One of the first recipes I learned how to make in culinary school was Genoise. It is really a classic sponge cake. Once you have the technique down it is an easy cake to make. I’d like to make two or three of these at a time and freeze them. The trick is to beat your batter enough that you get a really high cake that you can split in two. Wait each cake is really a whole cake you’re not having to make two cakes to fill and frost.

Because this is a classic recipe it’s also easy to change up. So if you want to make this a chocolate cake versus a white cake simply do have flour and half cocoa powder. I do recommend you use a good quality cocoa powder. These days we have so many flavored powders. That are really just pulverize dried fruits or vegetables so you can play around with the forgivability of this recipe. Perhaps if you wanted to do like a strawberry cake use a half a cup of the strawberry powder and then still go with like 3/4 of a cup of flour. Let me know what you come up with really excited to hear from you guys.

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Genoise - Sponge Cake

This was one of the first recipes I baked in culinary school. It is a classic recipe.

Course: Endings

Cuisine: International

Keyword: baked, cake

Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients

• 6 Lg. Eggs
• 1 Cup Granulated White Sugar
• 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp. Kosher Salt
• 2 Tbs. Unsalted Butter, melted
• 1 Tbs. Hot Water
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°

  In the bowl of a Stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment beat eggs until frothy. Slowly and gradually add sugar and continue beating until the eggs fall off the whisk in a thick ribbon. This will take some time. You want your batter to be very light in color and to have tripled in volume. I think this is one of the most important steps.
• Line an 8"round cake pan with parchment paper. Butter and flour too. Shake out excess.
• Sift together the flour & salt.

  Whisk together the melted butter, water and vanilla.
• Fold the dry ingredients in thirds, into the egg mixture. Then slowly and carefully fold the butter mixture in. You do not want to deflate your batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

  Bake for about 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

  Do not open the oven to check until you can smell cake in the kitchen about 20 minutes.
• Take cake out of oven and let it sit on a cooling rack undisturbed for five minutes. This is the cake continuing to cook. At this point invert it onto a cooling rack and remove the parchment. Allow the cake to cool completely before using it. 

  I like to make two of three or these cakes at the same time and wrap them, each, in plastic. If I know that I'm going to be using one that day I wait at least six hours before I use the cake. These cakes freeze well.

Notes

You can make this cake a chocolate cake by subbing out cocoa powder for 1/2 of the flour. (1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup cocoa powder).