Perfect Sponge Cake Recipe: Light Fluffy Moist and Tall
The perfect sponge cake should be light, fluffy, moist, tall, soft on the edges and of course beautiful. Easy with the right recipe, painfully frustrating with all of the rest. After testing many, many sponge cake recipes my kids got tired of taking sponge cake in their lunch boxes to school. So I gave them a break for a while. When I came back to it I retested the best ones but was still not satisfied, I tried a heap more that instead of using different amounts of the key ingredients used different methods of combining them. Eventually I tweeked a few of the best ones to come up with this light, fluffy and beautifully moist sponge cake recipe. My favorite.
Sponge Cake Recipe Ingredients
2 cups or 320g (11.29 ounces) plain all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups or 327g (11.53 ounces) sugar
1 Tbsp or 3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp or 7.5g (0.26 ounces) gelatin (powdered)
1/2 cup or 125ml vegetable oil such as canola oil
7 egg yolks or 105g (3.7 ounces)
1 cup or 250millilitres (8.45 fluid ounces) cold water
7 egg whites or 252g (8.89 ounces)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
To decorate:
1 punnet or 250g (8.82 ounces) or approx 1 2/3 cups strawberries,
600millilitres (20.29 fluid ounces) cream (35% fat),
2 Tbsp icing (powdered) sugar,
1 tsp vanilla essence
(recipe source: adapted from this recipe)
Preheat the oven to 320F (160 degrees Celsius) if using a fan forced oven.
Place your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and gelatin into a bowl and whisk it to incorporate air and get rid of any lumps.
Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture then pour in the oil, egg yolks and water in that order. Set that bowl to one side.
Put your egg whites and cream of tartar into another bowl and whisk on high speed until you get soft peaks.
Mix together the flour mixture for 30 seconds only or until just combined, don’t over-mix this.
Using a spatula fold in your egg whites in three batches.
Line but do not grease two 20cm (7.87 inches) cake tins and spread the mixture evenly between the two.
Bake in a slow oven, 320F (160 degrees Celsius) for 55-60 minutes.
When it is done leave in the tin and cool upside down.
See the video for how to decorate your sponge cake.
or try the ombre or rainbow cake decorating tutorials
by Ann Reardon How To Cook That
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Hi Anne,
Realy love this recipe. I can’t wait to try this, but I have one question: I saw you used powder gelatin. Never saw that before. I have sheets of gelatin. You’ll have to soak them in cold water so they’ll become soft and than stir them trough some hot cream, water, milk or what ever you’ll making. When it cools down it will become stiff. (I don’t know if you’ll understand it???)
can I use that gelatin? If yes, how do I stir it though?
Thanks!
Greetings,
Mariska
Hi Mariska, the powdered gelatin is the same thing as the sheets but ground into a fine powder. It would be difficult to use the sheets in this recipe unless you have a food processor and can grind it yourself.
I tried it , absolutely massive ❤❤❤
Loooooved it , so moist and good
I think it’s gonna be my favorite
Thank you 🙂
hey ann, i was just wondering can you freeze the cake when its cooked?
hi john I imagine you can, but I never have it always gets eaten quickly
thanks ann,
also if you wanted to make a lemon cake would it be ok to put lemon zest into the cake mixture?
Hi Ann!
my grandmom try this after i show it to her, thought i didn’t show it to her with those intentions she make it and is one of the bests cake i have ever tryed! i can’t wait to make it for my birthday! Thank you!
– sorry for my bad english, i’m argentinian
Hi Ann,
Thank you for the beautiful recipe! Just wondering if the powdered gelatine can be substituted by leaf gelatine? Thanks! 🙂
hi mariene it is the same thing but it would be hard to incorporate in this recipe in leaf form because it is not heated until it is in the oven
Hi, I used leaf gelatine and it came out lovely. I used 3.5 sheets and used the cup of water in the recipe to melt the gelatine (in a pan over heat) and then cooled it back down again before adding as per the recipe. Worked fine.
thanks rose
Hi Ann,
Thanks for sharing the recipe! I will try it tonight! One question: have you experiment this recipe using cake flour? I thought cake flour is supposed to make the cake even more tender and lighter. Thanks!
Hi Hanny, cake flour is hard to some by in Australia so try it our and let me know how you go 😀
Hi Ann, Cake flour is easily made at home- Remove 2 tbsp of All purpose flour from a cup and replace it with 2 tbsp of cornflour/corn starch. 🙂 I was wondering, does this cake stay moist the next day? I’m filling an order for tomorrow… TIA
BEST sponge cake ever! This was my first time making a bake from scratch and the result tasted better than any other sponge cake I’ve had. I’ve been following your blog and learning how to do new things so for this cake I incorporated like 4 of your recipes, haha. I admit I was afraid to try it but even with the crazy mix it tasted great. Thank you so much! <3
P.S.: forgot to say I made this for my husband's 30th birthday 🙂
great job mahony i like the hearts <3
This sponge cake looks delicious !!
I will try this week. Hope it will come out good as yours.
Thanks for sharing.
hey ann thanx for da lovely recipe. I was just wondering if der is a substitue to cream of tartar which is easily avialable?
hi samriddhi, you could use a tiny bit of lemon juice instead
hi ann,thanks for sharing this best sponge cake recipe! i baked this today and it turned out ok,it did rise but when i cooled it in the tin upside down and then took it out of the tin after cooling, it shrunk in the middle..you said to Thishanthi to use a 23cm tin ,i have used 20cm and tall tin and it did rise really well! what do you think did i do wrong?
hi hazel, a 20cm tin is the right size to use for this recipe, was it slightly undercooked in the middle?
hello again ann,maybe it was undercooked but i baked it for an hour though! anyway,my friends and family still enjoyed it and it was yummylicious! best sponge cake recipe ever!Many thanks to you! my sister baked it too and it was absolutely delicious and perfectly baked! im not as good as her,she loves baking and she will try your princess cake! im just wondering if i want a chocolate flavour of this recipe,what ingredients do i need to add,thinking of cocoa powder but im not so sure,if it is please could you tell me how many tbsp. or cups? thanks! hope to hear from you soon! take care!
Hi Hazel, if you are wanting to make a chocolate cake then use this recipe instead… https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/chocolate-cake-recipe/
Hi Ann,
I love your recipes. what is this cream that you are using for decorating.
Thanks
Hi Thishanthi, Here it is called pouring cream, thickened cream or pure cream, I believe in the US it is heavy cream and in some places whipping cream. It should be around 30% fat
Hi Ann,
When I tried to cool the cake in its tin upside down it just fell right out! I didn’t grease the tin, just lined the base. Also, it didn’t rise as much as I had hoped, could it be because I had used a 23cm tin instead of a 20cm?
Thank you!
I love your videos!!
Christel
Hi Christel yes a 23cm tin is much bigger. The volume of your 23cm tin is 1660ml, the 20cm tin is 1260ml so there is a 400ml or nearly 2 cup difference.
Which possibly explains why it fell out it the cake was not filling the tin it wouldn’t have much grip on the sides and would have more weight in the centre.
Hi Ann, How can I adjust your recipe using two 9″ inch cake tins because I want my cake as tall as your cake. I am baking a birthday cake in a few days! 🙂
Hi wonderfulxoxo the 8″ tin is 80% of the volume of the 9″ (assuming they are n=both 5cm tall). So to fill the 9″ tin you’d need to times the recipe by 1.25
Hi Ann! Thank you for this recipe! I would really like to try it out but I only have 2 7-inch cake tins. Should I compute for the recipe the same as the comment above? Do I have to reduce the recipe by 0.25%? Should I bake it still at 320? 🙂 Really hope you could post something about cake tin-size computations and how it would affect baking times. Thanks! 🙂
Hi Diane, the cooking temp should be the same but you will need to adjust the cooking time as it shouldn’t take as long. It is about a 20% reduction but would be easiest to to do your 2 7 inch trays and make a few cupcakes from the remaining batter.
Hi Ann!
I really love your recipe for the perfect Sponge Cake. I tried a Strawberry-Chocolate variation (I used dark chocolate ganache to cover each sponge cake layer before distributing some Strawberry-cream on it, with a cream to chocolate ratio of 1:1) and, well, my colleagues loved it!
Thank you!!!
Looks amazing Karin, your colleagues are lucky to have you baking for them.
Hi Ann
I live in Romania and the art of decorating is not well known here. I have just discovered your blog and I can only say Thank You for sharing all these details.
You are gifted, congratulations!
Also, can this recipe be used to make cupcakes? Would you bake them at the same temperature?
I was wondering if you can use milk instead of water in this recipe
Hi Sonya, I have only made it with water, you are welcome to experiment with both and see which one you prefer.
Hi Ann, Thank you very much indeed for your generosity. I like your recipes and enjoy your website, about this sponge cake, is it ok to double the recipe? Thank you in advance
yes anamaria it is fine as long as you can fit it in the oven
Hi Ann, I love your YouTube channel and web site, so first, thanks for all the generous hard work!
Have you tried using Xanthan gum instead of gelatine in this recipe? I suspect it might have a similar function. If so, I’d love to know your thoughts.
As a general rule I try to ensure most of what I make is OK for vegetarians so I avoid gelatine where possible. If you haven’t tried it then I will, and will let you know how it goes.
hi catherine, I imagine it should have a similar effect and should be fine but haven’t had a chance to test it yet, do let me know how it goes.
Ann,
Not only are you a genius, but also a very generous person! I am not joking when I tell you I have tried over 30 recipes over the last 6 years in the hopes that I could make a cake from scratch as good as a box mix. Every recipe came up short of all hopes. Not to mention the expense and effort. I got your email with the perfect sponge recipe and boy you were not kidding. I tried it right away and it surpassed all my hopes. I actually threw a party to celebrate finding the perfect sponge cake! So moist and light. Everyone had 2 pieces of cake with strawberries and cream,there were no crumbs in site:D The only thing I did differently was adding a tablespoon of vanilla extract to the batter. THANK YOU ANN, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. From your biggest fan, Judy. Cheers!
Awesome, glad you liked it Judy.
Hi Ann,
Thank you for your little recipes for frosting. Ever since I got it, I have never gone wrong with icing for cakes. I have a 2yr old that has been put on a dairy free (except soy), citrus fruit free, tomato free, preservative & color free diet due to allergies/asthma. I was wondering if you had any recipes/ideas to help me let him enjoy some kind of normal 2yr old life. I am constantly having to take food where ever we go, even kids parties are a drag for him as he cannot enjoy party food or sweets. Any help or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. God Bless
Hi Doll, is he on an elimination diet where things will be added back in one at a time to see if he can tolerate them? Allergies are tough with little kids
Yes, it is an elimination diet. His blood results came back negative for allergies to dairy & nuts but since being on this diet and being winter he has had no problems with asthma or having runny (these have always been a constant struggle). He is now on a vaccine to desensitize his allergies which are mainly external factors eg. Grass, dustmites, animal fur. So far I have used carob which has worked a treat. Any other ideas would be great as his birthday is coming up in August. Thanks
there is a cookbook by a dietitian at one of the hospitals here called friendly food http://www.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/rpa/allergy/resources/foodintol/friendlyfood.html it suggests rocky road made with homemade marshmallows, cashews and carob… I will send you an email with more info… done