weigh the eggs method here too, always works. My kids do it too

Sorry Lonicera - nearly

Duh sorry 8/8/8/4 !!

Why parchment and not paper @LoniceraJaponica? I can only get something called "oven paper" where I live. I haven't a clue what it is of the two but my lemon drizzle cake always works well with this.
What am I (possibly) doing wrong by (maybe) using the wrong paper?

You know, I made a cake the other day, using a recipe from an American chef.

You mix together the butter in the flour, salt, baking powder until resembling breadcrumbs.
After, liquid ingredients are incorporated, of which includes buttermilk.

It produced a nice texture. I'll make it again.

Reason behind it it that by coating the flour with the fat, the gluten in the flour can't leech out as much as when a sponge is made the traditional way and is overworked. The fat becomes protective.

But yes, it was a good texture and kept soft and moist for the past three days. The cake is gone now.

Ooh thanks for those tips raging I've never been able to reliably make a moist cake that wasn't a cake mix, only by luck have I made them moist before.

I always do same amount of flour, butter and sugar and half eggs so
4oz flour
4oz butter
4oz sugar
2 eggs
Beat sugar and butter, add eggs and beat them fold in flour.
For chocolate sponge I ALWAYS use Bournville coco powder and replace an ounce of flour with the coco powder x

Greaseproof papers sticks to the cake even if you grease it first Parchment peels off.

It also seems to burn much more easily although that could be due to my mother and her cooking rather than anything to do with the paper

If you you use greaseproof paper, it will come off really easily if you do it while cake still hot.

Alternatively, grease and flour the cake tin and don't use paper. Bit old-fashioned but works perfectly.

If you want to make the best chocolate cake, use the bero recipe. It's so good!!

20cm pans x2 grease

8oz sugar
8oz soft margarine or soft butter
4 eggs
8oz flour
2tsp vanilla extract
A little milk to loosen as needed

Mix thoroughly using a electric mixer or fork, I prefer to cream sugar and marg, add eggs then flour but it works all together. Bake gas mark 5 for 19 mins

I weigh my eggs and use the same weight in flour butter and sugar. 3 eggs makes 12 cupcakes - 4 will do a 2 layer cake.

Cream butter and sugar together and then add the flour and eggs and mix well. Put in some vanilla extract and a splash of milk. Bake for 15-25 mins at 180.

Which is basically the same as everyone elses

I weigh the eggs without shells, then use the same weight of butter (never margarine), sugar, SR flour and a drop or two of vanilla. You can replace up to 3 tablespoons of flour with cocoa powder for a chocolate cake. I use all in one method and it's always amazing.

100g SR flour
100g stork
100g caster sugar
2 eggs

Beat the butter and sugar together. Sift in 1/2 flour and 1 egg then fold through. Then add the other egg and flour the same way before beating together for 3 minutes.

Bake on 160 for 20-25 minutes.

My aunt taught me how to bake a sponge when I was a child, with the rhyme she had learnt at school "4 4 6 2, beat the batter 'til you're blue".
Her home economics education in the late 50's was definitely before electric mixers became mainstream!

I do make sponges by the trad method (using soft Stork for cakes) but lately I tried melting the butter/marge instead, and just mixing the whole lot together - with a little added baking powder - when making fairy cakes with 3 year old Gdd.

TBH they rose better than with the trad. method!

For my trad sponge, in 2 x 20 cm sandwich tins, greased and lined, it's 200 g Sr flour, 200 g caster sugar, 200 g soft Stork, 4 eggs.
Bake about 20-25 mins at 160 fan, but it will depend on your oven. Cake should be shrinking slightly from the sides of the tins.
I always sandwich it with blackcurrant jam - not as sickly sweet as strawberry or raspberry. Dust top with a little more caster or icing sugar.

Getting the eggs and butter/marge out of the fridge in advance, so they're at room temp, always helps.