July 28, 2010 - 7:25pm
ultrasoft sponge cake help?
Hi,
I recently tried a slice of my acquaintance's sponge cake which was perfect in texture and taste. It looks simiilar to this:
http://www.wretch.cc/album/show.php?i=wangwaha&b=1&f=1870999365.jpg&p=20
I've been trying different chiffon recipes to get the same effect, but had not been successful. My trial chiffons tend to be more airy and not as fine.
Does anyone have tips on how to get such ultrasoft, fine textured cake?
Thanks,
CW
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Funny, I was actually reading up on Chinese sponge cakes tonight and saw your post :) Apparently there are many sponge cake recipes out there trying to recreate the Chinese sponge cake which is what your photo looks like, which also use the addition of a sponge cake stabilizer, also called Ovalette? It has lots of hard to pronounce chemicals, but it's basically an emulsifier and helps get the rise and softness you may be looking for.
I also found a website that had a sponge cake recipe without the stabilizer that used condensed milk instead as the emulsifier? I can't remember where it is now but you may try Googling it. I was poking around under "Chinese sponge cake" or something like that.
Believe it or not I've baked videojug's sponge cake with great results, similar to what you are looking for.
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-sponge-cake
I tried Michel Roux's genoese/genoise (basic sponge cake) and was not as happy as the former recipe.
BTW, a lot of the Chinese (or Asian type) sponge cakes are steamed. Haven't tried this technique however I once made a cake in a fuzzy logic rice cooker with good results--think red velvet with a very moist & soft crumb.
I followed the videojug recipe using mixer machine, but used only 4 eggs (instead of 8), substituted 30% of sugar with honey, and used vegetable oil instead of butter. I also used a tube pan instead of cake pan.
Below is picture of result. There is a lot of air bubbles and texture is not as fine as my goal, so I still have a long way to go. I suspect it has to do with my techniques, since its the first time I've used stand mixer to make batter. But I will try again next week, hopefully with improvements. Please feel free to post any advice. Thanks!
.
1 scant cup of sugar (level cup of sugar with 1 level table spoon of sugar removed)
1 scant cup of flour (same as above)
3 eggs separated (do not get any yolk in the whites)
1/2 cup boiling water (yes boiling)
1 table spoon of lemon or orange juice or 1 tsp of any flaovouring you want, 1/2 tsp of lemon extract though its stronger.
put sugar into a big bowl, add the egg yloks and flavouring, beat until creamy, add teh water graduially still beating, slowly add int he flour to the sugar mix, add the stiffly beaten egg whites (I beat them first to stiffish peaks but not hard) the whites are careflully folded in to keep from breaking up the incorporated air. Pour into a pan tube is best but can be a regular pan, bake 1 hour in 300F oven
Cool in pan, if using a tube pan invert to cool. This is my grandmother's recipe and makes the best cake. Mom always called it poor man's angelfood, and it was never iced in our house.
Try this recipe. I have used it for more than 30 years and it come from my mum who also only used this recipe for a very soft sponge cake. We call it ''Boiling Milk Sponge Cake''
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of flour ( I use pasta flour )
1 cup of boiling milk
1 Tbsp of baking powder
vanilla or any other flavour you like
Beat eggs white until stiff, add sugar and keep beating. Add the egg's yolk, beat some more.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, mix with the above mixture ( you can still use the beater) Now when everything is mixed, add the boiling milk mixing with a spoon. Place on the prepared baking tray and bake for 40 minutes (oven 200 C / gas mark 5)
I tried the "boiling milk" recipe above, but with half the proportion of ingredients due to limited number of eaters. I used a stand mixer to do the beating and the instructions was nice and easy to follow. I found the texture a bit on the coarse side, likely due to quality of flour I used, or maybe due to absence of oil/butter. But it is a very healthy cake and sweet. I would think the recipe with boiling water would also yield a similar result. Thanks to all for inputs!
I tried this last night, using cake flour. Had good flavor but was chewy as all get out. I tried not to overwork the batter so I am not sure what I did wrong. Unless its supposed to be chewy.
Hi alabubba!
No it is not suposed to be chewy. It is soft,moist and very light. I only use pasta flour ( 00 ) or any similar.
Cake flour has corn flour added to it and plain flour I find too havy. The amout of work you put in to the butter does not make any difference to the end product.
And if the results turn out as the recipes intended (ie I don't mess up), I'll post them online for comparison! I haven't came across any cake emulsifier (SP) in Canada, otherwise that would be an idea as well. Thanks all!
The above link for Chinese sponge cake is missing the full extension.
http://konichiwakupcakes.blogspot.com/2009/09/quest-for-chinese-sponge-cake.html
Thanks, engbe, we will try this one soon.
Hi,
I've tried a recipe similar to the one above, where whites and yolks are separately mixed before incorporating. Instead of beating the whites to a stiff peak, I stopped at soft peak to see the effects on texture. The cake came out deflated, but the texture on the non-deflated part was very soft.
I didn't post any pictures on the deflated cake because I'm sure that if done as instructed, it wouldn't look like that.
Does anyone have tips on how to keep a cake from deflating even if whites are only beaten to soft peaks?
Thanks,
CW
(Btw, thanks for all the recipe suggestions)
I tried the recipe a while ago and it turned out very well. I used it to make a sponge sheet (pics attached) and then used a cookie cutter to cut it into shapes (but can't find those pics in the camera..).
The basic sponge cake was easy to make, the texture was smooth and the taste was good as well. I found it a little on the eggy side, but right amount of sweetness. I'd recommend this recipe too. The cream of tartar really helps the whites to whip up and keep its stiffness. Thank you!
Checking out one of those chiffon recipe links above, I see they carefully state:
And again at the end of method, they repeat this:
Might just solve your problem, if you haven't already tried this.
All at Sea
Hi,
Thanks for the tips. It does work, I've tried it using a tube pan and inverting it. It will still deflate slightly, but is much better than leaving upright.
May have exactly what ur after I remember she made a chiffon cake with oil n coconut milk looked really light baked in angel pan will try n post link later :)
here's the link: its the orange chiffon cake
http://search.abc.net.au/search/search.cgi?collection=pohskitchen&query=chiffon+cake
i'm sure you can adapt
I tried a variation of this, with milk instead of coconut milk. The results turned out well too! Chiffon pan helps it to rise up.
Tron, I believe you can bake it in any pan you want. I usually bake on a square or retangular tray. Linning the pan with baking paper is a good idea, however you can also grease and sprinkle with flour. Eggs can be either cold or room temperature. This cake is very forgiving.
Maluz