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Cheap Sponge Cake
Yolks 3 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon hot water Whites 3 eggs 1 cup flour 2 teaspoons vinegar Beat yolks of eggs until thick and lemon-colored, add sugar gradually, and continue beating; then add water, flour mixed and sifted with baking powder and salt, whites of eggs beaten until stiff, and vinegar. Bake thirty-five minutes in a moderate oven, in a buttered and floured cake pan.
A small, economical sponge that leans on baking powder rather than on a large number of eggs. The batter comes together quickly, so have the pan prepared before you begin beating.
- Moderate ovenGenerally taken as somewhere around 350-375F. Thirty-five minutes suits a single layer about 1 1/2 inches deep; the cake is done when the top springs back and a skewer comes out clean.
- Pan sizeNo pan is specified beyond "a buttered and floured cake pan." An 8-inch round or 8-inch square gives roughly the right depth for the stated time; a wider, shallower pan will need less time.
- The vinegar goes in lastIt is added after the beaten whites, where the acid speeds the release of gas from the baking powder. Get the batter into the pan and into the oven promptly rather than letting it stand.
- Fold, do not stirThe flour and the whites are added to a foam of yolks and sugar. Cut and fold with a spatula until no streaks remain and stop there. Beating at this stage deflates the whites, and with no butter in the formula there is nothing else holding the crumb open.
- Beat the yolks properly"Thick and lemon-colored" means several minutes with a mixer until the yolks and sugar fall from the beater in a ribbon. This accounts for much of the aeration, alongside the beaten whites and the baking powder.
- Hot waterThe tablespoon of hot water thins the yolk foam slightly so the flour can be folded in without overworking. Use water that is hot from the tap or just off the boil; the amount is too small to cook the eggs.
- YieldOne thin layer, roughly eight small servings. Good plain with fruit, or split and filled; there is no added fat, so it is best eaten the day it is baked.
Sponge cakes of the nineteenth century were commonly leavened by egg alone, which meant six, eight or a dozen eggs and a great deal of arm work. "Cheap" in a title like this one reads as a plain statement of economy: three eggs, no butter, and chemical leavening to make up the difference, by which time baking powder was widely available and cheap enough for everyday household use. The vinegar may be a survival of the older habit of pairing an acid with soda to raise a batter, though the recipe itself gives no reason for it.