CookEat Recipe
Classic Egg Sponge Cake
A plain six-egg sponge made with flour and sugar, with a separate warm-whisked whole-egg method.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 6 eggs, separated; 170 g caster sugar; 175 g fine plain wheat flour: 170 g for the batter and 5 g for the tin; 5 g butter for the tin; Optional: finely grated zest of ½ lemon.
Step 2
Spread the 170 g batter flour on a clean tray and warm at 100–120°C for about 10 minutes just to dry it without colouring. Cool completely and sift. This is a preparation step, not a claim that the flour is safe to eat raw. Grease a round tin about 22 cm across and 6–7 cm deep with the butter, dust with the 5 g tin flour, and heat the oven to 170°C.
Step 3
Beat the six yolks with the sugar until very pale. Add the cooled sifted batter flour and work thoroughly for about 30 minutes by hand, until evenly mixed; the mixture will be thick. Add the optional lemon zest if desired.
Step 4
Whisk all six whites in a clean bowl to firm peaks. Stir two spoonfuls taken from these same whipped whites into the thick yolk mixture to loosen it, then fold in the remaining whites gently in several additions.
Step 5
Transfer immediately to the prepared tin. Bake for about 30–40 minutes until risen, golden and set in the centre, with no wet batter on a wooden skewer. Cool for 10–15 minutes in the tin, then turn out carefully and cool completely before slicing. Serve plain.
Step 6
For the whole-egg warm-whisked method, keep the same ingredients and prepare the dried cooled flour and tin as above, but do not separate the six eggs. Put the whole eggs and sugar in a heatproof stainless-steel bowl over gently steaming water, without letting the bowl touch it. Whisk for about 15–20 minutes until very pale and thick enough to leave a ribbon, keeping the mixture only lukewarm, roughly 35–40°C, and lifting off the heat as needed to prevent setting. This warming does not pasteurize the egg. Remove from the water, fold in the 170 g sifted flour and optional zest gently, then bake in the prepared tin at 170°C for about 30–40 minutes and cool as described above. Do not add extra whipped whites to this version.
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