Vanilla Sponge Cake

These cakes are fluffy, moist and and essential to making Chinese-Western confections. A sponge cake or oven baked cakes in general are called 蛋糕 (dàn gāo) which literally translates to "egg cake" because of the inclusion of eggs in the batter whereas most Chinese cakes to not include egg.

While this style of cake did not originate in China, they have been accepted and adapted into Chinese culture and many changes have been made to make them more appealing to Chinese palates. 

Chinese confections and cakes in particular and much less sweet than their Western cousins. Furthermore, the cakes used and almost always sponge cakes as opposed to pound cake. 

These cakes have also been given different flavours that might seem exotic to Western standards but are quite common in Chinese desserts such as:

Red Bean:

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5fRWjOR0oq905-ACIUFfug-JtVBt65Dl8E7MwmscrSB24Tw74TJ3lYo9pmxRdAH5mvhqS8SzDaFofpgcmvhnfEMaiMEfLCWzPryUicit_peMd1ae5NVoqOGHL_tUrNTvBT3ZnK6UmLCo/s1600/red+bean+coconut+chiffon+cake+4.jpg

Chestnut:

Source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3i8wTydL17yYuxg7qki_lkO1CFBBeYdm_UWkCUDuRffSvHRbNNfHYFeoWeTHBlFaani6CsNVgbYpa4w1Dah3xPPDixcyjurXBI-baGMvkPJqi_Nu9RbpswMrD5NLJcHr7_tvlb5mQ7zk/s1600/chestnut+cake+7.jpg

Fruit cake:

Source: http://angiesbakery.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/untitled-2.jpg

The Chinese concept of a fruit cake is completely different from that of the West. It is soft, fluffy, airy, moist and loaded with fresh fruit. The Western version is dense, heavy, and loaded with dry fruit and often a lot of alcohol.

Also, the Chinese prefer lightly sweetened whipped cream on their cakes as opposed to icings and frostings which are found to be too cloyingly sweet.

The recipe that I developed is the base for any one of these cakes and here it is:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cups white sugar
• 2/3 cups packed brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

Method:

1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt onto a large sheet of parchment paper or into a large bowl. A piece of parchment paper will make dumping the dry ingredients into the wet a lot easier. Set the dry ingredients aside while preparing the wet ingredients.
2. Separate egg whites from the egg yolks and place them into two different large mixing bowls.
3. Beat egg whites on low speed until frothy and add the white sugar. Beat mixture on high speed until glossy and stiff peaks form. Set aside while preparing the egg yolk mixture. Make sure the beaters and bowl are free from oil and grease or the whites will not whip properly.
4. Add brown sugar to egg yolks and beat on high speed until pale. You don’t have to clean the beaters after whipping the egg whites.
5. Add vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract to egg yolk mixture. Beat again on high speed until all the ingredients are incorporated.
6. Pour dry ingredients into egg yolk mixture all at once and beat on low speed to combine. When the mixture is almost completely combined, switch to a spatula and fold in the remaining flour. This prevents overworking the batter.
7. Add in egg white mixture in two parts and fold to combine after each addition.
8. Pour into any type of mold you like and bake in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven. I used normal and mini cupcake mold and it took about 15 minutes.

Video recipe available here:

 

Enjoy! Despite the Chinese preferring whipped cream over icings and frostings, this cake will work well with either. It also tastes great on its own. I really hope you give this a try.