What is an Italian term of sponge cake?

Sponge cake translates as Pan di Spagna in Italian, literally meaning "bread of Spain," or Spanish bread, where "pan" means bread and "Spagna" means Spain.

What is the difference between sponge and Genoise cake?

An authentic sponge cake is made with only three ingredients: eggs, sugar, and flour. Genoise cake is made with the same ingredients but with the addition of melted butter to enrich the cake batter.

What pan is best for a sponge cake?

Sponge cakes are best baked in round, square, or tube pans without a nonstick feature surface, buttered, floured, or lined with parchment paper.

How to make gluten-free sponge cake

To make gluten-free sponge cake, replace all-purpose flour with the same amount of gluten-free flour blend, corn starch, or rice flour. If you want, you can use half of the rice flour and the other half of corn starch or potato starch.

Italian Sponge Cake (Pan di Spagna)

Name: Italian Sponge Cake (Pan di Spagna)
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 4 large eggs; 1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoon (120) g granulated sugar; 2/3 cup + 4 1/2 tablespoons (120 g) all-purpose flour

Italian Sponge Cake (Pan di Spagna)

Sponge cake on a black plate with a hand whisk on background.

Print Recipe

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This fat and dairy-free Italian sponge cake or Pan di Spagna is a light, airy, and delicious cake made with just 3 ingredients. Enjoy it plain with a cup of tea or coffee, or upgrade it to a celebration cake.

Author: Irina
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 8 1x
Category: Cake
Method: Baking
Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Scale

4 large eggs
1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoon (120) g granulated sugar
2/3 cup + 4 1/2 tablespoons (120 g) all-purpose flour

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Instructions

Preheat the oven to 355 degrees F/180 degrees C. Generously butter and flour an 8-inch/20 cm round cake pan and set aside.
Place eggs and granulated sugar in a large bowl and lightly beat with a hand whisk. Continue to whisk and bring the bowl over a bain-marie/water bath to warm the mixture up to 104 degrees F/40 degrees C (warm to the touch).
Remove the bowl from the bain-marie/water bath and beat the eggs/sugar mixture with an electric mixer until the volume is doubled for about 12 to 15 minutes. Add sifted flour and mix with a rubber spatula.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Check the readiness of the cake with a toothpick or a cake tester: once it comes out clean out of the sponge, it is ready.
Let it cool for 10 minutes in the switched oven (keep the door slightly open using a wooden spoon) to prevent deflating the sponge cake.
Remove the sponge from the oven, and let it cool for the other 10 minutes. Then remove it from the pan by flipping it upside down and cool it on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Turn the cake over, and allow it to cool completely.

Notes

Weigh the flour with a kitchen scale or use a spoon and level method.
Do not overbeat the egg and sugar mixture: stick for 12-15 minutes. Otherwise, the sponge cake will crumble while cutting.
Opt for an 8-inch (20cm) round pan or springform pan. If you choose a cake ring wrapped in aluminum foil, adjustments to the baking time will be necessary. To recalculate the ingredients for a different size of the baking pan, use this simple cake pan calculator.
Keep the oven door closed until the baking is complete. The rule of thumb is not to open the oven door for at least the first 30 minutes of baking. Otherwise, the cake will deflate.
Adjust the baking time if the cake is too dark outside but still not perfectly cooked inside.
Slice the sponge cake with a long serrated knife, a nylon thread, or a cake leveler.
Make-ahead option: Make the cake one to two days in advance if you plan to cut and decorate it. Wrap it in plastic film (aka cling film) and refrigerate it.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 slice
Calories: 142
Sugar: 15.2 g
Sodium: 31 mg
Fat: 2.3 g
Saturated Fat: 0.7 g
Carbohydrates: 26.6 g
Fiber: 0.4 g
Protein: 4.3 g
Cholesterol: 82 mg

Keywords: Italian sponge cake, sponge cake, sponge cake recipe, Pan di Spagna

Find it online: https://www.bakinglikeachef.com/sponge-genoise-classic-recipe/