Chocolate Sponge Cake
Ingredients
1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup cocoa powdder
6 tableespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cups sugar
5 large eggs
5 large egg yolks
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray 8- or 9-inch round cake
pans with a nonstick spray and line the bottoms with a round of
parchment paper. For cupcakes, prepare pans with cupcake liners.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder together twice and set aside. Melt the
butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat, add the
vanilla extract to the melted butter, and stir to combine. Set aside
to cool.
Combine the sugar, eggs, and egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer
and set the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Whisking
constantly with a wire whisk, heat until the mixture is warm to the
touch or reaches 120 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
Remove the bowl from the heat and attach it to a stand mixer fitted
with the whisk attachment. Whip the egg mixture on a medium speed
until the foam triples in volume and just begins to recede, about 5
minutes. Stabilize the foam on low speed for 10 minutes.
Fold the flour into the egg mixture using a rubber spatula. Blend a
small amount of the batter into the melted butter, then fold the
tempered butter back into remaining batter.
Fill the prepared cake or cupcake pans about two-thirds full. Bake
until the top of each layer is firm to the touch - for 8- or 9-inch
cakes about 30 minutes, for cupcakes about 20 minutes.
Let the layers cool in the pans for a few minutes before turning out
onto wire racks to finish cooling. The cakes are ready to fill and
frost now, or they can be wrapped and stored at room temperature for 2
days, or frozen for up to 3 weeks.
Source: Cake Art: Simplified Step-by-Step Instructions and Illustrated
Techniques for the Home Baker to Create Showstopping Cakes and
Cupcakes by The Culinary Institute of America


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