Prize-Winning Gluten-Free Sponge Cake

"Taken from Jo Seagar's "It's Easier Than You Think" cookbook. Make sure the corn flour (corn starch) isn't wheaten. Also check the icing sugar is made from pure sugar, and doesn't contain cornstarch or gluten."
 
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photo by Andrew v. photo by Andrew v.
photo by Andrew v.
photo by Sarah F. photo by Sarah F.
photo by catherine3112 photo by catherine3112
photo by Anna D. photo by Anna D.
photo by Andrew v. photo by Andrew v.
Ready In:
33mins
Ingredients:
12
Yields:
1 cake
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ingredients

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directions

  • Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Coat 2 spring form pans with baking spray, then line with baking paper. The baking spray helps keep the paper from moving around.
  • In a microwave bowl or small saucepan, place the sugar and water. Bring to a boil. Stir every now and then to dissolve the sugar.
  • Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff. Slowly drizzle in the hot sugar mixture with the mixer running. Then beat really hard for 3 minutes. Mix in egg yolks and vanilla.
  • Sift together cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Carefully fold these into the egg mixture. Pour into prepared pans.
  • Bake 18-20 minutes. As soon as you remove them from the oven, drop the pans from knee height, square on the floor - seriously! This is a strange sponge making trick that 'shocks' the cake and stops it from deflating.
  • Then immediatly turn sponges out onto a wire rack or baking paper to cool upside down.
  • Beat cream and vanilla until soft peaks form. Warm jam for a few seconds in the microwave.
  • Place one sponge on the serving plate. Spread first with jam, then whipped cream.Top with strawberry slices. Then put second sponge on top. Dust with icing .

Questions & Replies

  1. Just made this sponge for the first time, and mine didn’t rise at all, and has also sunken in the middle. Any ideas what I did wrong?
     
  2. What size springform pan? Can you not use #8 or #9 cake pans?
     
  3. Printable version?
     
  4. Quick question as I managed to get confused - the link in the recipe under cornflour seems to imply I need to use cornflour, but some of the comments below seem to imply that I would need to use cornstarch, and I am wondering which of the two is it?
     
  5. The cake in the picture looks like a chocolate sponge to me but there seems to be no mention of cocoa powder. The recipe looks amazing but I need a GF chocolate sponge. Any ideas on how to convert as this is my first GF cake? Thanks
     
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Reviews

  1. I used the sponge recipe for my gluten free lamingtons and won first prize at the Royal Adelaide show :) <br/>the recipe is pretty easy to follow and works really well.
     
  2. Surprised myself with this one. It's so light. Bigger than expected as I couldn't find what size tins to use. When the mixture was ready I could see I needed larger tins. I used 2 nine inch spring form tins that I usually use for cheesecake.
     
  3. BEST Gluten free spoke cake recipe eveeeeeeerrr!!! Im just trying to make one with cocoa powder, any suggestions as to how much cocoa should I add?, thanks for this amaaaazing recipe!
     
  4. Very good! One of my cakes did fall a bit with the drop technique, but I think it was not quite done. Its still tasted just fine though.
     
  5. Love the recipe, and the idea behind it. I've made this twice - the first one, my cornflour was off so I had to throw it to the chickens, but the second, I edited the recipe a little and it turned out perfectly. A little more detail in the execution would make this perfect for more novice cooks - as it stands, it will work, but won't be 'amazing'. My edited version was light and fluffy. It was a little dry, but paired with strawberries & cream, it really wasn't an issue. As the photo shows, my initial attempt is on the left, the second attempt on the right. You can see that its lighter, and higher. The crumb is more even too.
     
    • Review photo by Sarah F.
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Tweaks

  1. The sponge can be sticky. jnk6543 has come up with a great solution: use a clean lint-free kitchen towel sprinkled with sugar. It works well for jelly rolls, so should do the trick with a sponge. I will be trying this next time.
     
  2. Only left the cream out
     
  3. Gluten free chocolate sponge cake. I used 1cup gluten free cornflour and half cup cocoa powder with no other adjustment to your gluten free sponge cake recipe. And it worked
     
    • Review photo by catherine3112

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