Best Soft and Fluffy Sponge Cake
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This foolproof recipe makes the perfect sponge cake that’s so soft and airy it’ll just melt in your mouth.
Light, soft, fluffy and with a wonderful fine texture, this Asian style sponge cake/海绵蛋糕, aka jiggly cake, cotton cake, Ogura cake, or Taiwanese old fashioned sponge cake, is one of my favorite cakes and I am super excited to share this foolproof recipe so that you can also enjoy this wonderful cake at home.
To make sure this recipe is truly foolproof, I have done extensive testing (i.e. many slices of the same cake) so you have my words that if you follow the recipe carefully you’d be able to make the same cake as pictured!
A Youtube video is also on the way and please make sure you subscribe to my Youtube channel so you get notified as soon as the video is uploaded!
Unlike the Japanese Cheese Cake, which is another popular Asian soft cake, this sponge cake does not use any cream cheese and has less calorie count per serving than many other cakes, making it a perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea.
By the way, this sponge cake also concludes my mini egg recipe series. If you are an egg lover, please make sure you check out all the recipes under this series (and if you hate eggs, good news, I’ll start posting non-egg recipes after this one:))
So what’s the secret behind this light and fluffy sponge cake?
Similar to the water roux / Tangzhong method used in my Milk Bread Recipe, this sponge cake also calls for a roux known as Tang Mian/烫面 which literally translates to cooked flour or cooked dough. This is an important step and very different from traditional cake recipes so please make sure you don’t skip it.
Before you start baking, please go over the below notes where I list out a few helpful tips to help you make the best sponge cake ever!
Recipe Notes:
- When separating the egg whites from the yolks, be sure not to get any yolks in with the whites as they will not whip properly. Any egg yolks in the egg whites would make it hard to get a proper meringue.
- It is also important to note that when making the meringue with egg whites, it needs to get to a point of stiff peaks. You will know they are stiff peaks when they stick to the paddles and hold their positions.
- The vanilla extract is optional, but I find it adds some additional flavor to the cake. You can certainly explore other flavors such as matcha or chocolate (please leave a comment below to let me know what other flavors you’d like to make).
- This recipe makes a 8″x8″x3″ square cake. The same recipe can be used for a 9″ round cake. Cut the recipe in half if you plan on making a 6″ round cake.
- The water bath is very important in the baking process. Make sure that the water is warm when adding it to the tray in the oven.
Without further ado, let’s bake some killer cakes!
Perfect Soft and Jiggly Sponge Cake
Yield: 8" x 8" x 3" cake
Prep Time: 25mins
Cook Time: 70mins - 90mins
Total Time: 95mins - 115mins
Ingredients:
- 8 large eggs (see recipe notes for different cake pan size)
- 100g cake flour (low gluten flour)
- 10g corn starch
- 120g powdered sugar
- 100g corn oil / vegetable oil
- 100g milk
- 1tsp vanilla extract
- 1g salt
- 1tsp lemon juice or 1/2tsp cream of tartar
Directions:
Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. Please make sure there is no cross contamination.
Transfer the corn oil to a sauce pan. Heat over medium heat for 30 seconds or until warm but not burning hot.
Add the cake flour and cornstarch to the oil and mix with an egg beater until smooth.
Add the milk to the mixture and gently mix to incorporate. The mixture will start to get thick. Stop mixing once 2/3 of the mixture has turned into a thick roux and 1/3 is still liquid. Transfer to a bowl.
Combine this flour mixture with egg yolks and add salt and vanilla extract. Gently mix with a egg beater until the mixture is smooth and still slightly runny. Set aside.
To make the meringue, beat the egg whites in a large mixing bowl or use a stand mixer with whip attachment. add lemon juice or cream of tartar. egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed until foams formed. Beat in 120g of sugar in 3 batches. Increase speed to high. Continue to beat until stiff peaks formed.
Transfer 1/3 of the meringue to the egg yolk mixture. Gently mix by folding using a spatula until smooth.
Transfer the entire mixture from the above step to the remaining 2/3 of meringue. Gently mix by folding using a spatula until the batter is smooth and slightly runny.
Transfer the cake batter to the already-lined cake pan. If needed, use a pastry scraper to smooth out the surface. Add warm water to the outer tray that's holding the cake pan.
Bake at 325F/167c ofr 45 minutes at lower rack. Then bake for another 25 minutes to 45minutes at 340F/171c depending on the thickness of your cake. Once done, remove the cake from the pan and let it cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.
- When separating the egg whites from the yolks, be sure not to get any yolks in with the whites as they will not whip properly. Any egg yolks in the egg whites would make it hard to get a proper meringue.
- It is also important to note that when making the meringue with egg whites, it needs to get to a point of stiff peaks. You will know they are stiff peaks when they stick to the paddles and hold their positions.
- The vanilla extract is optional, but I find it adds some additional flavor to the cake. You can certainly explore other flavors such as matcha or chocolate (please leave a comment below to let me know what other flavors you'd like to make).
- This recipe makes a 8"x8"x3" square cake. The same recipe can be used for a 9" round cake. Cut the recipe in half if you plan on making a 6" round cake.
- The water bath is very important in the baking process. Make sure that the water is warm when adding it to the tray in the oven.
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Best Soft and Fluffy Sponge Cake is so nice recipe thanks for share
Wow. Just WOW! This is an incredible recipe! I couldn’t believe how soft, moist and slightly sweet my sponge cake was, so light and airy. When I was mixing the flour and corn starch with the oil it dried up quickly, my stove temp on low was too high and I had to add more milk but the recipe was very forgiving and it still came out wonderfully. I have a convection oven and the starting temp was at 300 and it was still too high so the top cracked, I will adjust accordingly for next time. Fabulous cake, fabulous recipe chef! Thank you so much. Now I will definitely want to go through more of your recipes. Keep them coming!
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
My friends loved my cake so much. 🙂
Gonna move on to try other ones.
I tried this recipe twice – with more and less stiff meringue. Shockingly both times cake shrank and wrinkled.
I have tried soft and fluffy cake recipe but with organic ghee. I have replaced oil here with ghee, and I have experienced excellent result with the ghee baking. Ghee baking is fluffy, flavorsome, and due to high smoke point, ghee works fine as a safe baking oil. You can also try ghee for baking soft and fluffy cake.
To know more : https://milkio.co.nz/organic-ghee/
Thanks for the recipe.
OH MY GOODNESS! This has to be the best and most simple cake I’ve ever made.
I ended up pouring the batter into two 7″ (18cm) springform pans (I would NOT recommend using springform pans with a water bath – & wrapping it in foil did nothing). The water seeped in and the bottom of my cake was dense and omlet-like, but once I cut it off the rest of the cake was incredibly perfect.
I’ll be making it again and using a raiser to keep the cakes above the water bath.
Hopefully, this will help.
Looks amazing! My mom loves sponge cakes so I think I’m going to try this recipe out and make one for her. Thanks for sharing!
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This sponge cake looks very tasty and not to complicated to do. Will try to it with my daughter next weekend. Thank you.
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What is you want to add a fruit/jam layer in the middle? My kids get this in the Asian market a lot but prices increase so I’d like to try it myself. Also I’d love recommendations for a chocolate version. Please???!!!
Hi
I made this cake yesterday to give to my in-laws for Chinese New Year and it turned out beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Its definitely a keeper!
When making the Tang Mian, do you keep heating the ingredients? The recipe only says to heat the oil for 30 seconds. So I turned off the gas and added the flour & cornstarch. Then the milk. But then it didn’t want to thicken until I turned the gas back on and actually cooked it. It certainly never got that 2/3 clotted-1/3 liquid look–it was very, very smooth and about the consistency of oatmeal. The cake is in the oven. We’ll see how it turns out!
This cake has become my go-to recipe. Every family occasion, birthday, or celebration gets requests for this cake. I have made this cake over 50 times and have created multiple versions with chocolate, coffee, almond extract, and lemon. All take well with this recipe. This recipe also pairs well with whipped cream and fruit (preferably strawberries and mango). Some tips and notes I’ll try to offer from my long time with this recipe:
1. For the roux, it is better to accidentally over-thicken than under-thicken. If you find the mixture too thick at the ribbon stage, you can add a tablespoon of water until it gets back to ribbon stage.
2. If you prefer a just barely sweet cake like I do, the recipe can drop to 100g of sugar without any changes to the cake’s integrity. Any more than this and it will begin to taste too eggy.
3. This cake will deflate a little bit once it’s taken out of the oven, I don’t really think it affects the crumb of the cake that much and will leave you with a perfectly level cake, no dome or divot. If you are trying to achieve height, I recommend letting the cake cool in the oven or upside-down in a springform pan without parchment paper. If you use parchment paper, the cake will fall out.
4. This cake has an amazing shelf life, it stays moist where other cakes get really dry. I’ve eaten it after a week in the fridge and it still tastes as moist.
5. I cannot stress the importance of having STIFF PEAK meringue, It is the only source of air for the cake and is crucial to get a light cake. The cake should also be mixed well when adding the meringue into the rest of the ingredients.
6. If you aren’t scared of salmonella or grow your own eggs and want to add flavors to the cake like chocolate, almond extract, lemon, or coffee, I would recommend tasting the cake while it is batter. This cake tastes exactly like how it will come out, so you can find your perfect ratios for flavors. If you aren’t comfortable with raw eggs I wouldn’t stress too much, trial and error is easy with this cake. It is very fool-proof while also improving a lot with good technique.
Thank you for this recipe. It was the first one I ever learned as an at-home baker and it has carried me through so many occasions. THIS is what a good, stable recipe looks like and sets the example for other recipe developers. Hats off to the chef!
Hi I am making this for my little sisters birthday cake (although I substituted the powder sugar for strawberry nesquik) but I see that the resipe doesn’t have baking powder, how is it going to rise?
Anyways I hope it works and looks like your one!
Wow, just make this on a whim and it turned out so delicious and fragrant…thanks for the recipe!
Have you cooked this as paper wrapped cupcakes? If so do you have a time/temp recommendation?
I would like to make a bigger portion of this – my tin is 10” x 13” rectangular.
Have you tried a bigger size? What would be your recommendations with the ingredient portions, temperature and cooking time? I’m worried if it’s such a soft cake, do you think I will have problems with it sagging in the middle?
I made it as instructed in a 9″round pan. I’m NOT a good baker, at ALL. But this cake turned out AMAZINGLY well. It’s not overly sweet, has a wonderful light texture and this recipe did not disappoint! It’s moist, flavorful and delicious. I may try to add chocolate or addition vanilla in the future, but the recipe is fantastic as is.
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Of all the times I tried making a decent airy cake, i fail most times! Thanks Yi, to your hard work, research and your sharing, I was able to finally make a very lovely chiffon like cake. Used a smaller mold and halved the recipe, added 5 teaspoon of ground toasted black Sesame to the egg yolk mixture before adding the whites and the result was an eggy with light Sesame fragrance and the little black/ grey specks made the cake slightly more interesting. Loving this cake so much and so did my family! Will definitely make it again!
Hi! For 8 inch round pan, how should I adjust the recipe ?
If your pan is 3″ tall (or taller) it should still work although the cake batter will fill up the entire pan so make sure your parchment paper lining is at least one inch above the height of the pan. If your pan is only 2 inch tall, I suggest you cut the measurement by 1/3. Hope this helps.
Hi, How would a 9 inch springform pan work with this recipe?
hi Mike, assuming your cake pan is roughly 3″ tall, you can use the same measurement as this recipe. However, please make sure the bottom of the springform pan is well sealed with foil so the water doesn’t seep inside the pan. Hope this helps.
I’m thinking of making this for my mums birthday, is it possible to make this without an electric mixer? And our oven is slightly broken and heats the back much more than the front so we normally have to turn anything we cook in there so it cooks evenly, is it possible to turn this cake while baking? At what time during baking would you suggest turning?
Also would it be possible to serve this cake the day after baking it? Would that affect anything? How would you recommend storing it until it can be served?
Hi Yi,
This yielded *almost* perfect results — the flavor is spot on, and the texture of the upper half of the cake is perfect. The texture of the lower half of the cake, though, is a rather dense and omelet-like. I’m not sure why that would be the case, as I’m sure no water from the water bath made it into the pan, and I followed the recipe pretty exactly… but I suspect it’s because the eggs I used were too large. Could you provide some guidance on the size of eggs, or else indicate how many grams of egg whites and yolks we’re supposed to use? Thank you so much for this recipe!
Dont use convection fan oven, use conventional oven setting
Thanks for the reply, but my oven doesn’t even have a fan setting! Any other ideas about why the cake came out this way? It looked like the photo on the right, except that the darker part was the whole lower half or third of my cake: https://tasteasianfood.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/sponge-cake-comparison-2.jpeg.webp
hi there, sorry for the delayed response. Based on the picture you shared, i think the potential issue could be the meringue being too stiff. I’d suggest you beat it into semi-stiff peaks and see if that resolves the issue. Hope this helps.
Hi Yi,
Love the taste and texture of this cake. I noticed however, that my cake then to rise high in the first 45mins, but deflate thereafter. Is there something I can do to prevent this? Cake is still soft and fluffy.
Thanks!
Aud
I figured this problem out! I had the same issue. Some shrinking will still happen, but it will be much much less if you don’t take it out of the oven to cool. Turn the oven off, leave the door open a crack, and don’t take the cake out until the oven is mostly cool. I have read that the sudden temperature change makes the air bubbles inside the sponge contract before the cake is cool enough to hold itself up, hence the major shrinkage if you take it from the hot oven to the cool countertop.
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This recipe is AMAZING!!!! since I am allergic to dairy and gluten, I exchange it with almond milk and gluten free flour…. And it’s amazing!!!!!!! Best cake I’ve ever had .. and I’m not big on cakes either because they are relatively too sweet … This cake has enough sugar that it isn’t too sweet but not bitter. It has a hint of sweetness ….. Even some of my family is surprised how good it tastes …Cause I used gluten free items with this . Top notch!!! 10/10
I loved the first cake I made, so I made another one the next day! However, I have noticed that my cake bakes much faster. It’s almost burnt on top after the first 40 minutes and I have to take it out. It’s big and round, then deflates down to half volume once it’s out of the oven. Why is it baking so quickly and how can I get mine to stay jiggly and tall like yours??
I am using a glass pan, 2 inches deep, 8 inches by 12 inches, and halving the recipe. The first cake was made with quail eggs, second with chicken eggs. Both baked fast and then collapsed, but as usual the one made with quail eggs was far tastier! Thank you for the recipe!
This happened to my batch too! My roux was smooth and didn’t have clumps like the instructions. Maybe it had something to do with it?
Hello Yi,
I want to make this into a half sheet cake with 2 inch height. How long do you suggest I put it in for at 325 degree and 340 degree?
Thank you
hi Shirley, for 2″ height, you’d probably need to reduce the time a bit. I would start with 40 mins at 325 and 15 – 20 mins at 340f. If not fully cooked, try to bake at 340f for another 10 mins or so. Hope this helps.
hey, i baked this cake for the first time a couple days ago and it turned out so so so perfect (even though i screwed up the tang mian). it was super fluffy and not sweet at all. my chinese parents-who hate sweet cakes- devoured it. i already got requests to make it again, so today i am baking this cake. um yeah unfortunately my dumb self read the instructions backwards and placed it in the oven at 340 for 45 min and 325 for 25. luckily, i caught it right on the 25 min mark, so i was able to lower the temperature to 325 and bake it for an additional 45 minutes. the cake is currently in the oven, so i have no idea if it will turn out. would baking high temp first affect the cake in any way? thank you
-kid baker
hi there, the higher temp might crack the top of the cake but it should affect the taste (might be it’ll be a tad drier). Hope the cake still came out great!
it did, thank you!
Hi,
The look of this cake is really tempting me to bake it but my kids enjoy chocolate sponge. Can I add cocoa powder and if yes how much ?
Thank you,
Akanksha.
hi there, sorry for getting back to you late. I’d start by replacing 1/5 cake flour with cocoa powder by weight and see how it comes out. If not strong enough, you can increase the cocoa powder to your liking. Hope this helps.
Thanks for sharing the tang mien method. My kids love sponge cake. I’d like to give it a try but was wondering if I can use melted butter instead of oil? Also will this recipe work for a roll cake. Thanks
hi Jenn, sorry for the late reply. Yes melted butter works too. For roll cake, please make sure you reduce the baking time to 20-25mins and you don’t need water bath. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the tips. For the roll cake, what size pan do you recommend?
hi Jenn, for this recipe, i used a 8″ x 8″x 3″ square pan. You can scale down if your pan is smaller.
Great recipe, please explain how can I try butter scotch for my daughter’s Birthday.Thanks in advance
I have never made this, but I would try using brown sugar instead of powdered sugar for butterscotch.
I don’t think that will work— brown sugar is granulated sugar with molasses added, while powdered sugar is much finer textured and has cornstarch in it. They have very different effects on batter texture in a recipe like this. You could try adding a bit of butterscotch extract to the part of the cake with the egg yolks, though.
This soft sponge cake really turned out to be very tasty and delicious. I tried making this for my kids and they really loved it thank you so much.
Thank you!
Thank you for posting this! It’s currently in the oven so we’ll see how it turns out 🙂
A couple of questions while I was preparing it:
1) How much water do we need for the bath?
2) I noticed that the photo has aluminum foil wrapped around the bottom of the pan – is that required?
3) I’ve only ever made meringue with granulated sugar – does making it with powdered sugar typically take longer to get the stiff peaks?
Thank you!
hi Van, thanks for checking out my recipe. To answer your question: 1) I normally put up to one inch deep of water. The key is to make sure the water doesn’t dry out in the middle of baking; 2) not required. The corners of my cake pan are not completely sealed so I use foil to make sure water deosn’t sip in; 3) not much difference from my experience. You can use either type of sugar for this recipe.
Hi! Will i turn both oven’s top and bottom heat?and use the oven’s fan?
How do I tell if it’s finished? It says “another 25-45min”. Do I keep it on the lower rack the entire time, too?
hi Eunji, the easiest way to tell if the cake is done is by sticking a toothpick or bamboo skewer to the center of the cake and check for wet batter stick to the toothpick. If you see wet batter, the cake’s not done yet. Hope this helps.
So I have just tried to make this using the halved recipe for the smaller tin. Half way cooked and I just realised I only halved the eggs. No idea how this will turn out.
i’d be curious to see how the cake came out as well. My guess is it’d be less fluffy and a bit dry.
Thanks again for the post. Really thank you! Really Great. Gilberte Hodge Shir
Hi Yi, I tried your recipe and it was delicious. The only downside was it didn’t hold its volume while cooling down. No doubt it was my fault. I did not take it out of the owen right away and let it cool down a bit in the owen with the owen lid semi-open. Do you think that was the problem? ..well I might have also cut down the amount of oil juust a tiny bit ^.^’
hi there, a slight sink is very common. If you see a significant amount of shrinkage then it can be caused by multiple reasons however i don’t think cooling down in the oven for a few minutes is one of them. A lot of times it’s trial by error. Could you try lowering the temperature a little bit and letting it bake for slightly longer? Thanks.
Thank you so much for replying! Sure, I will give it a try.
Truly the most foolproof sponge cake out there. Followed the recipe almost exactly – used 100g of powdered sugar instead. But followed all other instructions to the T. Give it a try, especially if other sponge cakes haven’t worked for you!
Thank you for sharing your good result!
So delicious cake and perfect explanations for the recepie!
Thank you !!!
hi Kalina, thanks for checking out my recipe.
I made this cake heater ago for my friends and it was a hit. Everyone love them. Thanks you
Would the cake layers hold a frosting made with buttercream?
it might be a bit challenging given how soft and fluffy the cake is. That said I have not tried with the butter cream myself but if I do I’ll confirm to you.
I have tried it with the swiss meringue buttercream. Works beautifully!
Thanks Anna for the update. Glad that the buttercream meringue worked out.
I made this delightful sponge with matcha and cardamom and used some rosewater white chocolate ganache frosting at the end. It came out absolutely beautifully. Thank you.
Thank you Mary and appreciate you for sharing your modifications!
Would you be willing to suggest measurements in cups and tablespoons please?
hi Brenda, I can update the measurement but it wont be super accurate as there will be fractions in cups/tbsp. Please stay tuned.
I would love this,also
Hi Yi, thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I’m excited to try out this recipe myself. This is also my first time hearing about the tang mian technique, but the more I think about it, the more ingenious it is! Out of curiosity, would you know if this technique could be applied to steamed cakes as well? (My mother is a fan of steamed cakes so I’ve attempted it a few times; even though they come out fluffy and look nice, the texture is always really dry. I’m embarrassed to say that even the frozen store-bought versions taste a million times better than any version I’ve been able to make… ^^; )
hi Jamie, i am sorry for not getting back to you sooner. I have not tried steamed cake myself but I’d think it should work there as well. Thanks.
I live at 7000 ft elevation. Do you need to adjust for the high altitude?
hi Suize, thanks for considering my recipe. Given i don’t have direct experience in baking in high altitude, I’m referring this article for possible adjustments. It looks the general approach is to increase the temperature and decease the time. Hope this helps.
I only have granulated sugar and all purpose flour- will this affect the end result a lot?
hi Mira, granulated sugar works but AP flour might make the cake less fluffy and denser. Do you have corn starch at home? What you can do is substitute 1/3 of the total flour amount by corn starch. Hope this helps.
I am going to try it
Thanks Dularie. Can’t wait to hear how it turned out!
Hi, just madthe cake, it’s in the oven as we speak. I found the recipe easy to follow and enjoyed making it!
Thank you for the feedback. Glad that you enjoyed the recipe!
Please may I ask whether your recipe is using a conventional oven? Because my oven is a fan oven and I’d like to know if I have to adjust my temperature.
Thanks Guys, Your Recipe Was Too Fantastic. Me and My Family Loved it. I Will Share your Rrecipe with my friends. Hope they will love it too.
thank you!
Hi Yi,
Do you have recipe for the cream. I would love to try that, too!
Thank you!
I only have granulated sugar and all purpose flour- will this affect the end result a lot?
Oops didn’t mean to reply here!
hi Joyce, sorry for the late reply…will post a roll cake shortly which will include the cream part.
First of all, thank you for the beautifully detailed recipe! It was very easy to follow, and I was happy with the roux; it rose incredibly in the oven, didn’t crack anywhere… but it collapsed spectacularly after I took it out of the oven. Now, I’m guessing the pan I was using was the problem – it was a springform pan, and although I wrapped it in several layers of tin foil, the water still managed to get in. Which kind of pan would you recommend, and do you have any other tips to prevent this from happening?
P.S. – although it looked like a mess, it was still delicious 🙂
hi Marjia, sorry to hear that the cake collapsed due to water. I use a cake pan that doesn’t open up on the bottom. You should be able to find non-spring form cake pan easily in department stores/supermarkets. Hope this helps.
There are a lot of eggs in this cake, does not yield a too eggy taste? The texture looks perfect, can’t wait to try this recipe! Sorry, one more question. Is it powdered sugar (icing sugar) or caster sugar (fine granulated sugar)? Thank you!
hi Kim, so sorry for not getting back to you sooner. It’s the icing sugar.
Hello! Do you have any idea if it’s ok to use sugar substitute? I’d use Monkfruit sugar.
hi Tatiana, thanks for checking out my recipe. I have not personally used monkfruit suagr to make the meringue but i think it should work if you manage to get a firm texture. I’d suggest use more lemon juice to help stabilize the egg white. Please let me know how it came out!
Thanks a lot. I’ve made it. I’ve changed milk by coconut milk.
The flavor so yummy. 🙂
Glad that the coconut milk worked. Thanks for letting me know!
Hi,
when I use 2 smaller pans, how much do I need to shorten the backing time?
Hi Jana, sorry for getting back to you late. It depends on the height of the cake after finishing baking. If you cake is around 2 inch tall, I’d keep it around 60mins or so. If the cake is around 1 inch (not recommended), I’d keep it aorund 45mins or so. Hope this helps.
Hi Chef,
I just baked this sponge cake followed your recipe.
Smell very good but I’m facing a problem, not sure if you could advise me what should I take note.
At 45mins 165C, the cake surface suddenly cracked.
After another 15nins, I took it out from oven, it shrinked and wrinkle alot.
Now the whole cake is not straight up like when it was in the oven :'(
hi Autumn, my suggestion would be to lower the temperature slightly and bake for 10 more minutes to see what happens. A small shrinkage is normal but it sounds like you see a big shrinkage in your case. Hope this helps.
this is literally the best sponge cake recipe that i’ve ever tried. it’s probably that roux method that made it so good. it’s also very simple. i added about 2 tbsp of black sesame powder too, it came out sooo good. thanks so much for the recipe.
hi Tiffany, thanks for your feedback. The black sesame powder idea sounds very tasty – noted for my next batch of cakes!
Hi Yi – Can you make this cake and freeze for later?
Hi Jessy, yes you can. Please make sure the cake is completely cool to room temperature and the container is tightly sealed. I’d not freeze it for more than one month though.
Hi Yi,
I’m known in my family to make rock-hard cakes; my cakes either fail to rise or just come out really stiff regardless of all the tactics I’ve tried. I was skeptical when I saw your recipe, and to my surprise and relief, it came out soft, spongy and delicious. I could eat this every day. Thank you for helping me regain some confidence in the kitchen haha!
Hi Viv, thanks for the feedback and I am so happy to hear that the cake came out soft and spongy! If you are on IG, please feel free to share the picture 🙂
Hi Yi,
I just wanted to share with you that I made this cake again and it turned out wonderfully. I did screw up the first time with the roux – I let it thicken too much and it turned out super clumpy when I mixed it into the yolks. In my 2nd attempt, I used granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar but it still turned out the right texture. I did add on a thin layer of whipping cream topped with fruit (I used blueberries and rasperries) and the cake held well with that weight. Thought I’d share these tips in case helpful for anyone else! I agree I wouldn’t experiment with all purpose flour.. I think both the use of cake flour and the water bath baking method helps create that light spongey texture.
In any case, Yi this was the best cake recipe I’ve come across. I love light, spongy cakes. I’m so happy to have come across this. Thank you so much!!!! I posted a picture of my cake (I made it as a bday cake for my dad) – if you’re on Instagram I’m at vituminc.
Hi Viv, really appreciate for your kind words and so glad to hear that cake turned out wonderful. Will check out your IG account!
Can I use regular flour instead of cake flour
Amazing!!!! You’re really trying with your recipe and I love the cake I will always visit for more recipe
Thanks Taiwo.
I love your recepie inspired me to bake more l have a question if l bake in a 12×3 round do l have to double the recipe?
hi Brenda, i assume your round cake pan has 12′ diameter not radius. If that’s true then yes to double the recipe. Hope this helps.
This is one of the most beautiful cakes I have ever seen. I mean, your photographs are exquisite, but still, it’s a masterful cake. I can’t wait to try it.
Hi Jeff, thanks for your kind words. Yes this is a lovely cake and i’m glad that you are interested in trying it!
Hi Yi
Thank u for sharing this sponge cake recipe. I’m a bit nervous baking with water bath method. I tried this method before n the cake always comes out damp at the bottom . Can I just bake it on the lowest rack at 150 deg C on convection mode.?
Also, do u need to cool this sponge inverted to avoid it sinking ?
Hi there, water bath is essential for this recipe. If you are afraid that water gets into the cake, try wrapping the pan with aluminum foil or put the cake pan in another tray and put this second tray into a third tray that has water. Yes 150c on lower rack on convection should work. Lastly, I dont need to invert the cake to cool. It doesn’t collapse after cooling (at least not to a degree that would make cake look bad). Hope this helps.
If I wanted to add matcha powder to this recipe, which step would be the best for that? Thank you!
Hi Vicki, add the matcha to the cake flour and corn starch. I’ve done that a few times to make matcha roll cake 🙂
Two questions:
1) Should I let the cooked roux and remaining liquid cool, because egg scrambling issues
2) When is the first 90 g of sugar put in? The last 30 g is missed at the end if the meringue process, but I can’t find the first introduction of sweetness.
Hi There, thanks for checking out the recipe. To answer your question: 1) no need to wait until the roux mixture cools down. You can add the yolks right away; 2) my apologies it was a combination of bad math and typo – all sugar is used in making the meringue and it’s added in 3 batches (typical procedure). I have updated the post and thank you for catching that.
Gorgeous looking cake! The texture looks perfect. Thanks!
Thanks John.
What sort of oven did you use? Fan or conventional. Have tried a few different recipes for this cake but each time thr dome top collapses.
Hi, I use conventional oven. If you need to turn on convection, I’d lover the temperature by 30F or so.
Yummy yummy!!! Well done chef
Thanks Pei. Hope you get to make this cake sometime 🙂
i’ve never heard of a tang mien method..that sounds genius. I’m going try it today and report bck
Yes it’s a nice trick for making this kind of cake. Please let me know how the cake comes out!
That’s the PERFECTEST sponge cake that I have ever seen. I like that 烫面method too. Well done, Yi.
Hi Angie, you are too kind but yes this is a delicious cake I wish I can eat everyday 🙂