My genoise sponge adaptation and question.

[lulu]

Baking for DH's birthday tomorrow I needed two, not too thick, sponge sandwhiches. I like genoise, not just for keeping benefits, but I find it fairly unfailable, it always works for me.

So, I was pretty livid when the second batch just did not come together at the egg/sugar stage to a consistancy I was happy with (I'm putting it down to weather...but who knows?). I continued to see what the end batter would look like, and it wasn't good, it looked heavy. So, taking a leap of faith I put a spoon of baking powder in. The result is a beautiful, beautiful gently risen sponge! It is perfectly what I wanted.

I'm guessing that the melted butter will keep the cake as moist and nice tomorrow?

The recipe without the baking powder, was:

4 eggs, 7/8ths cup of sugar, vanilla extract, 2/3 cups flour, 4 table spoons of melted butter.

 

[philso]

lulu - it seems like your question is if the cake will stay moist. if you wrap it, or it's enclosed in an icing, it'll be fine. you can also drizzle a little liqueur, brandy or simple syrup over it if you're in doubt.

as far as the reason for the egg/sugar mixture not attaining full lightness, while i've heard it said that the weather can be a factor, i've never had any noticable problems during humid days. do you beat your eggs over heat? if not, that would definitely help. you obviously make this recipe often, and it looks to be about the same as mine, so the ratios are not a problem. the most usual problem would be underbeating the egg/sugar mixture, but here again, it sounds like you know what you're doing. the only other factor i can think of might be over beating. egg whites can be over beaten and you'll lose volume, but to tell you the truth, i'm not sure about whole eggs & sugar over heat.

glad it came out well, anyway.

by the way, one of my favorite genoise adaptations is to leave entirely substitute 1/2 almond powder & 1/2 cocoa powder for the flour. it's admittedly on the heavy side, but pretty delish.

 

[Corey123]

I've made this type of cake myself, but it's been years since I did it.

And yes, it IS very light and tasty. I like the fact that it rises on egg power alone!