Genoise Sponge Cake

This Genoise sponge cake recipe is super light, fluffy, and flavorful. It's the perfect base for many desserts including tarts, layer cakes, and patisserie.

Genoise is something I always used to hear people talk about on The Great British Bake Off, but had never actually made before. It's basically just a super light cake that is super versatile. It can be layered with other ingredients to make a wonderful layer cake, used as a base for tarts and patisserie, or rolled up to make swiss rolls - the possibilities are endless.

Because there isn't much fat in the genoise recipe, it can be a little drier and not quite as flavorful as other kinds of cakes, such as pound cake - so it is often combined with lots of moist ingredients such as mousses, creams, and fresh fruit. Genoise cake is also super easy to cut so it makes the perfect cake base to make lovely thin layers like in my Prinzregententorte (German layer cake made with chocolate custard buttercream). It's also common to soak the genoise sponge layers with a simple sugar syrup to add flavor and moisture. I do this in my Fraisier Cake (French Strawberry cake) where I soaked the simple sponge cake in my Strawberry Simple Syrup.

Jump to:

• What is Genoise Cake?
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Can I Use Butter Instead of Oil in Genoise?
• How to Soak a Genoise Sponge Cake
• Equipment
• Storage
• Summary
• Recipe

What is Genoise Cake?

Genoise (pronounced 'jen-wazz' is a classic sponge cake originating from the city of Genoa in Italy. It is made by whipping eggs and sugar until extremely light and fluffy, then carefully incorporating flour and a little fat. It is used in a lot of European desserts, specifically in Italian and French cuisine. As it is very light and airy it makes for a great base for layer cakes, tarts, and other elegant desserts.

What makes this Italian sponge cake different from other sponge cakes is that there are no chemical leaveners (such as baking soda or baking powder) in a genoise recipe, all the rise comes from the air that is incorporated into the whipped eggs before baking.

Ingredients

Eggs - As this is a cake recipe without baking powder or other chemical leaveners, the eggs are what do all the magic to make this genoise cake rise, so make sure you use fresh, large eggs - preferably free-range. We will be whipping the eggs up as you would in foam cakes, but genoise uses the egg yolk as well as the egg whites for air, texture, and flavor.

Sugar - Use white sugar for this recipe and make sure it is superfine (caster sugar in the UK) as we need it to dissolve into the eggs so it won't be grainy.

Flour - I highly recommend using cake flour for genoise as it gives a much lighter, airier texture and is less likely to weigh the cake down. But if you can't find cake flour, all-purpose flour will still work.

Oil - I use vegetable oil but any kind of flavorless oil will work great. The oil helps to create a more moist cake.

Milk - You can make genoise without milk, but I find a small dash of milk helps to create a fluffy texture in your genoise.

Vanilla - Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste will add a hint of flavor. Try to avoid vanilla essence.

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C and grease an 8-inch cake pan.

• Crack the whole eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugar and whisk to combine. If your mixer bowl is not heatproof (i.e. if it isn't made of metal or glass), use another heatproof bowl for the bain-marie and transfer to the mixer bowl after.

• Prepare a bain-marie - simmer a small amount of water in a small saucepan and place the heatproof bowl with the egg and sugar mixture over the top - make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water.

• Warm eggs and sugar mixture gently over the bain-marie, whisking constantly. The goal is to dissolve the sugar, it should only take a few minutes for the eggs to get warm enough to dissolve the sugar. Once it's ready you should be able to rub the mixture between your fingers and it should not feel grainy at all. It should not get hot at any stage or you risk scrambling the eggs, it should just be warm enough to dissolve the sugar.

• Once the sugar has dissolved, transfer to your stand mixer bowl with the whisk attachment and whip the eggs on the highest speed sedding for 5 full minutes. You can also use an electric hand mixer but there is a lot of whipping in this recipe so your arms may get tired!

• While it's whipping you can prepare the other ingredients. Sift your flour into a mixing bowl so it's ready to go. For best results, sift the flour twice to make sure it is extra fluffy.

• Mix together the vegetable oil, milk and vanilla and set aside.

• Once the 5 minutes are up, the egg mixture should look very pale and should have at least doubled in volume. You're not looking for stiff peaks or anything like that here, it should be silky and thick but still runny. If you take the whisk and drizzle some of the egg mixture back onto itself, you should be able to draw a pattern and have it stay there for a few seconds before disappearing. If the pattern disappears immediately, whip for another minute.

• Turn your mixer on low and whip for a further 10 minutes on low speed. This knocks all the larger air bubbles out, while keeping the smaller ones which makes for a smoother and more consistent batter and therefore a nice airy cake.

• Add the flour to the egg mixture and fold it in carefully with a rubber spatula. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and not hiding at the bottom of the bowl.

• Take a large dollop of the mixture (one scoop with a wooden spoon or spatula) and put it into a separate bowl. Then to that bowl add the liquids we prepared earlier (milk, vegetable oil, vanilla). Mix them together thoroughly. This is part of the mixing process is called 'sacrificing' the batter - the air will be knocked out of this part of the batter, but it will help the liquids to incorporate into the rest of the cake batter.

• Once totally combined, pour the 'sacrificed' batter back into the main bowl of batter and fold in until combined. Keep folding until the genoise batter reaches the 'ribbon stage'. This means that if you lift your spoon or spatula out of the batter, the batter should run off the spoon steadily in a flowy, ribbon-like motion. If it hasn't reached this stage yet, keep folding gently. Be careful not to overmix though or you will knock too much air out of the batter.

• Once the batter reaches the ribbon stage, pour it into your prepared pan. Tap the cake pan on the counter a few times to release any large air bubbles.

• Bake for 35 minutes. The baking time may vary slightly depending on your oven and your cake pans, but the top will look golden brown and it should bounce back if you touch the top of the cake.

• Remove the genoise cake from the oven and bang on the counter a few more times - this will release any additional air bubbles and prevent the cake from collapsing.

• Put a piece of parchment paper on a wire rack and place the cake pan on the rack upside down -let the cake cool like this. Don't worry if the cake immediately falls away from the bottom of the pan, this is not a problem. Once it is cool enough to touch, remove the cake pan and let it continue to cool completely.

• Generally, this recipe will make a nice flat cake, but I still cut the very top of the cake off as the outsides tend to bake a lot darker than the inside.

Can I Use Butter Instead of Oil in Genoise?

We all know that butter cakes have a very rich flavor that just can't be achieved with oil. It is possible to use melted butter in genoise instead of oil to make an even more delicious cake, but it can be a little less stable and does make for a slightly more dense cake that may not rise quite as much. This is because butter is in a solid-state at room temperature, whereas oil is a liquid, so when the cake cools the fat would 'harden' within the batter - making it heavier. That is not necessarily a bad thing - it really depends on the kind of dessert you are trying to bake.

If you want a richer cake that can withstand being denser, then go ahead and use butter. But if you want a more fluffy cake that needs to be super light then I recommend sticking with oil. Both are still delicious and genoise is often soaked in simple syrup anyways, which replaces any flavor and moisture that may have been missing from the butter.

If you do use butter instead of oil, replace the oil with the same amount of melted butter, but make sure it is warm when you add it to your batter.

How to Soak a Genoise Sponge Cake

As mentioned above, genoise sponge is often soaked in simple syrup to add flavor and moisture to the sponge. It's not a necessary step but it will elevate your dessert. Sponge cakes are able to soak up a lot of liquid because of their airy structure.

You can use any kind of simple syrup you like. Simple syrup is just made by heating equal amounts of sugar and water until the sugar dissolves. You can also make flavored ones like my Strawberry Simple Syrup.

To soak, get your genoise sponge in place in whatever pan, ring or serving dish you are using, and then just dip a pastry brush into the syrup and gently brush it onto the surface of the sponge. Try to spread an even layer of liquid over all parts of the cake. Don't pour the syrup on as it will be too much and your cake might get soggy.

Tip: Make sure you use a pastry brush that will not shed hairs onto your dessert as a paintbrush might!

Equipment

Mixer - I strongly recommend using a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment. You can use an electric mixer or handheld whisk, but there is a solid 15 minutes of whisking on high speed so your arms may get tired if you don't have it on a stand mixer!

Saucepan - You need a small saucepan to create a bain-marie for heating the eggs and dissolving the sugar. It should be small enough that your bowl can sit on top without touching the bottom.

Cake pan - I used an 8-inch cake pan for this recipe. But you could also do the same amount with two 6-inch pans.

Storage

Genoise can dry out pretty quickly if not stored properly. I like to wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then place the whole thing in an air-tight container. Do not store in the fridge. It should stay moist for about 3 days like this.

Summary

This classic European sponge cake is super versatile and a great basic to add to your repertoire. It is a different method of making a vanilla sponge cake than you may be used to - but it creates a beautifully light finished cake with an airy texture than can be used in so many different ways. I highly recommend giving it a try!

Recipe