Sponge Cake Recipe

browneyedbazzi

Hi folks, i'm hoping for a bit of advice from all you scratch bakers.

I have a recipe for a really lovely chocolate cake (light, soft sponge, moist, just how I like cake to be!). The only problem is that I don't really like chocolate cake.

I've been trying to find a recipe for a nice vanilla/white cake but none that I have tried result in as nice a cake as the chocolate one. As the chocolate one gets its flavour from cocoa powder I was wondering if taking out the cocoa powder and adding some vanilla would work to make a nice vanilla sponge? Would I need to add a bit of extra flour to the recipe to keep the wet/dry ratio?

Any advice (or tried and tested vanilla sponge recipes) would be appreciated!

zippychick

our sponge cake recipe thread has loads of recipes.

Ill merge this later on for you

Zip

SpikyHedgehog

I have success in doing just as you suggested, leaving cocoa out of a chocolate cake recipe & increasing the flour by the amount of cocoa. Go for it!

LameWolf

Yes! Use a decent quality vanilla ("essence" rather than "flavouring") and add the same amount of extra flour as the cocoa powder you're omitting, if that makes sense. Good luck.:o

McKneff

YOu dont even need to put vanilla in it.

Just leave out the cocoa and balance with the flour.

MY oh makes the most wonderful Victoria Sponges out of the Bero Book.

browneyedbazzi

Thank you!

I'm a bit incapable of just following an existing recipe and with most things I'm happy to just play around but cakes can be so fussy I wanted a bit of reassurance. Looking forward to cake now!

Also, I always use proper vanilla extract...costs a bit more but worth every penny!

aliadds

When I make a sponge, I weigh the eggs in their shells, then whatever that is, I add the same quantity of SR flour, margarine and sugar. You could then add a dash of vanilla extract and you will have a lovely sponge. I normally do a 4 egg recipe.

You could amend this to make chocolate, coffee and walnut, lemon or whatever you fancy really.

HTH