Pan di Spagna (Sponge Cake) Recipe
The name dates back to the Ottoman Empire, but it can vary by country; English speakers know it as sponge cake.
While it's commonly used for celebratory cakes, the same composition is also used for Ladyfingers, which are featured in desserts such as Tiramisu and Zuccotto. You probably know those dry shelf Ladyfingers, but I don't quite recommend them.
To understand the receipt, you'd have to read it by the end. You'll find a lot of receipts with various numbers of eggs, but here's where the failure lies, because there are no standard-weight eggs.
My round cake form has a 24 cm diameter and I used 7 eggs. (As a rule of thumb, the number of eggs goes with the form's diameter. 20 cm, 5 eggs; 22 cm, 6 eggs; 24 cm, 7 eggs; 26 cm, 8 eggs)
You begin by turning on the oven, 180°C.
Put the baking paper in the form.
Weigh the big bowl for the egg whites and the bowl for yolks.
Crack the eggs and separate whites and yolks.
Weigh the bowls, subtract the weights of the empty bowls, and add whites plus yolks.
I had 240g egg white and 116g yolks, for a total of 356g. Divide by 2 (178g in my case).
I weighed 178g of sugar and 178g of flour in two separate bowls.
Over the egg whites, add a pinch of salt. With a hand mixer, at its highest speed, mix until the texture breaks and it's already a crude foam. Add the sugar and continue mixing until the sugar dissolves. (If you turn the bowl upside down, it doesn't fall.)
With a silicone spatula, crush the yolks and put them over the whites' foam.
With the mixer at its lowest speed, mix for 30 seconds maximum, to incorporate the yolks.
Spread the flour on top, and use the spatula to incorporate it. With gentle moves, because you don't want to lose the air from the composition. In a maximum of three minutes, it should be ready. (You go in with the spatula between the mixture and the wall of the bowl, and lift when it is in the middle. Repeat all around until you can't see any flour.)
Now put it in the form, gently shake it to level it a little, and put it in the oven for 25 minutes.
After 25 minutes, do the toothpick test. (Poke it in the middle and if anything sticks to it, give it up to 5 more minutes.)
And that was it.
The bottom side is flat, if you need specific decorations, and the top side is in waves, if you need a different level of surface to play with. Of course, you can just eat it like it is, if you don't need anything fancy, and I recommend trying it simply, at least for the first time.
(The last two pictures are from last week.)
If you have any questions, or if you see any mistakes, let me know.
Bon appétit!
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