A perfect vanilla sponge cake is the simplest and sometimes the most tricky to prepare. A nicely baked vanilla cake should be soft and have a perfect sponge and texture. It may be the most baked of all cakes. Be it puddings, party cakes and various other desserts, a vanilla sponge cake is the secret to most yummy puds. This is my best recipe and I have been making this for many years now. This recipe fetches perfect results every time I cook. I made this for my trifle pudding. It is the most basic trifles I make, but it always, without fail, leaves the guests desiring for more. I shall soon post the trifle recipe too. Meanwhile, you enjoy baking this cake. It’s a staple tea time snack too in my house .
The secret of baking a perfect sponge lies within a perfectly beaten eggs mixture. The fluffy the batter is ,the softer the sponge. But over beating may kill it too. So do follow the instructions carefully and happy baking to all who try this. I always look forward to your comments post you try my recipes. So do drop in a word or write if you have any questions.
My cup size=200 ml Preparation time: 20 minutes Bake time: 30 minutes Difficulty : Medium
Preheat the oven @180 degree Celsius. Line a 9 inch round tin with butter paper. Cover the sides well.
In a bowl, beat the eggs nicely for 5-6 minutes. Till the mixture becomes a bit fluffy. The secret of making that perfect sponge lie with the perfectly fluffy eggs. So beat the eggs for a good 5-6 minutes.
Once the eggs are beaten nice and fluffy, then gradually add the sugar while still beating. Now, beat this sugar egg mixture till a soft ribbon stage. That means, when you beat and move the spatula in the batter it should fall life soft ribbons and the color of the mixture becomes pale.
Quickly add the vanilla essence and beat once to blend it well.
Now, in another bowl heat the milk and butter together till the butter mealts. You may do this in a microwave too.
Let the mixture then come at room temperature/ luke warm before adding it to the batter.
Now, sieve together the flour, baking powder, salt and keep aside.
Once the milk is at room temperature, add this to the eggs mixture slowly and mix softly with a spatula. Add lemon zest at this stage just before adding the flour.
Now lastly, fold in the flour slowly and gradually to the egg mixture. Do it in small batches of 3-4 tbsp. of flour at once and then mix it well to incorporate. Once the first batch of flour is mixed well only then add the next one.
Keep doing this till the whole flour mix is done.
Now, pour this batter in a pre-lined baking pan. The batter may be a bit runny, donu2019t worry, once baked it brings out a very soft sponge.
Bake this in a pre-heated oven @ 180 degree Celsius for about 30 minutes. Then change the temperature to 170 degrees and bake further till done.
Before changing the temperature to 170 degrees, check your cake once. The center should be still undone but the sides should be almost baked. You need to keep checking as every oven has a different setting. The cake that came out was WOW.
Recipe Notes
Enjoy your perfect vanilla sponge cake.
Note: I was baking this for my trifle pudding so my butter content was a bit less. If you are baking the cake to have it plain then you may put 120 gm of Butter in the cake.
