Thread: Flat Sponge
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Roy
 
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>My first attempt at a sponge, the recipe :
>4 eggs, 4 oz sugar, pinch salt and 4 oz plain flour.
>The cook book suggests sponges are non-fat recipes (with the exception

of
>Genoese). It also suddests no raising agent and uses whisked-in air to


>promote the rise.
>I used a Braun-type hand electric whisk on the eggs for about 30

seconds and
>then folded in the remaining ingredients.
>Greased and floured 2 x 8" sandwich tins and baked at 200C/400F for 20

mins.
>Total rise, less than half inch and very hard texture - they ended up

in a
>trifle ! Any help please.TIA.

A one is to one ratio among eggs flour and sugar is classified as a
sponge sandwich type .
>From the result

Your egg foam is under beaten. and technically speaking the batter
specific gravity approaches 1.0 like water. Meaning there was no
aeration!
Another things the total batter weight is only 12 ounce that is good
only for one 8 inch pan.
If you are using two pans you should double the recipe.
Ensure first that your eggs are at least room temperature and not
directly from the fridge.
If you want to beat it properly do it at high speed , usually takes
from 5-10 minutes with stand mixer but longer with hand held mixer.
One time I remember took me 30 minutes to beat the whole egg sponge
with a hand mixer to the desird end point!
It does not matter whether you use a metal bowl , plsstic or ceramic
/china as long as its clean( free from fat / oil).
When properly done
1)The egg and sugar mixture should be thick and lemon yellow that by
drawing the spoon on the surface you can create a crease that very
slowly smoothens out. However if it does not return it is on the way to
being over beaten.
2)Another way is to observe if the beater whip marks are distinct in
the egg foam and that is also another indication that your are doing
well.
3)Another things you can hasten the beating time by having the eggs
heated to lukewarm before beating it.
.. Another technique is to heat the sugar until warm in the oven and add
it to the eggs while beatinga at high speed.
You should exercise also caution in folding process of the dry
ingredients, do it gently with hand fingers spread apart while stirring
the mixture to incorporate.
When your place the finished batter into the prepared pans it should be
not more than 2/3 deep of the pan thickness.
Keep in mind that your indicated recipe is good for one round pan only
as I stated above.
Roy