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SPONGECAKES (safe general rule for making all sizes)
Take any number of fresh eggs, with their weight in sugar, half their weight in flour, and any flavouring that may be chosen. Break the eggs, put the yolks and the whites into separate bowls, and take away the specks. Beat the yolks and the sugar together, add the flour, and, lastly, the whites of the eggs beaten to a firm froth. Beat the mixture thoroughly, put the batter into a tin lined with buttered paper, and bake in a brisk oven.
This is a ratio rather than a recipe: eggs, their weight in sugar, half their weight in flour. Weigh the eggs in the shell and everything else follows.
- The weighingA modern large egg weighs about 2 oz (57 g) in the shell. Four eggs give roughly 8 oz sugar and 4 oz flour, which fills a 7-8 inch round tin and serves eight.
- The instruction that mattersIgnore "beat the mixture thoroughly" after the whites go in. The yolks and sugar should be beaten until pale and thick enough to ribbon off the whisk, and the flour and whites then folded in with a spatula until just combined. There is no baking powder here; the beaten egg is the only lift, and overworking it collapses the cake.
- Brisk oven'brisk' is usually reckoned at somewhere around 400F, though period sources differ and none give a thermometer reading. For a sponge of this depth, 350-375F (175-190C) is the practical reading of the instruction; too hot an oven sets the crust before the centre can rise.
- Buttered paperParchment does the same job with less fuss. Line the base and sides, and butter it if you are using unlined greaseproof.
- Taking away the specksThis means removing any shell fragments and blood spots; some cooks also strip the white cord (chalaza) from the yolk while separating.
- FlourPlain flour works; a cake or soft wheat flour, or plain flour with a couple of tablespoons per cup swapped for cornflour, gives a finer crumb.
- FlavouringThe period defaults are grated lemon or orange zest, a little lemon juice, or a few drops of vanilla or almond essence. Add it to the yolk and sugar mixture, not at the end.
- Baking timeNone is given because the size is left open. A 7-8 inch cake takes 25-35 minutes; it is done when the top springs back and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for ten minutes before turning out, as a sponge risen on egg alone is fragile while hot.
Cakes built on the weight of eggs are among the older formulas in English baking, and sit alongside the pound cake (a pound each of butter, sugar, flour and eggs) as a rule a cook could carry in her head without a printed book or a set of standard measures. The whisked sponge itself is usually traced to the Italian and French biscuit traditions -- the biscuit de Savoie and the finger-shaped Savoy biscuits -- which reached English kitchens well before chemical raising agents did. A proportional rule of this kind scaled itself to whatever tin and however many eggs were to hand, which is why it is offered as a general rule for all sizes rather than a fixed ingredient list. Baking powder was widely available by this time, but sponges raised on egg alone remained standard.