Japanese sponge cake (スポンジケーキ) is a very light and fluffy yellow-white cake that is a base component for a lot of Japanese Western-style sweets. Although we have our own traditional Japanese desserts like Mochi rice cake and Anko sweet red beans, Western-style cakes and other treats are tremendously popular in Japan. Once you master Japanese sponge cake, you will be able to make various Western-style Japanese sweets.
We have mainly two kinds of sweets in Japan: Japanese-style (Wagashi) and Western-style (Yogashi). And even though we call it roughly “Western,” modern Western-style cakes and pastries are heavily and almost exclusively influenced by French desserts. There are cake shops and bakeries in every corner of cities in Japan, often selling many different kinds of cakes by the slice or in individual servings. Cakes are a significant part of life in Japan. We eat cakes for any celebratory events, from birthdays and anniversaries to Christmas and other holidays, but also enjoy cakes for less special occasions like people simply getting together. There are some fancy shops that are owned by celebrity pastry chefs, and their cakes come with higher price tags, and others run by local mom and pops that sell much simpler, reasonably priced cakes. While simpler and less expensive, the flavors in the smaller shops are not compromised in any means just because they’re smaller scale.
Just like the French sponge cakes called génoise, Japanese Sponge Cake doesn’t have any leavening such as baking powder and baking soda. The batter rises in the oven because of a lot of air trapped in whipped eggs. Sometimes egg whites and yolks are separated and whipped separately, but the recipe here calls for whipping whole eggs. Sponge cakes are made to be a little drier than some other cakes which can be eaten by themselves, like chiffon cakes. Sponge cakes are supposed to be layered, brushed with syrup and other flavorings like different liquors, and assembled with fruits and cream; therefore they get moistened well from those components.
There are three points to success in making Sponge Cake: exact measurements of ingredients, whipping the eggs until very thick, and not mixing the batter too much which deflates the bubbles from the eggs when folding flour into the whipped eggs. Getting sponge cake to turn out the way you want can be a little tricky, but if you prepare well and keep these three things in mind, your cake will come out beautifully. It may take a couple of tries, but that’s OK, that’s normal. So read the recipe and watch our video a few times, get all the ingredients measured and ready ahead of time (yes, seriously), and you’ll have a beautiful Sponge Cake to decorate and indulge in at home!
(Note: This recipe makes one 7″ cake. A double recipe makes a 10″ cake.)
See Strawberry Shortcake recipe for decorating idea.
This video and article is newly updated from December 2014
Sponge Cake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 20 g butter
- 1 Tbsp milk
- 90 g cake flour
- 3 eggs
- 90 g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) at least 20 minutes before. Line a 7" (18 cm) cake pan with parchment paper (bottom and side). Put butter and milk In a small bowl and microwave until the butter melts. In another bowl, sift the cake flour 2 times. Set aside.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, add eggs and sugar. Over a double boiler (placing the bowl over a pot with simmering water on low heat), whisk the egg mixture until it becomes lukewarm (until the sugar dissolves). Then set the bowl on the stand mixer, and whip the egg mixture until very thick (watch video to see the texture). Add vanilla.
- Add sifted cake flour in 3 parts. Fold in the first one-third of the flour by hand with a spatula. After the flour is incorporated, add the next part of flour and again fold in with the spatula. Repeat with the last third of the flour. Next, add the mixture of melted butter and milk and fold in with the spatula.
- Put the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Take the cake out from the oven and leave for 15 minutes. Finally, remove the cake from the cake pan.
Video
Notes
129 Comments
Hi, do you think I need to triple the recipe for two 9″ round cake pans? Thanks.
Between 3 times and 3 1/2 times.
That cake that you made looked delicious.
Hello
if I want to make a 30×40 cake how much will it be
Thanks very much for the best recipe
Pamela, it will be 250gr of flour and 250gr of sugar, 7 eggs, 1/3cup of milk, 50gr of butter.
Hope it comes out delicious!
Can i put icing or frosting on top of the cake?
Remember your basic school geometry (π r²). A 7″ round cake has an area of about 38.5 square inches. Two 9″ round cakes have a total surface area of about 127 square inches – so you need to multiply all of the ingredients by about 3.3. Hope this helps 🙂
Can the batter be pour into 3 seperate pans to bake? Will it still rise? Can the melted butter be replace by vegetable oil? Thank you.
Maria,
you could try…but I wouldn’t recommend it. If you’re not comfortable slicing the cake into 3 pieces, you could cut into half. The flavor will be different with oil.
Is it OK to melt the butter with milk in the oven instead of a microwave? And will a hand mixer be OK in mixing the egg and sugar? I don’t have both.
You can melt butter in a pot too. A hand mixer is fine as long as you whip egg whites well.
Can you convert grams into cups so I know.
For baking sponge cakes, I wouldn’t use cups as amount in cups are not precise.
So I need a scale?
yes.
i have not seen baking powder or soda used
hi can i use all purpose flour?i don’t get cake flour here,tx
A substitute for cake flour using all purpose flour is this: Remove 2 tablespoons from one level cup of all-purpose flour, then add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch back in. Sift well. (Epicurious). I
Hi
Is cake flour here is self raising flour? If i am using all purpose flour do i need to add baking powder, if so how much please?
Lash,
cake flour is not self rising flour. You can find cake flour (usually in a box) at most supermarkets.
If i plan on making a chocolate version of this cake, how much chocolate would i need and would I use melted or power chocolate?
Mina,
Use 20g cocoa powder and 70g cake flour instead of 90g cake flour.
how much i need egg sugar and flour if i want make this sponge cake if i used pan 20×20? thank u
You can make 1.5 times of the recipe.
Hi, I tried making this cake. It deflated after I put in the butter. Is there something I’m doing incorrectly. I followed every step. It was very fluffy until I put in the butter. Should I substitute butter with oil instead
Pei,
the batter deflates a little whenever you add anything such as flour and butter(melted and cooled), and that’s ok. Just carefully fold it.
What milk did you use?
Just regular milk.
Could you tell me the dimension of your 7 inches cake pan? Are they 7×3 or 7×4 pan?
Thanks
David,
about 7X2.
Please try to give some alternative of scale..in the form of standard measuring cups….this will benefit so many people. .thank you
naghmana,
baking a cake which doesn’t use any leavening is finicky, and precise measurement is the key to success. Measuring cups are not very accurate, and I wouldn’t recommend them for this recipe.
Cups are not accurate enough, use scales
what if im using 8″ what would be the exact measurement of each ingredients? Thanks.
beth,
you can increase ingredients by 30%.
What kind of milk do you use? And is it okey to use all purpose flour for this?
Vic,
whole milk is good. Cake flour can give the best texture. All pourpose make it chewier.
Hello, thanks for the recipe. I am planning to make the cake in 9.5” pan, to get a cake as big as yours in my pan what are the exact measurements for all the ingredients?
Hello can i use milk in can(evap milk) instead whole milk ? Thank you
Is it 9 g or 90g of sugar?
When I baked it, the cake is super thick and sweet
can i decrease the sugar?
thanks..
can i reduce the sugar? because it is too sweet for me. may i know how much should i put? thanks ^^
Can I substitute butter with margarine? Thanks.
i tried this recipe once and it taste really good but the texture was not so soft. do i did wrong?
madam,
today i made this it is very nice, cake floor available in India also?
tell me 3 times of ingredients menas how much time i have to set?
thank u very much for nice cake.
Sneha
Should I put the cake upside down after it was baked like angle food cake?
Anty,
no you don’t need to.
Hi Noriko I tried as your receipe it really taste so good but my sponge rise only top part from middle to bottom it is not raising properly could you help me please what can be the reason thank you.
Roma,
You may not have whipped egg whites enough. Or when you fold other ingredients in the eggs, may deflate the eggs too much. Good luck next time!
Hi Nori, are the white eggs whipped separately without egg yolks? I had the same issue that only top part was rising well but the bottom part wasn’t.
Thanks.
Hello dear can you write the recipe in cups??
Hi, I’m a first timer in baking cake,
Can I use plain flour instead of cake flour ?
Must I add baking powder to make it rise ?
Should the oven be preheat at 180c at 20 min before I put in the cake
hi noriko,
How much weight in gram is each of the egg? Because eggs come in different sizes in my country.
Thanks
Nan
Nan,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_egg_sizes
Thanks, Noriko. Are you based in us? And which size egg you are using? Medium?
Nan,
yes, we are in the us. We use large eggs.
Hi there, I would like to make by 9 inches cake pan, how should I measure for all ingredients?
I tried to whip the egg with hand mixer, but after Long time also never got the thickened consistency. Hence as a result the cake never rise properly. Is it we need to whip the egg white separately?
Kindly guide.
Hi, can i substitute the milk with coconut milk?
i make it but i faild .. ingredeints not right .. i think 90 g cake floor is too littel
Can you tell me how much I would modify the recipe to make one 9 inch pan? I saw above that you do 3 to 3 and 1/2 times for two, but we don’t need that big of a batch. One would serve our needs perfectly!
oh… not sure wat went wrong..my cake didnt rise…
i added about 30% more as i using an 8″
The video says it’s not suppost to rise as you are using the egg’s fluffiness. That’s why you gotta be gentle and not over fold the cake flour
there is no need to add baking powder right?
Noriko-san,
Will there be any problems if the cake flour can still be seen? i tried my best to gently fold in the sifted flour but I’m not sure if i did well, my batter looked a bit frothy after adding the flour.
thank you
It’s really hard to be precise with the measurements as in the US we don’t use grams. That said, I converted the ingredients and tried to be as close as possible but it came out very dry and hard. I know I must have done something wrong because I’ve tasted castera bread from a Asian bakery before. Mine was hard and dry on the approximately 1 inch from edges but undercooked on the middle. Could it be my hand held mixer?
This is how it was converted
20g = 1.5 tablespoons
90g= 6 tablespoons
On the video there was way more sugar and flour used than 6 tablespoons. To me it looked like almost 2 cups. Can you pls post a converted recipe!
Yup, it was my mixer. It creates large bubbles and traps flour in. So when baked I find clusters of raw flour. I’ve tried to fold gently but it’s still giving me too many flour bubbles. Sigh. I’m just gonna give up on this recipe
Do I need baking powder if cake flour already include?
Hi noriko&yuko if i use 22cm x 7cm pan, what the exact measurement for the ingredients?
Hi if I wanted to make a 🍋 drizzle cake using this recipe, at what stage can I put the zest and what else can I put to my lemon cake.
Is the 90 grams of flour measure before sifting or after sifting?
Hello
If I do 3 time the recipe do I have to bake it for 60 min? Or less?
Hi, my name is harsh . Sponge Cake can be makes without Eggs
Harsh,
sorry, no we don’t have a cake recipe not using eggs
Thank you for giving me this recipe it is great.
Hello,
I made the cake and it came out stiff. Not fluffy like the Japanese sponge cake at all. What am I doing wrong? Thank you!
Jian,
eggs may not be whipped enough. Or when you fold in dry mixture to whipped eggs, it may have been deflated too much. Good luck next time!
Thank you!
Noriko what kind of flour do we have to use because I only have all purpose flour
Melissa,
we use cake flour which has less glutinous than all purpose flour.
Hi. Can i add mango flavor to make this a japanese cotton mango cake?
Oh sorry…i type the wrong question earlier.
Can i add mango flavor so as to make the sponge cake flavored mango?
I tried to make this cake today but the measurements are wrong. My cake is super flat and hardly rised. Maybe I did something wrong but I’m almost sure that I followed al the steps and that the ingredients were right measured.
Dear Noriko-san & Yuko-san,
I tried this recipe today. It went well but the top of the cake is not as brown as in your video, I wonder why is that?
And do u think that if I use 2 egg yolk + 1 egg, will the texture be smoother and softer? Thanks.
Silvia,
was your oven preheated well? It needs to be reached the temperature before baking.
Dear Noriko-san,
I think you’re right maybe my oven was not preheated well. I’ll try again! Thank you ! 🙂
The egg whites are essential part of the recipe for loft. I would imagine that f you took out the egg whites of 2 eggs you would end up with a dense, rich cake without the lightness. I would not recommend.
Thank you for the recipe! It’s lovely. May I find out how much I should modify the bake time for every 30% increase in ingredients? (Based on increasing 30% for every inch diameter of cake pan.) Much obliged for any help. Thanks again!
peace2piece,
I would recommend to check every 5 minutes or so after normal baking time.
Hi Noriko!
Thanks for such a nice recipe. I tried it first time with the same amount of ingredients mentioned in your recipe and it turned out well. Very light and spongy. However, second time i increased the amount of ingredients proportionately for the bigger yeild, it didnt turned well. it was doughy. Did i miss something?
Mugdha,
when you make a bigger batch, sometimes you don’t mix well, deflate whipped eggs too much, and so on. I wouldn’t do more than double.
Please all I have readily available is all purpose flour…please can I use baking powder? Also this will be my 1st baking and I don’t have a stand mixer can I use a food processor/blender to make the eggs fluffy? Thanks
Hi Debby,
Sponge cake is a tricky recipe because the texture can easily change when you make substitutions in ingredients or use different equipment. It’s really best to follow this recipe closely.
Using all purpose flour can make the sponge cake tough or chewy – stick with cake flour. This sponge cake uses the air in the whipped eggs to give the cake lift so we don’t use baking powder. It’s probably best not to add that. For whipping the eggs, a blender or food processor may not work well either, though I haven’t tried that. If you don’t have a stand mixer, an electric hand mixer will work or you could try beating by hand with a whisk but that will take a long time to get the right texture. It will help to watch the video carefully to see how the eggs and batter need to come out.
Good luck!
Hi Noriko
The cake is baked in fun forced air?
Tank you
Cândida from Portugal
Hi Cândida,
If you mean a convection oven (which uses a fan to circulate air in the oven), no, we did not use a convection oven. You could use a convection oven, but the moving air can be tricky with some batters and can change the shape of cakes as they bake.
Thank you for taking time to demonstrate this recipe. I will be making it for Easter dessert using it in conjunction with your short bread recipe. I would add that this would be lovely with any fresh berries. Further filling it with a mixture of both mascarpone cream cheese and whipped cream would also be a variation.
Sorry, I meant strawberry shortcake (not bread) recipe!
I made this cake and it turned out beautifully. I used a loaf pan as I wanted a rectangular cake and increased the cooking time accordingly keeping a careful eye out. The cake was moist and I was able to work with it easily. Regrettably the strawberries are “meh” give the season. Rather than using syrup (too lazy!), I used apricot preserves that I heated so that they would spread easily and give my tasteless strawberries a lift.
I’ve made this type of cake before without such good results. Your exposition o the method and the recipe is one that should inspire confidence in you readers.
Thank you again!
Hi noriko and yuko!
Can i store this cake before decorating it? Any advice how to store it and for how long? Thank you so much for the recipe!
Jenn,
you can freeze a cake (very well wrapped) and it can be stored for a month or two.
Can I use this recipe for cup cakes? What changes on oven temperature and baking time?
I’m interested in making cupcakes too and would like advice. Did you try to make it, Betty?
Help if I am using a 12″ x 3″ round pan what percentage increase would I use
Can i put icing or frosting on top of the cake?
I tried this recipe for the first time and the cake rose while baking and the deflated towards the end. There was a thin layer of gummy batter on the bottom of the cake. What went wrong?
i bake it but it didn’t blow
why don’t we add baking powder?
It should rise if the egg whites are whipped well. Good luck next time!
thnx works great
Did you use salted or unsalted butter? Thank you
unsalted.
Easy recipe and fit nicely using my airfryer baking pan.
I baked twice, the second time i add 10g butter and 1 tea spoon of green tea powder, the texture is good.!
Can I use plain flour or self raising Flour?
I would like to understand why must whisk the egg mixture until lukewarm.
Thanks
Hello Noriko, Thankyou for the recipe. what measurements would i need to make a 1 kg sponge cake,
I don’t have a scale can you make with cup if not why ??
Could the cake be made the same in a 9″ cake pan vs a 7″ ?
It will ҝeep your hands noticeably nice and
smooth. This can lead to outbreaks ɑnd other skin ϲare problems.
A ѕkin treatmеnt item line which is created from natural
substаncеs is friendly tο the environment.
I love your cake recipe! I made it for my coworkers birthday and it was a major hit!! Thank you! But one question though, mine came out a bit dry when we ate it the next day, did I do something wrong?
I am using 6 3/4″ x 3 1/4″ round pan. How long do I have to bake it?
Hi,thank you so much for this recipe. I tried it and it is really yummy! I used all purpose flour instead of cake flour.
Can i use this recipe for a swiss roll sponge cake? The rectangular pan size is 11 inch by 11 inch by 1.2 inch.
What would be the exact measurement of each ingredients? Will the baking time be the same?
Also, if I were to make cupcakes with this recipe, is there a change in baking time as well? Hope to hear from you!
would i be able to use all purpose flour instead and would i be able to use a whisk
Hi, I would like to try this cake for my son’s birthday this weekend!! For 9 inch round cake pan, how many times of ingredients should I add? 1.5 times? Thanks.
Hi
Thank you for your recipe.
How can I avoid egg smelt and taste in my baked cake.
Also can I use brown suger.
Hi
I tried this recipe last evening and the cake has come out as never before.
Most of the times, I m a silent reader, but the cake was so spongy and tasty and was appreciated by so many people, that I couldn’t resist myself leaving this comment.
Thanks a lot for the recipe and for giving tips and tricks to make it perfect too..
😃
Having read this I believed it was really informative. I appreciate
you taking the time and energy to put this information together.
I once again find myself spending a lot of time both
reading and posting comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!
Why does my my cake not rise alot like yours?
Hi Noriko, can you please give the exact measurements for the sponge cake if I’m using an 8″ pan. Seemed that my cake did not rise as much as if using a 7″ pan. Thanks.
My cake came out a little soft and sticky. Do you know why? I followed every step. I used pastry flour and granulated cane sugar. Thank you!