Japanese Coffee Sponge Cake Recipes

JAPANESE SPONGE CAKE

Steps:

• Measure the plain flour and sieve a least once.
• Add the flour to the melted butter after the butter is cooled. Mixed well.
• Add the milk. Mix well.
• Lightly beat the egg yolks and add to the flour-butter-milk mixture. Mix it thoroughly.
• Beat the egg whites with a hand-held mixer at low speed.
• Add the sugar into the egg white after about fifteen seconds of beating.
• Continue beating the egg whites until it can form a stiff peak.
• Add a quarter of the meringue to the batter to dilute the batter so that it is easier to mix, then add the diluted batter back to the bulk of the meringue. Fold the meringue into the batter slowly until it is almost homogenous.
• Line the cake pan with a large piece of baking paper. Brush the paper with some melted butter.
• Pour the cake mix into the pan.
• Gently tap the cake pan a few times to break the large bubbles.
• Place the cake on the lowest rack, with the hot water bath. Bake at 160 °C/320°F for sixty minutes.

CHOCOLATE CHIFFON CAKE

Steps:

• Gather all the ingredients and preheat the oven to 340ºF (170ºC). For a convection oven, reduce cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). You will also need an 8" (20 cm) chiffon cake pan. If you have a different size pan, please read this post to adjust the ingredients.
• In a bowl, combine cake flour (80 g, ⅔ cup), baking powder (5 g, 1 ¼ tsp), and Dutch-processed cocoa powder (40 g, ½ cup) and mix well with a fork/whisk.
• Separate 5 large eggs to yolks and whites. Keep the egg whites in a stand mixer bowl and egg yolks in a large mixing bowl.
• Refrigerate (or freeze) the bowl with egg whites for 15 minutes so both bowls and egg whites are cold (it's okay if the egg whites are partially frozen). In Japan, we chill the egg whites to make smooth, fine-textured meringue and do not use cream of tartar.
• Beat the egg yolks.
• Add granulated sugar (65 g, ⅓ cup). Whisk vigorously until it's a creamy pale yellow color.
• Add the oil (60 ml, ¼ cup) and beat to combine with the whisk.
• Add the milk (90 ml, ⅓ cup +1 ½ Tbsp) and vanilla (5 ml, 1 tsp) and combine well.
• Using a fine-mesh sieve, sift half of the dry ingredients. Whisk well to combine.
• Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix well until just combined and no lumps (do not overmix).
• Take out the bowl of egg whites and set your stand mixer with a whisk attachment.
• Start whipping the egg whites on medium speed (level 5) until the egg whites are bubbly, opaque, and foamy.
• Gradually add granulated sugar (65 g, ⅓ cup) in small increments while whisking. Once you add all the sugar, change to a higher speed (level 8) and beat vigorously until stiff peaks form.
• To check on stiff peaks, pull up your whisk and see if the egg whites go straight up and just the tip is soft enough that it folds over, like taking a bow. This is a stiff peak stage. By this time, the meringue should have a glossy texture. TIP: I usually pause beating when the egg whites are getting close to the stiff peak stage. Take out the whisk attachment from the mixer and hand-mix the egg whites till homogenous in texture. Typically, the egg whites near the edge of the bowl are looser (not close to stiff peaks) compared to the center of the bowl. Then put the whisk back and continue beating till stiff peaks.
• Using a whisk, take ¼ of the meringue from the bowl and add to the batter. Whisk well to combine until homogenous.
• Take a third (⅓) of the meringue left in the bowl and this time, gently fold in without deflating the air bubbles in the meringue and batter.
• Take another third and repeat the process.
• Take the final third and gently fold in. Make sure to thoroughly mix without deflating the air bubbles.
• The consistency should look like this when you lift the whisk. Switch to the spatula and fold in one last time, scraping from the side and bottom of the bowl, making sure there is no chocolate accumulation.
• From 6-8 inch high, pour the batter into the ungreased 20-cm (8-inch) chiffon cake pan at the same location to prevent more bubbles from forming. Gently tap the cake pan on the working surface to release the air pockets in the batter.
• Run a wooden skewer through the batter to release air pockets. Put the cake pan in the middle rack of the oven and bake at 340ºF (170ºC) for 35-40 minutes (40 minutes for my oven).
• When it's done baking, insert the wooden skewer in the middle of the cake to see if it comes out clean (If wet, bake longer) and the top of the cake springs back when gently pressed. If the top gets burn too quickly (maybe heat source is too close), cover the top loosely with aluminum foil.
• Remove the cake pan from the oven and gently drop the pan onto the working surface to shock the cake so it stops shrinking.
• Prepare a bottle with a long neck and invert the cake pan to let cool completely in its cake pan so that it stretches downward.
• Once the cake is completely cool, run offset spatulas around both inner and outer edges of the cake (I use a large/long spatula for outside and bottom and a small spatula for around the inner tube). I used to use a knife, but the tip of the knife tends to poke the cake while moving around, so I stopped using it.
• Gently remove the cake from the pan and run the offset spatula on the bottom of the cake.
• Invert the cake onto a plate or cake stand. Chiffon cake is served "upside-down", the flat bottom side being on top.

COFFEE SPONGE CAKE

Steps:

• Butter side and bottom of a 9" round pan; line bottom with parchment paper.
• Sift flour, baking powder and salt together; set aside.
• Heat milk in a small saucepan over low heat until 150°F (pretty hot, but don't let milk boil); remove from heat.
• While milk is heating, beat eggs in a large bowl until yolks and whites are well-combined.
• Add sugar, then beat on high speed for about 4 mins until mixture is light, fluffy and thickened.
• Turn to low speed and beat in vanilla and dissolved coffee.
• Add in flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated.
• Slowly add in hot milk, continue mixing (low speed) until mixture is smooth (batter will be thin).
• Turn the batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in the middle rack of a preheated oven at 350°F for 25 mins until the top feels firm when touched lightly, and a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it.
• Cool cake for 5 mins in the pan.
• Loosen the side of the cake from the pan using a small knife, and invert the cake onto a wire rack.
• Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake and replace it loosely on the cake.
• Let the cake cool thoroughly, top side down.
• To make the syrup: Dissolve coffee granules and sugar in warm water (mix in a small bowl), then stir in the Kahlua/brandy.
• Assembly: Cut the sponge cake into 2 layers with a long serrated knife; set bottom layer onto a cake board/lazy susan.
• Brush top of 1st layer generously with syrup, and fill with the desired filling/frosting.
• Brush the 2nd layer of cake with syrup and set it on top of the filling, syrup side down.
• Brush the top of the cake with remaining syrup and frost the top and side as desired.