how to make delicious light white sponge

[LowFatMilkshake]

My colleagues and I have been wondering for some time how to get make the perfect white sponge that is found in all delicious shop bought cakes.

We thought it might be cornflower - but a cookery daddy I know said that cornflower as a thickener would make the cake heavy and he belives it to be chemicals that create that light white look and texture instead.

Then I had a brainwave - if anyone knows it's some one on MN - can you send us to cake heaven and share the secret of the devine, light, white sponge.

BUMP

If you want a white sponge you need to make an American Angel Cake as this has no yellow egg yolks or yellow butter/margarine to colour it yellow. I would use ordinary white caster sugar if you want it as white as possible.

Thank you - I look forward to trying this

According to St Delia it has a lot to do with getting air into the ingredients - holding the sieve up high to sieve the flour, etc.

However I have given up trying to get it light and now I like a nice hefty sponge

why would you want it to be white though?
weird

It's not that I want a white cake - more that I want to know how to make one - like the inside of Mr Kipling Franch fanices and like all those store bought birthday cakes, the sponge is somehow denser but still light and airy and delicious - I want to know how to recreate that in my cakes!

Lowfat - read the ingredients for the Mr Kiplings etc. They contain strange ingredients not likely to be found in the domestic kitchen. If you prefer Mr Kipling's why not just keep kipling?

Don't most commercial bakers use patent flour to get that extra-refined pale sponge cake? I don't reckon you can get it from normal flour. Homemade sponge is always distinctly different from shop bought, it's coarser no matter what you do.

I've just looked up the recipe for Battenburg cake as it's one of the cakes I associate with that sort of texture and the recipe has rice flour in it.

Here

I don't know if that makes a difference as I've never made it.

I dont prefer Mr Kipling Lilymaid - esp since I found out how the reconstitued egg was shall we say 'collected' I just want to know if it is possible for a domestic kitchen to create those types of cakes, and when I have a recipie - I'll try it.

Am going to see if I can lay my hands on rice flower..

I've always associated the fat free sponges with lightness and pale. Sorry I don't have a receipe as I like my sponges good and yellow showing that wonderful fresh free range yellowy (sp?) egg yolks.