Sponge cake always flat 😪

[Cookieismyname]

A few months ago I thought it would be nice to take up baking as a hobby. Since then I've made a few sponge cakes which have all turned out flat. The taste is nice and the colour is lovely that just aren't light and fluffy.

Can anyone share any tips ?

I do have baking powder that I could add in and try. Haven't tried it before as thought the self raising flour would be enough.

All this and weigh eggs first and match the weights of other ingredients.

Self-raising should be enough. Adding extra baking powder can make the cake taste of bicarb which is nasty on your teeth (although some people can't detect it apparently).

Aldi spread might have too much water content

I usually use recipes that just mix up all the instruments together at once and generally it all goes well. What I think makes a difference in terms of how well the sponge rises is:

Make sure the eggs are at room temperature.

Make sure that the oven racks are in the correct position and make sure the oven is at the correct temperature before the cake mixture goes in. Open the oven door as quickly as possible, slide in the cake tin, then close the oven door again quickly. If you need to open it half way through, again do it as quickly as possible. This keeps the temperature stable and stops the cake from sinking.

You’re too impatient! The sugar and butter don’t just need to be mixed, they need to be beaten to incorporate as much air as possible. Take your time on that step.

Margarine/stork gives the lightest texture but butter gives a nicer flavour, so it’s all about preference. Both will work well if properly combined with the sugar.

Caster sugar is finer and combines better than granulated.

Also handle the batter carefully. If you bash your baking tins about the batter will lose air. Just be gentle.

Use the correct size tin for each recipe.

The first “school cake” recipe is quite a dense one for dousing in custard, school dinners style. That’s never going to be airy like a Victoria sponge.

Hi OP, my never fail recipe for a plain sponge is Mary Berry's all in one recipe.

I start with 4 large eggs and weigh them (approx 225g usually), then the same amounts of caster sugar, stork (or Aldi equivalent) marg, SR flour plus 1 heaped tsp of baking powder. Mix altogether with an electric hand whisk until just combined with no lumps of butter and put into 2 x 8" well greased and lined tins. Bake for 20-25mins in a 160C fan oven. When it's ready the top will feel firm and the sides will just be pulling away from the edge. (Have a look through the glass after 15mins though in case your oven runs hot). Try not to open the oven before 15/20mins. You might want to rotate the tins if one side looks to be browning faster.

That mix makes a good size Vic Sponge in 2 sandwich tins, (fill with jam and whipped cream and sprinkle caster sugar on top) and can easily be adapted to make a lovely Coffee Cake and Lemon Drizzle cake.

Coffee Cake - Add 2 tsp of powdered espresso coffee dissolved in 2 tsp warm water to the mixture for coffee cake and bake as above. Fill and Top with Coffee buttercream made from 150g unsalted butter, softened, 450g icing sugar, sifted, 2 tsp milk mixed with 2 tsp of strong coffee. (Mix the buttercream with the handmixer for abut 6-8 minutes - this will make it really light). Decorate the top with walnuts.

Lemon Drizzle Traybake - Add lemon zest from 2 lemons to the mixture and bake in a lined 12 x 9 Tray - when still warm and still in the tin prick with a skewer all over and spoon on lemon syrup made from 175g/6oz granulated sugar and juice from the 2 lemons that were zested - this will need approx. 35-40 mins in the same temp oven.

Use Stork not butter and make sure it is very fresh. if it has turned bright yellow around the edges, the cake will be flat.

Buy good self-raising flour. My cakes don't rise when I buy cheap flour. Waitrose superfine SR or McDougalls are good.

Cream the sugar and Stork until pale and silky. At least two mins with an electric whisk. Longer by hand.

Use Mary Berry recipes and follow them exactly!

Thanks everyone will give it another try 🤞

If using an all in one recipe then add extra baking powder to the self raising flour to make up for the lack of creaming air in initially.

Use the right amount of mix for the tin size you have, cake does not rise that much, look at a few youtube videos of cakes rising in an oven and then settling down when baked, they don't miraculously double in size at all. So make sure you use a big enough mix for the size tin you have. Measure your tins, many are even sold with wrong sizes on them then I'd even advise size up one as in use a 9" mix for an 8" tin.

I’ve also had it where the flour has been out of date. So it didn’t rise.

I reckon the silicone tins are your problem. They don’t conduct heat as well as metal ones.

@ConstanceMartensCat I didn't get the chance to bake today. Going to definitely try the metal tins instead of the silicone ones.