Christmas season is really in full swing now and all I could think of is sponge cake. At home, my wife and mother are really cooking up a storm. Of course, I’m in the thick of it all, taking out the photos and doing up the posts and multitasking 101 things all at the same time. Since I last posted the black cake I decided to just put up as many of the recipes I have, just waiting to be posted. It will be a little tiresome but It will be done. As promised here is the sponge cake recipe ahead of time, but yuh know yuh boy have to talk a little bit about sponge cake.
Not a Regular Sponge Cake
As a child growing up, sponge cake was just the usual cake you would get in your party bag (a brown paper bag) at a birthday party or class party. It would be mixed up with the popcorn and other sweets that were in the bag by the time you reached home but you didn’t mind and ate it anyway (Sponge cake and popcorn; what an interesting taste that was!) Sponge cake was just the Mr Regular of cakes for me; nothing extraordinary.
Then everything changed when I met my then fiance and tasted her sponge cake. All I could say from then on was that all sponge cake were not created equal. Even the, run off the mill, box cake wasn’t tasting like hers. Her sponge cake had a milkiness that was just different and delicious. When she made at home there was never enough…Long story short, the recipe is here on the blog for everyone to enjoy and share with their families and friends.
Sponge Cake Recipe
SPONGE CAKE
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla essence or almond essence
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp.cinnamon (optional)
1 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup evaporated milk
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Cream sugar and butter until smooth.
Beat the eggs. Add one at a time.
Mix the lemon juice and milk.
Fold in a 1/3 flour and a 1/3 liquid, repeat.Beat in the vanilla essence.
Pour into greased pan and bake in a 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven until it leaves the sides of the pan. Alternatively, test with a thin knife; insert in the centre of the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is done.Print this Sponge Cake recipe.
Additional Notes:
Some people have a lot of trouble following the steps for this cake, so I have attached this note for those readers who might need additional information. This recipe is a basic sponge cake recipe. I believe if you prepare this cake according to the directions you should get a smooth, almost milky spongy cake. Believe me, it does come out spongy, I’ve used this recipe many times and it has never failed.Everyone has different expectation and preferences for a sponge cake – some people like it VERY light, some like it looking very yellow, others like it white, some like it without much spice. That is the beauty of cake making, you can make any recipe very close to what you want it to be. You just have to know the mechanics of cake baking.
There will have to be some adjustments in the recipe ingredients, but you can get a cake the way you want it. If you don’t like too much spices, don’t add it. If you want a more yellow cake, I usually make sure to use butter, not margarine butter, and if you have access to creole eggs, that will be better. Just remember, some creole eggs are smaller, so you might have to use additional eggs for your cake. Also, choose your cake pans carefully. Also, make sure the sugar and butter is beaten until it its very light and fluffy. You can get a lighter batter by folding 1 to 2 tablespoon of warm water into the batter immediately before spooning it into the cake pan.
In future, we will post more cake recipes for you to show the many different textures of cake and some guidelines in baking cakes. We thank you all for your encouraging comment. And for those who seem to be having trouble, we encourage you to always follow the direction and take care in how you prepare the cake. A good cake cannot be rushed.
Thanks for the post l have tried this and it came out perfecto
Nice recipe I tried it twice I am trying it today again but using less sugar
Nice recipe tried it and everyone loved it!
Felix, won’t the lemon juice and milk curd.
It didn’t but if you are worried about the milk curdling you can add it last before mixing.
ok i will try it out! one more question Felix, what is the cause of a ‘line’ inside a cake?
Hi Felix, this recipe calls for what size cake pan?
A line? You will have to explain.
Actually we used a biscuit tin that the Danish butter cookies come in …It measures 7 1/2″ across x 2 1/2″ deep
Felix, I tried this recipe twice and for some strange reason the cake come out with a brown hue. All is well until I have to add the vanilla essence. I am using Ibrahim’s pure essence. Help please? Thanks.
Brown you say??? What type of sugar did you use and how much of the essence did you use? If you use too much of the vanilla essence it could affect the colour and if it’s Ibrahim’s then maybe you should use less since it is pure.
Hi what size cake is this?
7 1/2″ cake
Hi felix, so im totally gonna try this, i actually dreamed about baking this cake, so ocd kicked in and its about to go down lol, wish me luck :*). Oh and can i put mixed essence an vanilla essence together in the cake??
Well, good luck Nadia and of course you can put both essence together just don’t use too much
hi i am gonna try this recipe today need help with one thing can you please reply back now its important
This is where you leave comments. If you want help you state what it is or you can contact me using the contact page.
Ok don’t bother anymore. I made the cake and it came out very good FELIXXX!
You’re welcome Selina
I just cut the cake it tasted very delish XXXXX LOVED THE CAKE
hey felix what causes the cake to get a kind of oil looking line through it after its finished baking? i have this problem usually with my sponge cake , a recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation my aunts use it and it works great for them but with me im not sure if am adding to much or to little of something
when making my cake i usually blend my sugar , butter,essence, bitters and egg in the blender is that ok ?
You say blender, do you mean mixer? Or, do you really use a blender?
Felix, what’s with the cinnamon and nutmeg in this recipe?? Those spices totally corrupted the taste of the sponge cake….it was sweetbread cake. Felt Like I wasted my stick of butter….honestly I think u made a mistake with that.
After 22 comments in two years you’re the first to have a problem with the recipe….That being said the solution to your problem is easy …just leave out the spices next time you make the cake or check your measurements carefully.
Hi Felix,
Looking at the picture of your sponge cake, yours seems to have the consistency I’ve been looking for. For the milk in the recipe, can I use the regular gallon milk at the supermarket, or should I mix some powdered milk like we do back home?
Use evaporated milk
Hi Felix, been looking for a good sponge cake recipe for over 15 years, Kept getting pound cake recipes and spongey cake outcomes. It really looked and felt like sponge. You may know the type. Anyway, this recipe sounds familiar to what my mom used to make back in Trinidad, and I’m super excited to try this with my daughter. Thanks a bunch.
Thanks for the great recipe- made this for New Years and everyone liked it. Think it was the best sponge cake I ever made.
Absolutely love your recipes – i follow them to the tee. This one came out more like a spice cake though – it was darker in color and the spices were a bit overwhelming. I’ll try it again, but will only use 1/4 tsp of nutmeg and cinnamon. I’ll re-post to let everyone know how that turns out.
I tried it with only 1/4 tsp of nutmeg (not a big fan of cinnamon) and it was spot on.
I made this cake for christmas and everyone including myself, enjoyed it! Very easy to make; thank you very much.
Anyone have a recipe for pamee? I don’t know how to spell it:)
Here’s the link http://www.simplytrinicooking.com/2008/01/just-love-those-cornmeal-dishes-paime.html
Tried this recipe today. The wife and kids cannot stop talking about how great the cake came out (tasted). Thanks for posting this great recipe. First cake baked from scratch at our home. the measurements are exact and the taste great.
Thank you Triniak47 for such a wonderful comment.
I’ve been looking for a Sponge cake recipe for the longest time.Can’t wait to try it.
I suspect that the “line” that gellybean david got may have come about because the eggs were separating from the batter. It’s recommended that once you mix a cake, it doesn’t have to be sponge, you should put it into the oven immediately. This means that you heat your oven to the right temperature before pouring your batter into the tin. Some people tend to pour and wait for the oven to achieve baking temperature, during that wait time the eggs start to separate from the batter. When the cake is baked one can then see a dense “line” through the cake. Hope this helps, gellybean david.