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
© All Rights Reserved Reardon Media PL 2013
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Hi Ann!
Thanks for a great recipe, my sponge cake is on cool down now. I have seen in the comments that you do not recommend this cake for covering with fondant so I wonder, do you have any recipe that you do recommend for a cake that will be covered?
Thanks!
Hi Madeline, most often I use the chocolate cake… https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/chocolate-cake-recipe/
Hi Ann,
I absolutely love this recipe of yours. Have one it twice now and swear by it. I tweaked a little and just added vanilla extract to the batter as I found the smell a bit too “eggy” on the first try. Otherwise everything was kept as you instructed.
I tried it as cupcakes and texture was amazing, I teamed it up with orange flavoured buttercream which had a little zest to it so it gave it that tangy taste to offset the spongecake. One minor problem ( but overlooked by my girls because it tastes so amazing) the cupcake shrunk after cooling. I fill it 3/4 of the way with the cupcake holder, next time I will try and ill it up to the very top so that when it shrinks on coolingit doesn’t not go so small as my first batch did. It makes about 3 dozen cupcakes if you portion it well.
Thanks again and I’m a fan fom Fiji but residing in the UK now
Isabella x
Blame the iPad for all my typos -.-
Glad you liked the recipe Isabella, when using for cupcakes I only make 30 so I must be filling them fuller.
Hi Ann? Can i put cocoa powder in this recipe to make chocolate cake?thanks for this recipe it was great!
hi charisse, I usually use the rich chocolate cake recipe instead… https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/chocolate-cake-recipe/
Hi ann! I want to ask can i use this sponge cake recipe for cupcakes?tnx
Hi Charissee Yes you can it make about 30 though so you might want to halve the recipe, and do not tip upside down for cupcakes.
Hi Ann, may I ask which brand do I buy for the heavy cream if I live in Australia?
Hi Jasmine I buy whatever cream is on sale, it is called heavy cream in the USA, here in Australia look for pure cream or any cream that has around 35g fat per 100g.
greetings from los angeles, anne! i am DYING try this recipe out, but i have NO clue what you mean by a “slow oven”? I’m feeling a little slow myself for never having come across the phrase. thanks for reading!
Oh! Almost forgot! Can this cake be made in various pan shapes and sizes? Could I get away with making a 6 in round cake? Pr a batch of cupcakes? Thanks a million.
Hi audery yes it works well for cupcakes, just don’t tip it upside down. I have not tested it in a bigger cake pan but one other subscriber did not increase the recipe and used a bigger tin and had trouble, you would need to increase the recipe in proportion to the volume of the cake tin.
Thanks! This recipe is currently in the oven and my kitchen smells AMAZING!
I love that smell of baking 😀
Hi audery a slow oven is 300–325 °F, 150–160 °C I have added a temp to the recipe 😀
Hi Ann!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I made your beautiful sponge cake the other day and got rave reviews, so I think it’s safe to say I won’t be using any another recipe but this one from now on 🙂 And thanks again for swinging by the blog, I absolutely cannot wait to try out all of your other incredible recipes.
Kind regards,
Erika
P.S: Here’s a photo of the strawberries and cream sponge cake I made the other day! So happy with how it turned out!
looks so yummy, thanks for sharing
I have a few questions:
1. When making the whipped cream, you say to use 600ml of cream….but what kind of cream?
2. For making the whipped cream, is it significant to use icing sugar? Can regular sugar be a substitute??
3. Could you please tell me all the information on the pans that you used to make the sponge cake? (size/what kind of baking pan)
4. Where can you buy the parchment/baking paper?
I’m sorry if I’m asking for too much but I’m trying to make a cake for my father’s birthday. Hopefully it turns out correctly. Thanks! 🙂 xx
Hi Selina to answer your questions
1. any cream that is around 35% fat, it is called all different things in different countries
2. icing sugar is very fine so dissolves quickly, regular sugar would be gritty
3. I used a 20cm cake tin
4. the non-stick baking paper that I use is available in the supermarket here in Australia
Hi Ann,
Just wondering,if i want to make chocolate sponge cake ,
do I Need to dissolve the cocoa powder first or just add into the ingredients?
And how many should i add? Also the amount of cold water needed ?
Thx 🙂
hi, I always make this chocolate cake recipe… https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/chocolate-cake-recipe/
I’m going to try this it looks great.Do you have a sponge recipe for cakes decorated with fondant please. And also as chocolate spong-sponge?
Hi ann, can u use this recipe for cupcakes?
Hi NJ yes you can use it for cupcakes, just do not tip them upside down 😀
I just made your recipe, and I made it in one large pan & it was the best sponge I’ve ever had, and the best cake I’ve ever made in my life!!! When I think about the nasty dry store bought sponges I’ve eaten in the past I shutter in horror…… Thank you so much for the wonderful instructions, you are the SPONGE CAKE QUEEN!!!
thanks LIsa I am glad you liked it 😀
Hi, Ann. I only have a 22cm cake tin so can I use that instead or it has to be exactly 20cm?
Hi huong, a 22 cm tin has a volume that is 20% bigger so your cakes will be flatter but you can give it a try
hey anne I was wondering could you add lemon zest to make it a lemon cake and then add lemon icing?
hi john, yes you can, add a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice and 4 teaspoons of zest
Hello Ann came across your page, and now i cannot leave! :] Need to try this sponge cake recipe soon. However, would you also have a chocolate sponge cake recipe also? or would I be able to add cocoa powder to this recipe here? Thanks!
Hi Ann
I don’t know what happened to my comment 🙂 but i was actually asking about my cake i was making last thursday while it’s in the oven and still baking the center cracked and still uncooked.. but it actually comes out very fine.. i cannot find gelatine powder in our local store here in Denmark and i try to experiment it with something for making marmalade it’s a powder to make it jelly.. i don’t really know what was the effect on it on my cake but i can see that the texture is moist and compact.. i just want to thank you for your very nice detailed website it inspires me to bake more every time i read recipes from your site 🙂 inside this cake is your perfect sponge cake that my son really loves.
I made this for my friends 40th leopard theme birthday 🙂
Hi Ann,
Can I use butter instead of oil?
Thank you for the recipe!
not for this recipe
Hi Ann
I have been searching for a moist spongecake for a wedding cake in August. It will be 3 tiered cake using french buttercream.Do you think there would be a weight issue? Thankyou
hi beverly fine for the top tier I don’t think I’d use such a fluffy cake for the bottom two
Hi Ann
I am very impressed on how you present your arts
Hi, Ann. To make this devil’s food chocolate, would I add unsweetened cocoa? Would I need to add more liquid to balance out the added powder? I’ve tried so many from-scratch recipes that turn out dense, I’ve sworn them off forever. Now I’ve decided to try this because it sounds so promising! I love to make lemon, strawberry & chocolate cakes. If I could use this as a base for all those flavors, you’d make me the happiest woman!! Can you give me hints at how to achieve those flavors?!