Pure Vanilla Sponge Cake 香草海绵蛋糕

As promised in my earlier pure vanilla chiffon cake post that I will share with you of baking a chiffon using a normal cake pan that has no tube or insert like chiffon pan. So I would like to call this chiffon as Pure vanilla sponge cake (why I called as pure vanilla because I was using vanilla bean to make this cake) . And this vanilla sponge cake is perfect to use it to decorate as a Birthday cake like fruity Birthday cake.

No shrinkage and the shape simply perfect!

I was using pure vanilla bean to make this sponge cake, it was so natural fragrance and spongy !

How to get a good sponge cake that has no shrinkage? From what I learnt, you have to beat meringue till almost approaching stiff since there is no tube of the normal chiffon pan to support cake to rise, so a strong meringue is required. Another important point is temperature control, first you have to bake it at low temperature (example this cake use 140C) , cake will climb slowly till the ring of the cake pan (important not to let cake rise too fast & high, and resulted major shrinkage at the end) .After that, change to medium high temperature (example this cake use 160C) , cake will continue rise over the ring of the cake pan but will not rise too high. At the end of last 10mins (appx), you will see cake start slowly go down and approach to the ring of the cake pan. I feel these method is suitable to apply when you baking a Ogura cake (Xian Xi cake) too.

If you like to use vanilla bean, you can refer this post on how to make vanilla water. And you can check the detail steps of how to bake a chiffon cake in the same post too.

Pure Vanilla Sponge Cake 香草海绵蛋糕

(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes a 6.5" (top)x 6”(bottom) x 3" (height) pan with removable bottom

 3 egg yolks

15g sugar
55g vanilla water (or 1/2tsp vanilla extract + 50g water)
40g corn oil
80g Top flour (high ratio flour) or cake flour

3 egg whites

55g sugar
1/4tsp cream of Tartar

Method

1. Prepare one 6” round cake tin (Not a non-stick), don’t need to line paper.
2. Immediate separate cold eggs from fridge (easy to separate this way) into two mixing bowls. Set aside to return to room temperature.
3. Add in sugar into egg yolks, immediately lightly whisk the egg yolks and sugar till light (Try to whisk immediately once sugar is added into egg yolks, egg will cover the sugar and turned hard if sit there for too long).
4. Add in corn oil, mix well. Then add in vanilla water, stir well to combine.
5. Sift in flour, stir till well combine.
6. Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar till foamy, gradually add in sugar in there times and continue beat until approaching stiff peaks (meringue stand straight up with a little curve at the tip) or till stiff peaks (this stage is a bit difficult to fold with egg yolk mixture)
7.Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well with egg yolk batter.
8.Fold in 1/3 of meringue and use a silicone spatula, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.
9. Pour into round cake tin, bake at pre-heated oven at 140C (no fan) for 25mins at low rack, then increase to 160C(fan forced) for another 30- 35mins.
10.Once baked, turn your chiffon tin upside down and cool completely before remove from the tin.

Updated on 18th May 2013 - Today I bake another 8" sponge cake upon a reader request. I use 5 eggs and I got a cake that has 2.5" in height. Also this time I try with a cake pan that has no removable bottom, check below for what I found out.

If you don't have a removable bottom pan, then line paper at the base only..(Actually my 8"cake pan is removable bottom. just wanted to show you the difference, so this time I line paper).



Cake batter was fill up about 70% full only 

Start bake at low temp 140C (no fan) at lower rack

After 25mins of baking, cake slowly rise approaching to ring of the cake pan

After 25mins, increase temp to 160C (fan forced) . About 20mins later, you can see cake rise over the ring of the pan but not too high

 Appx last 10mins, you can see cake start to go down and reduce..

Cake is almost done after 40mins. Higher a bit from the original batter level.

Upside down cake pan once removed from oven.

If you line paper at the base, after 15mins, remove cake from the pan (avoid hot steam trapped at the bottom). If you use a removable bottom pan without line papers, then continue to cool completely before remove. Just use a spatula to run sides of the pan to remove the cake.

I noticed that if you line paper, the cake base has slightly shrunk after cooled. Therefore I would advise to use a removable bottom pan for better result.



Cake is ready to enjoy by itself or use to decorate for a Birthday cake.



Vanilla Sponge Cake香草海绵蛋糕

(recipe source: by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover)
*makes a 8”(width) x 3” (height) cake pan with removable bottom

5 egg yolks

25g sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
85g water
65g corn oil
135g Top flour (high ratio flour) or cake flour

5 egg whites

90g sugar
1/2tsp cream of Tartar

Method

1. Prepare one 8” round cake tin (Not a non-stick), Do not need to line paper at all.
2. Immediate separate cold eggs from fridge (easy to separate this way) into two clean mixing bowls. Set aside to return to room temperature.
3. Add in sugar into egg yolks, immediately lightly whisk the egg yolks and sugar till light (Try to whisk immediately once sugar is added into egg yolks, egg will cover the sugar and turned hard if sit there for too long).
4. Add in vanilla extract and corn oil, mix well. Then add in water, stir well to combine.
5. Sift in flour, stir till well combined.
6. Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar till foamy, gradually add in sugar in there batches and continue beat until approaching stiff peaks (meringue stand straight up with a little curve at the tip) or till stiff peaks (this stage is a bit difficult to fold with egg yolk mixture)
7.Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well with egg yolk batter.
8.Fold in 1/3 of meringue and use a silicone spatula, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.
9. Pour into the cake tin, bake at pre-heated oven at 140C (no fan) for 25mins at low rack, then increase to 160C(fan forced) for another 40mins.
10.Once baked, turn your sponge cake upside down and cool completely before remove from the cake pan (Finished cake size is 8” x 2.5”).