An exceptional, yet simple Vanilla Sponge Cake. Adapted from a master Cook’s Illustrated recipe, this is made with pantry staples, has a velvety, tender crumb and keeps well for 3 days. An essential addition to every recipe collection!
Moist and tender Vanilla Sponge Cake
I call this a plain-jane Vanilla Sponge Cake, but it’s really anything but that. Everyone should have a classic vanilla sponge cake in their repertoire, and it took me many years to find the “perfect” one.
This is a classic, simple Vanilla Sponge Cake that is made with basic ingredients – eggs, milk, butter, flour, sugar, vanilla, baking powder and salt. That’s it. No sour cream, no buttermilk – these are not pantry staples in my world – or any other schmancy ingredients. Yes adding sour cream and/or buttermilk makes an even more tender, more moist cake. But I wanted to share a truly great Vanilla Sponge Cake that is made with just pantry staples.
I have a soft spot for old fashioned Vanilla sponge cakes. I am pretty sure the Women’s Weekly Best Ever Sponge was the first cake I ever (attempted?) to make. 🙂 Freshly made, they are lovely, albeit a wee bit dry for my taste. But the biggest issue I’ve always had is that after 12 hours, the sponge is incredibly dry. Even slathered with copious amounts of cream and frosting can’t hide it.
This recipe I’m sharing today is made with the same ingredients as old fashioned Vanilla Sponge Cakes, but there’s one very important step that you won’t see in any Women’s Weekly recipe books from the 1980’s: beating softened butter into the dry ingredients. THIS is the secret to a moist, tender sponge cake made without sour cream or buttermilk.
How do I know this?
Because this is a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. 🙂 They’ve gone and done all the hard work with the recipe testing for us.
Regular readers know I’m never going to win any awards in the cake decorating category. I’m much more focussed on the body of the cake – getting that sponge right. So I kept this simple and just slathered on lots of cream and and sandwiched it with strawberries. In addition to adding some lovely fresh juicy flavours into the cake, the strawberries also stop the cream from oozing out of the cake when you cut into it.
You’ll see in the video. 🙂
Happy weekend everyone! Hope you have a lovely one. I’m off to a festival of some sort – for a friends’ birthday. I’m not really a festival-type gal, so it will be an experience. I don’t even know what the festival is for – music, I’m guessing. Guess I should probably leave my stilettos behind. 😉 – Nagi x
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe video!
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Vanilla Sponge Cake
Ingredients
- 225 g / 2 sticks unsalted butter , cut into 8 pieces and softened
Wet:
- 4 large eggs (55 - 65g / 2 - 2.5 oz each), at room temperature
- 1⁄2 cup / 125 ml milk (whole or low fat, not no fat), room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Dry:
- 1 3/4 cups / 265g plain flour (all purpose flour, 7 oz) (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup cornflour / cornstarch (Note 1)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups / 330g caster sugar / superfine sugar (normal white sugar also ok)
- 3/4 tsp salt
Strawberries & Cream:
- 2 1/2 cups / 625 ml whipping cream
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 400 g/ 14 oz strawberries , halved (1 1/2 punnets)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan / convection). Put the rack in the middle of the oven.
- Butter 2 x 20cm / 8" cake pans (Note 2). Line the base with baking paper.
- Place Wet ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine.
- Place Dry ingredients in a bowl and use a handheld beater on speed 1 (slowest) to quickly whisk.
- Add 1/3 of the butter, then put the beater whisk in the butter, and mix using speed 1. Once the butter is incorporated a bit, speed up to 5 and whisk for 10 seconds.
- Add another 1/3 of the butter then repeat, then add remaining butter and repeat again. It should look like wet sand (see video / photos in post).
- Add half the Wet mixture, beat until incorporated. Add remaining Wet mixture, then beat on speed 5 (medium) until almost completely smooth.
- Divide between cake pans, smooth surface (it levels out in the oven), then bake for 25 minutes.
- A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean but moist.
- Cool on cooling rack for at least 15 minutes then remove cake from pan.
Frosting / Decorating with Strawberries & Cream:
- Optional: Use a serrated knife (I use a bread knife) to cut the top off each cake to make it completely flat. This makes neat layers when you cut into the cake.
- Place cream, vanilla and sugar in a bowl. Beat on high with a handheld beater or stand mixer until firm peaks form.
- If piping little swirls around the edge like in the photos, transfer 1 cup of cream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
- Place a cake on a serving platter. Spread a thin layer of cream over the top.
- Cover with strawberries, cut side down.
- Top with 1/3 of the cream.
- Place 2nd cake on top. Cover top and sides with remaining cream. Pipe cream around the edge.
- Decorate with remaining strawberries, as desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
You do not want to know how big the puddle on the floor was….EEEEWWWW!!!! (watch me teasing him with this in the video!!)
Can I make this in a bundt pan?
I haven’t tried but I don’t see why not!
Hi Nagi,
My daughter is at a stage where she experiments with food but more especially baking. She asked me to get easy step by step instruction on baking a vanilla/chocolate cake since mommy is clueless. I must say the most user friendly and easy to read guides you have. I am now into baking with her. LOL!
Thats so nice to hear!!!
Hi Nagi, do you think I could use this sponge for your lamington recipe?
Hmmm… I think the sponge used in the Leamington recipe itself is a safer bet 🙂 Is there a reason you prefer this recipe?? N x
This one seems lighter! I made the lamington one and while it was moist, the sponge was quite dense. I prefer a lighter sponge, like the texture of your lemon cake 🙂
I know! It’s just that I’m worried this one is TOO light to handle the Lamington coating part 🙂 It might fall apart!
Hiya. Would this cake work with butter cream frosting for my sons birthday cake or would you recommend something a little more dense to hold together?
Hi, wanted to let you know I tried out this recipe today and I love it. It truly is the perfect sponge! Thank you so very much for the precise and helpful directions. The video in particular is just what I needed to understand the incorporation of the butter. Cheers!
Thanks so much for the awesome feedback Sue ❤️
Hi Nagi,
I just made this recipe and it’s absolutely delicious!! I used the buttercream frosting you gave us in another recipe and …….WOW… Thank you for sharing with all of us!! 🙂
Thanks so much, I’m so glad it was a hit!
Hi Nagi,do I need to add sugar syrup to keep the cake moist?
Hi Veena, I’ve never added sugar syrup to this cake – it doesn’t need it ☺️
Hi Nagi,
Is the sponge strong enough to cover in fondant icing?
Thanks
Hi Natalie, It is a soft sponge but I think it should be fine with a light layer of fondant. – N x
Hi Nagi,
Is the cake strong enough to be covered in fondant icing?
Hi Nagi,
Can i make for cupcake ?
Many thanks
Sure can Fonny!
Hi Nagi,
Thank you so much for this recipe, it’s the first ever vanilla sponge cake I’ve made and it turned out delishous and gorgeous! Such a classic and comforting treat 🙂
I reduced the sugar for the cake batter by half a cup and added a teaspoon more to the whipped cream.
I had to do the cake batter twice because of our small microwave oven, so getting the amounts right was tough, but luckily the servings slider helped a lot. Our oven’s temperature can be uneven, so I had to bake the cakes 10min longer, but it wasn’t dry at all.
Assembling the cake was so much fun, as was sharing it with friends! It was still good after 3 days when I ate the last piece ^_^
Two comments, I’m a bit puzzled as this cake and posting appeared when I did a search for recipes using rose water. Am I missing something somewhere? And next, as the picture with the golden retriever does not have any video with it I don’t know how this situation ended but please, tell me the golden was given the cake. I suppose I’m being overly sensitive about it but I’m still recovering from having lost my golden on my last birthday. I had her over twelve years. You don’t even want to know how deeply they can get into your heart. It was the second worst day of my life and only the death of someone I was extremely close to who died suddenly from a massive stroke when I was 13 years old was worst. Not even breakups with boyfriends, car crashes, anything was worst than her dying there beside me. And I have to stop because I’m only getting upset again. So if I missed the rosewater in the recipe, just let me know. Thanks.
Hi Pamela, there’s no rosewater in this recipe although you could add some if you wanted to flavour it. I do have another cake using rosewater here: https://www.recipetineats.com/persian-love-cake/ I’m sorry to hear about your goldie, they are definitely family in my eyes! And don’t worry, he got the cake ☺️
How many minutes must I put the batter in the oven if I only made 2 servings?
Hi Eugene, what size pan are you using? – N x
Hello! If I need to make a larger cake size like a 12” cake, will it work if I double or triple the ingredients to make a larger cake mix ??
Hi Lourdes, double would be plenty over the two tins – if not slightly too much. You’ll just need to adjust the cook times to ensure it cooks properly and just keep an eye on it – N x
Hi Nagi! Can i use silicon pan ?
To be honest, I haven’t tried! I don’t see why not, but you’d still need to line it – N x
Hi Tracy! Can i use silicon pan ?
My 7 year old son won first prize at our local show with this cake – thanks so much for a great recipe.
That’s the best news!!
Hi Nagi,
I am making this cake tomorrow for my daughters birthday. I wanted to know if I only have one 8 inch tin I’ve see you’ve mentioned before to do the batter over two times due to the active ingredient so do I just half the ingredients to do this ?
Hi Sarah, yes you’ll need to do 2 half batches. I would love to hear how you go!
Hi Nagi,
I will be making the Vanilla Sponge Cake recipe tomorrow but I only have one 8 inch cake tin and I have seen you’ve said that we should half the recipe cook and then do another because of the ingredients being active but do I just half the ingredients ? And if I am making a layer cake would the cake be thick enough to cut into two ?
Thanks
Sarah
I bake a lot, like a cake a week with cookies in between, and this was a tasty and easy recipe. It was a nice sponge that is both light tasting but sturdy enough to hold up a thick filling of Bavarian cream and berries. One thing I will do differently next time is divide it into 3 8”pans instead of 2 because it took 10 more minutes to bake through, which made the cake a bit dry. Thanks for the recipe!