There are many recipes for sponge dough, but three main ingredients stay constant: eggs, sugar, and flour. This dough is used to create pastries, rolls, and cakes; it bakes into delicious airy cookies and goes into other desserts too.
The classic sponge dough recipe
Sponge dough isn't hard to make, but you should approach the choice of ingredients, their prep, and the exact steps in the recipe with care. If everything is done right, the sponge will turn out tall, fluffy, and delicate in structure.
The classic recipe calls for these proportions: for every 2 eggs, take 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of sugar. First, the whites and yolks must be separated; then the yolks are combined with the sugar and beaten well. Flour is added to them and everything is whipped again.
The whites are whipped in a separate bowl. Then both mixtures are combined, gently folding in the airy whites. You need to do this by hand — with a wooden spatula.
The five most commonly used ingredients in sponge dough recipes:
| Product | Calories per 100g | Protein g per 100g | Fats g per 100g | Carbohydrates g per 100g |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 398 | 0 | 0 | 99.7 |
| Flour | 325 | 12 | 1 | 67 |
| Chicken eggs | 80 | 12.7 | 10.9 | 0.3 |
| Eggs | 157 | 12.7 | 10.9 | 0.7 |
| Lemon juice | 16 | 0.9 | 0 | 3 |
Which ingredients should you choose?
For sponge dough, use premium wheat flour with a high gluten content. It's best to use fine-crystal granulated sugar so it has time to dissolve while being beaten with the yolks. The eggs must be fresh.
Cream, butter, juices, and fruit puree aren't added to classic sponge dough. But at the stage of folding the whites into the dough, you may add chocolate that's been melted and cooled to room temperature. Alternatively, you can use cocoa powder in the dough, mixing it with the flour at the sifting stage. Various spices, such as cinnamon, won't go amiss either — they make the flavor of the finished sponge brighter and more interesting. Add spices literally on the tip of a knife.
The five fastest sponge dough recipes:
| Name of the dish | Cooking time | Calories per 100g | User Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fluffy sponge dough | 20 min | 263 | +36 |
| Sponge cake batter | 25 min | 251 | +20 |
| Sponge dough with cocoa | 25 min | 211 | +27 |
| Sponge roll dough | 27 min | 222 | +29 |
| Roll dough with jam | 30 min | 188 | +27 |
Secrets of a fluffy sponge. What can and can't you do?
The tips for creating the perfect sponge are simple:
- yolks are best used at room temperature, while the whites, on the contrary, need to be well chilled before whipping,
- there's no need to add salt or powdered sugar to the whites,
- never pour lemon juice or any other acid into the whites,
- once the eggs are beaten, don't use the mixer anymore, or the sponge won't be airy,
- the flour for sponge dough needs to be aerated, so sift it through a sieve 2–3 times.
What other kinds of sponge dough are there?
There are many ways to make sponge dough using nut flour (almond flour, for example) or marzipan. There are also recipes for vegetarians, where starch is added to the dough instead of eggs.