The Sponge Cake is a classic dessert of our pastry. Tall and soft, it lends itself to many fillings, but it is equally good on its own. This is the recipe of Maestro Iginio Massari excluding the custard which I chose to add. For the preparation of the Sponge Cake with Custard, I used a stand mixer, but you can also use an electric mixer, as manual whipping is not recommended since you need to create a very fluffy and frothy mixture. If you want to change the filling, here are some ideas that you can find in the Collection of Cream Fillings.

Other recipes

Difficulty: Very Easy
Cost: Very Economical
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Portions: 6
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All Seasons, Mother's Day

485.88 Kcal

calories per serving

Info Close

Energy 485.88 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 61.86 (g) of which sugars 39.57 (g)
Proteins 10.78 (g)
Fat 23.39 (g) of which saturated 13.47 (g)of which unsaturated 9.85 (g)
Fibers 0.55 (g)
Sodium 115.19 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 173 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients

6 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 lemon zest
3 egg yolks
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (sifted)
1/3 cup potato starch (sifted)
1/3 cup butter (melted and cooled)
1 3/4 cups whole milk
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsps cornstarch
1 tbsp rice flour
1 lemon (untreated zest)
Half vanilla bean
1 tsp butter (to grease the pan)
1 tsp flour (to flour the pan)
1 tsp powdered sugar (for decoration)

Tools

There are IconA affiliate links in the recipe

Kitchen Scale
Pan 8-inch round springform
Stand Mixer
Spatula
Pot
Hand Whisk

Steps

Start by preparing the custard first and while it cools, work on the cake.

Pour the milk (minus a few tablespoons) into a saucepan with the lemon peel and bring to a boil. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with sugar and the vanilla bean seeds for a few seconds with the whisk. Add cornstarch, rice flour, and mix while adding the little reserved milk. Remove the lemon peel from the boiling milk and pour everything in, stirring quickly with the whisk. It is ready at the first puffs of boiling. You can also check the cream on the sides of the pan: if it’s shiny, it’s ready. Allow the custard to cool covered with plastic wrap. This procedure will prevent the formation of a crust.
Preheat the static oven to 356°F (the Maestro advises 374°F but in my oven 356°F works better). Pour whole eggs and sugar into the stand mixer and whisk at medium speed. Add the salt, grated lemon zest, and increase the speed. After 8 minutes, add the yolks one by one and continue for a few more minutes. Sift all the powders, flour, starch, and baking powder twice.
Reduce the speed and add the powders, then increase to combine uniformly and stop. Place a small part of the batter in a small bowl, add the melted butter, mix well and incorporate back into the batter.
Pour into a 8-inch buttered and floured mold and bake for 35-40 minutes, always checking that it does not get too colored. Turn off, leave for 5 minutes with the door ajar to let the moisture out, and take out of the oven. Once warm, remove from the mold and let it dry upside down on a rack. Cut in half and cover the base with the custard, cover with the other disc, and once very cold, sprinkle the surface with powdered sugar.