Chocolate
Sponge Cake Recipe

Traditional chocolate sponge cake is made with all-purpose flour, cocoa, salt, sugar, baking powder, eggs, vanilla essence and oil. But the Cadbury chocolate sponge cake with no maida and no eggs uses breadcrumbs, sooji, milk and Cadbury cocoa powder along with other ingredients. Even when made with sooji, this recipe yields the softest and fluffiest sponge cakes.

Sponge cake, as the name says, has an unmatched spongy fluffiness which makes it stand out from the other cakes. While the prime ingredients include egg, sugar, and flour, the cake batter is leavened by beaten egg whites and egg yolk mixture instead of butter or oil which brings a cloud-like consistency. Other cakes are leavened with butter and baking powder.

Since sponge cake uses less amount of butter and oil, it's hard to keep them moist while baking. Therefore to make your chocolate sponge cake moist, add vegetable oil to the batter which also gives it a glossy finish. Other things you can do is switch milk with buttermilk, bake it in a sheet pan instead of the traditional cake pan and avoid overbaking. For added lustre after baking, use syrup or glaze.

Normally, chocolate sponge cake takes about 20 to 25 minutes at 350°F or 175°C to bake in the oven. However, the exact time can vary based on your oven’s calibration, size, and type of baking pan you’re using. Baking time also varies depending on the recipe you're following. It is always a good practice to start checking the doneness at around 20 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the centre of the cake, and if it comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, the cake is ready. Still don't check frequently as opening the oven door might affect the texture.

In order to get a moist texture without sacrificing the fluffiness, oil is added to the sponge cake mixture. Since the addition of cocoa powder can soak up the moisture, vegetable oil is added to counteract the effect and result in glossy, spongy and moist sponge cake. The addition of oil also helps keep the cake moist even after 2 days of keeping it in the fridge.