From a Sponge Cake to a Jellyroll Is Easy

Sponge cakes are a type of foam cake, as are angel and chiffon. Each of these cakes is leavened by incorporating air into beaten eggs and contains little or no shortening. What makes sponge cakes distinctive from the others in this category is that they use both an egg yolk and an egg white foam.

When sponge cakes are used for jellyrolls, such as in the Coconut Cream Jellyroll featured in today’s Page 1 story, the batter is baked into a thin, even layer.

Pans used for baking these cakes come in a variety of sizes, but all have sides about one-inch high. Prepare the pan for baking by lightly greasing and dusting with flour, then lining the bottom with parchment or wax paper.

Key Step

A key step in making the batter is beating the egg yolk mixture until it’s very thick. One source we checked said it should reach the ribbon stage, so the mixture falls slowly from the beaters and leaves a ribbonlike trail that remains on top of the batter in the bowl for a few seconds before sinking.

The flour next is gently folded into the egg yolk foam, and the mixture is set aside while the egg whites are beaten stiff with cream of tartar and more sugar.

The last step is to gently fold the two foams together, just until there are no longer any visible streaks of either foam.

Spread the batter (Step 1) evenly onto the prepared pan. Because the layer is thin, it takes only a short time to bake the cake. It’s properly baked if the top springs back when gently pressed with a finger.

Work Quickly

Cool the cake in the pan about five minutes, then turn out onto a kitchen towel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Working quickly, remove the parchment or wax paper (Step 2) from the bottom of the cake and trim the crust from all edges (Step 3).

Regardless of the filling used, the cake needs to be rolled while still warm to prevent it from cracking. This may be done from either direction, depending on the size of spiral and length desired.

If a jelly filling is added, it should be spread quickly in a thin layer to within one inch of the edges before the cake is rolled. When a cream filling is used, the cake is rolled up with the towel acting as a temporary filling (Step 4) and cooled completely.

Later the cake is gently unrolled, spread with the desired cream filling (Step 5) to within one inch of the edges and carefully rerolled. After trimming the ends, place seam side down on a platter and finish as desired or as the recipe directs.

BASIC SPONGE CAKE

ROLL

4 eggs, separated

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 cup cake flour, sifted

Dash salt

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Beat egg yolks lightly in large bowl. Add 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until mixture is thick and falls slowly from beaters leaving ribbonlike trail. Beat in vanilla, then gently fold in flour, 1/3 cup at time.

With clean beaters, beat egg whites until foamy in another large bowl. Add salt and cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into egg yolk mixture just until no streaks remain.

Spread batter evenly in 15x11-inch jellyroll pan that has been greased, floured and lined with parchment or wax paper. Bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes, until top springs back when gently pressed with finger. Cool in pan 5 minutes.

Turn cake out onto kitchen towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Remove paper from bottom of cake. Trim crust on all sides. Carefully roll up cake in towel and cool completely on wire rack. Makes 1 cake.

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