I tried another sponge cake today. I thought the flavour was incredible, but the cake fell again. It would be okay if the cake fell slightly, but the final cake was only about an inch tall. I have a four inch tall cake pan, and in the steamer the cake rose above the top of the pan. There are many things I could do to help my sponge behave, I think cooking the cake upside down, after it is fully risen. (I noticed the cake fell slightly the steamer, which I took as indication it was cooked completely - at least had maximum rise.) This would require removing the cake from the steamer immediately after it is baked. I also think the eggs were not whipped correctly. I may have over whipped the eggs. If the eggs were a little less whipped, they would have less air to puff up the cake, Other factors could be that I used lemon juice in the egg whites, I warmed the eggs to room temp. I mixed the egg whites, first at high speed (on my hand mixture), then on med/ med-high speed until they were stiff and glossy. I did use superfine sugar, which I think added a lot to the fine texture. But it's possible I underwhipped, because I didn't get to really firm peaks. It's possible the recipe is no good, but since it tastes so fine, I have to see if I can work on the method first. Also, maybe too much batter for my 8 inch pan. Perhaps I should try using half the amount of batter.
Here's the cake in the pan after steaming.
Looks like it fell to about 1 inch thick, from 3 1/2 inches (and even 4 inches during baking)
Here's the final cake!
I steamed the cake for 1 hour 15 minutes. It rose fully around 50 minutes, and then started to fall a bit after 1 hour 5 minutes. I made half of this recipe, but I think it was a little much for my 8 in pan.
1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
9 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup caster sugar (I used some ground-up homemade vanilla sugar)
1/2 cup water, around room temperature
1/4 cup oil (go for something without a pronounced flavour, like canola oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat yolks, water, oil and vanilla until creamy. Carefully fold flour and bak pwder into yolk mixture. Beat whites until foamy, slowly add sugar, and continue beating until stiff glossy peaks. Fold into yolk mixture. Steam cake for about 45 mins. When cake just starts to fall, remove from the steamer and turn upside down to cool. You can also bake in an oven for about 1 hour.
Here's the cake in the pan after steaming.
Looks like it fell to about 1 inch thick, from 3 1/2 inches (and even 4 inches during baking)
Here's the final cake!
I steamed the cake for 1 hour 15 minutes. It rose fully around 50 minutes, and then started to fall a bit after 1 hour 5 minutes. I made half of this recipe, but I think it was a little much for my 8 in pan.
1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
9 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup caster sugar (I used some ground-up homemade vanilla sugar)
1/2 cup water, around room temperature
1/4 cup oil (go for something without a pronounced flavour, like canola oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat yolks, water, oil and vanilla until creamy. Carefully fold flour and bak pwder into yolk mixture. Beat whites until foamy, slowly add sugar, and continue beating until stiff glossy peaks. Fold into yolk mixture. Steam cake for about 45 mins. When cake just starts to fall, remove from the steamer and turn upside down to cool. You can also bake in an oven for about 1 hour.
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