Have you started baking cakes? Did you know that cake doesn't come in just one texture, but several? Today we're introducing the different types of cake sponge.
Types of Cake Sponge
Cakes come in many textures, but in general they can be divided into three types. Here we won't include cheesecake or mousse cake; we'll focus on everyday cake sponges. The three types are:
1. Butter Cake
Butter cake is the densest of the three, because its batter is the heaviest. It contains quite a lot of butter and has less air in the crumb than the other two, which gives it a very fine crumb with few air holes.
Because butter cake is denser and heavier than the other two, it is the ideal sponge for cakes that need to carry a lot of other ingredients, such as fruit cake, which contains plenty of small pieces of dried fruit. If you add heavy ingredients to a light sponge, it can't support their weight, so they sink to the bottom of the tin instead of being spread through the cake as you want. A light sponge may also fail to rise properly, because the weight of the other ingredients presses down on it, making it hard to rise in the oven.
Butter cake is usually made by creaming the butter and sugar until fluffy, then beating in the eggs, and finally adding the flour and the remaining ingredients.
2. Sponge Cake
Sponge cake is lighter than butter cake but heavier than chiffon cake. It is mostly used for decorated cakes that you want to feel light to eat. Fruit, nuts and other add-ins are usually not mixed into the sponge itself. Most layered cakes are made with sponge cake, and jam rolls are often made from sponge cake too.
The main step in making sponge cake is whipping the egg yolks and whites together until fluffy. The usual method is to whip the eggs with sugar until fluffy, then add the flour, followed by melted butter, usually in a smaller quantity than in butter cake.
3. Chiffon Cake
Chiffon cake is the lightest cake sponge. If it is decorated, the decoration is usually light, because the sponge is so airy that it can't carry a heavy topping.
What sets chiffon cake apart from other cakes is that the yolks and whites are separated and used at different stages. Usually you start by mixing the yolks with the flour, baking powder, sugar, vegetable oil and other ingredients. Then you whip the egg whites with sugar to stiff peaks, which is called a meringue. Finally, you combine the yolk mixture with the meringue in the very last step.
