Chocolate sponge cake. Genoese sponge cake: ingredients, recipe Genoese sponge cake princess cake

We will need the following products:
60 g wheat flour + a little more for dusting the pan
70 g sugar-free cocoa powder
80 g butter
6 fresh eggs
290 g sugar
a pinch of natural vanilla sugar
a pinch of crystalline citric acid
60 ml cherry kirsch vodka, cherry liqueur or cherry brandy
600 g frozen cherries
refined vegetable oil for greasing the mold

As you can see, no baking powder, no soda, and a minimum of flour.

In addition, we will still need to prepare the cream, for which we need:
200 g dark chocolate
1 liter of cream with a fat content of at least 30%
1 lemon
1 orange
4 tbsp. l. Sahara
1 tsp. vanilla sugar
and a packet of cream fixative

And for decoration- powdered sugar

First we must prepare everything. First, sprinkle the bottom of a springform pan with a diameter of 23 cm with water, then cover with a circle of parchment of the same diameter, grease the parchment with refined vegetable oil and lightly sprinkle with flour.

Secondly, put the cherries in a bowl and let them thaw. Then we will drain the cherries in a colander and dry them.

Third, melt the butter over low heat.

Fourthly, sift the flour and cocoa together through a sieve, preferably twice.

Fifth, pour the sugar into the bowl of a stationary blender and grind to the size of table salt. This is a very important point. Why? Because if you use regular coarse granulated sugar for the sponge cake, the Genoese sponge cake may not rise.

Now that we have prepared everything, we can proceed directly to cooking.
Break the eggs into a large heatproof bowl, add 190 g of sugar and vanilla sugar. Place the bowl over a saucepan of boiling water over low heat. Beat with a mixer at minimum speed until the mixture heats up to approximately 40-43°C. Then remove the bowl from the heat, increase the mixer speed to maximum and beat until the mixture has approximately tripled in volume.

Pour the egg mixture into the bowl of a food processor. Butter - the one we previously melted - warm up slightly. Pour 1/3 of the flour and cocoa mixture onto the surface of the egg mass and mix at low speed until smooth. Pour half the oil around the edge of the bowl and stir again. In the same mode, kneading each time, add another 1/3 of the flour and cocoa mixture, the remaining butter, the remaining flour and cocoa mixture.

Pour the dough into the mold and level the surface. Place in the oven preheated to 180°C. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the sponge cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. In addition, the finished biscuit should spring back slightly when pressed.

Remove the pan with the biscuit from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Leave for 10 minutes. Run a long, narrow knife around the inside of the sides of the mold. Remove the sides of the mold. Let the cake cool on a wire rack to room temperature.

While the biscuit is baking, prepare the syrup for soaking. Pour 80 ml of water into a small saucepan, add sugar and citric acid. Place over low heat and cook, stirring gently with a wooden spoon, until the water is hot but still not boiling. Stop stirring because otherwise the syrup will become sugary. Brush the sides of the pan with water using a brush. Bring to a boil, cover with a lid and continue cooking for exactly 2 minutes. Remove from heat, remove lid and let cool to room temperature.

Mix the syrup with kirsch or liqueur.

At 1/3 and 2/3 of the height of the sponge cake, make horizontal cuts about 1 cm deep. Then take a large knife, insert it into the upper horizontal cut and carefully cut off the top cake. Using a spatula, move it onto a rimless baking sheet, transfer to a large plate and set aside. Separate the second cake in the same way. Leave the last layer on the base of the pan.

Using a juicer, extract juice from lemon and orange.

Separate 170 g of chocolate - we need it for the cream; Set aside the rest of the chocolate to decorate the cake. So, we need to finely chop these same 170 g of chocolate, and then mix them in a bowl with 60 ml of hot water until smooth. Using a brush, brush the sponge circle left on the base of the mold with a mixture of syrup and kirsch.

Beat the cream with the remaining 100 g of sugar, vanilla sugar and cream fixative with a mixer until soft peaks form.
The cream fixer is generally powdered sugar plus a little regular starch, no high chemicals. So if you can’t buy such a fixative, just take a pinch or two of regular potato starch, dilute it in a tablespoon of water and add it to the cream.

Separate about 80ml of whipped cream and add to the chocolate mixture. Mix with a spatula. Separate about 125ml more cream, add again to the chocolate mixture and stir.

Using the same spatula, very quickly spread the chocolate cream onto the soaked cake layer.

Brush the second round of sponge cake on one side with the mixture of syrup and kirsch. Carefully place the soaked side on the base of the cake, greased with chocolate cream. Press lightly onto the surface of the cake with your fingertips.

Brush the surface of the cake with a mixture of syrup and kirsch. And now it’s time for our cherries. We put it in a colander, set aside a few pieces to decorate the cake, and place all the other berries like this, in a layer of one berry.

Add lemon and orange juice in a thin stream to the remaining cream, while mixing with an immersion blender at low speed. Separate 500 ml of the resulting mixture of cream and citrus juice, place on top of the cherries.

Brush the last round of sponge cake with the syrup and kirsch mixture. Place the soaked side on the cherries with cream. Lightly press the cake down to make it even.

Place the cake, remaining cream and cherries in the refrigerator. Cool for 30 minutes.

Remove the cake from the refrigerator.

Grease the sides and top of the cake with whipped cream.

Place the remaining cream in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and decorate the cake with a border.

Dry the remaining cherries with a napkin, arrange them beautifully along the edge of the top of the cake, and lightly sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Grate the remaining chocolate on a coarse grater and carefully place it in a mound in the center.

The prepared cake must be placed in the refrigerator and allowed to brew for 24 hours.

step by step recipe with photos

The name "biscuit" is often used in a broad sense to refer to soft, rich baked goods used as a base for cakes and pastries. In a strict sense, a sponge cake is a cake made from only three components: eggs, sugar and flour. And the Genoese biscuit is its close relative. Softened butter and nut flour are added to the dough for Genoese sponge cake, due to which the baked goods acquire a silky texture and an interesting spicy taste. The recipe we offer today is actually an intermediate option between regular and Genoese sponge cake. There are no nuts ground into flour, and the whites are not whipped separately from the yolks. This way it is prepared a little easier, but it turns out fluffy, very tender and aromatic.

Ingredients

  • granulated sugar – 150 g
  • flour – 150 g
  • eggs – 6 pcs.
  • butter – 50 g

Preparation

1. Take clean, dry, prepared dishes. It is better to take a deep plate or bowl. Beat 6 eggs into it.

2. Gradually add sugar to the egg mixture, so that the sugar is distributed throughout the plate.

3. Beat the finished mixture in a mixer, gradually increasing the speed to maximum. It is necessary to beat until the mixture acquires a white color and a thick consistency.

4. Pour flour little by little into the eggs and sugar and stir constantly. We also very carefully add melted butter into the dough.

5. The whipped dough should have a consistency similar to thick sour cream. There should be no lumps of flour or undissolved butter in it.

6. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and pour out the finished dough.

7. Place our biscuit in the oven and bake at a temperature of 180-200 0C for an average of 15-20 minutes. The finished biscuit should have a golden crust.

Note to the hostess

1. Attentive attention to the initial data of the product list is the key to success. It is strictly prohibited to increase the dose of butter or sugar without permission. Excessive amounts of the above ingredients, beyond the scope of the recipe, threaten the dough to become heavy. This, in turn, will lead to several sad consequences: the crust will quickly harden and burn, the flesh will not be porous and fluffy, it will bake unevenly and poorly. It is necessary to accurately measure two important components that affect the result.

2. The paper may stick to the base of the genoa cake. It should be removed after the baked goods have cooled completely, carefully prying off the baking parchment with a wide flat spatula. It is more convenient to carry out this manipulation, so as not to break the cake, with two people: one carefully lifts the product, the other separates and removes the backing.

3. Like all types of biscuits, Genoese can be soaked in syrup or sweetish alcohol. Suitable options are Italian sambuca, French pastis, Polish snot. The first two drinks have a pleasant anise aroma, and the third is fruity, most often pear or plum. The cut cakes are moistened with a spray bottle, being careful not to overdo it. Guideline: for a 300-gram confectionery product you will need no more than 30 ml of impregnating liquid.

Every pastry chef is looking for a recipe for a delicious sponge cake, ideal in structure and external qualities, without thinking about the cooking process. But in the end, this is the secret of success in working with biscuit dough. That is why the Genoese sponge cake was created with the most delicate taste and with a complete absence of artificial leavening agents to give the cake an airy structure. It takes about an hour to prepare, but is so good that it is delicious just with a cup of tea, without additives in the form of cream, fondant or glaze.

Why was the biscuit called that?

This pastry has two more interesting names: Genoise sponge cake and Spanish bread, and this miracle recipe was invented by Jobatta Cabon, a Genoese, when he was at the court of the Italian marquis, who arrived in Spain on a visit. was stunned by the bread from the Marquis’s table: airy, soft and incredibly tasty, it instantly gained popularity and began to be called “Genoise”, i.e. “Genoese dough”. But since upon arrival home, in Genoa, it was somehow inappropriate to call the pie Genoese dough, the sponge cake was nicknamed “Spanish bread,” thus perpetuating Cabona’s feat.

This type of dough turned out to be so finicky that initially no one could repeat the recipe: either the mass was not whipped properly, or in the oven it simply refused to rise, and if this succeeded, then when serving, the baked goods could not be cut: it crumbled or was crushed with a knife made of -for a very soft structure.

Cooking feature

Only over time was the secret of preparing the perfect Genoise sponge cake revealed: it turned out that it can be prepared only by adhering to certain rules, strict recipes and oven temperature conditions. The Genoese recipe, but the preparation itself includes several steps:

Preparation of the workplace and products;

Heating the egg mass;

Beating the mass;

Adding flour;

Adding butter to the dough;

Baking and resting before use.

At first it may seem that preparing Genoese sponge cake is too complicated for an inexperienced pastry chef, but this is only at first sight. If you know the important subtleties of the process, strictly adhere to the rules and observe the proportions of the products, then everything will definitely work out.

At the very beginning, you need to organize your workspace: turn on the oven to preheat (set the temperature to 180 degrees), put water in a small saucepan to boil for a steam bath, and be sure to choose a bowl for whipping so that it fits comfortably in this saucepan without touching the bottom of the boiling water. It is important that the mixing bowl can withstand heat, but not be made of aluminum, otherwise the egg whites will darken and not beat properly. Do not forget to measure the products in grams, placing them in bowls.

You should also prepare the baking pan in advance by lining the bottom with parchment paper, lightly greased. It is very convenient to use a springform pan - getting ready-made Genoese sponge cake will be as easy as shelling pears.

Required Ingredients

The recipe for Genoese sponge cake requires the presence of the following products in the following quantities:

  • Eggs - six pieces.
  • Powdered sugar - 180 grams.
  • Butter - 80 grams.
  • Flour - 130 grams, be sure to sift two or three times.

Some people add vanillin to the flour at the tip of a knife to flavor the dough - this is optional, but it gives the Genoese sponge cake a delicate aroma without affecting the quality of the dough in any way.

Step one: beat the fluffy mass

Melt the butter until liquid, but do not boil. Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, add powdered sugar and heat in a boiling water bath. It is imperative to stir the sweet mass without interruption until it warms up to forty degrees. How to find out if you don't have a thermometer? Dip your little finger into the mixture - it will be slightly warm, but not hot. This means that the desired temperature has been reached and you can remove the pan from the heat. This is one of the important points, because if you overheat, the egg whites will curl into flakes, and if the heat is not enough, the sponge cake will not work well.

As soon as the egg mass is removed from the stove, we immediately begin to beat it with a mixer, you can even start even earlier - on the stove, if convenient. It is advisable to use the maximum speed of the mixer so that the eggs increase in volume by 2-3 times as fast as possible, because the oven has already warmed up and is waiting. On average, this takes about eight minutes, and to make sure that the mass is sufficiently whipped, we draw a groove along it with our finger: if it practically does not connect, the edges remain in place - the mass is ready for further manipulation.

Step two: kneading the dough

We visually divide the entire amount of flour and butter into three parts: pour one third of the flour into the whipped mixture, mix, then carefully pour the third part of the butter into the dough, trying to pour not into the middle, but along the edges, as if over a dish. Mix again.

Attention! You need to stir with a spoon only with bottom-up movements, and not in a circular motion, as people usually do in such cases. This is done so that the whipped mass does not settle prematurely and remains fluffy, but it is better not to stir for too long, so as not to lose the fluffiness again.

Next, we do the same with the rest of the flour and butter, that is, there will be two more stages of introducing each product. This is another secret of the recipe for a delicious Genoese sponge cake. In this way, the maximum fluffiness of the mass is achieved and maintained, which in the oven will turn into magnificent pastries.

Baking process

How to bake a fluffy sponge cake without losing its airiness? Pour the finished dough into the mold, put it in a hot oven and wait for about half an hour, although sometimes it takes forty minutes. Naturally, we do not open the oven ahead of time, otherwise the dough will settle and all the work will go to waste. After 30 minutes, you can check the readiness by piercing the sponge cake with a wooden toothpick - if it’s dry, then it’s time to turn off the oven, but leave the pan in it with the doors open for 15 minutes and only then take the Genoese sponge cake out of the oven.

The cake should not be taken out of the mold immediately; at least half an hour should pass, and only then can you carefully remove the finished product, which still needs to cure and ripen. Just let the biscuit sit at room temperature for 6-10 hours, covering it with a clean towel.

One of the keys to success is the correct organization of the process, as well as careful study of the recipe.
You should not prepare this dough for the first time on the eve of important events (some experience is needed).
Since everything needs to be done quickly, it makes sense to prepare all products and equipment in advance.
Grind the sugar in a blender until it becomes finer.
Melt the butter and let cool to room temperature.
Line a springform baking pan (made of high-quality steel) with parchment paper. The sides of the mold remain free (there is no need to grease them or cover them with paper).

Sift flour and cocoa 2-3 times.
It turns out to be a nice even mixture.

Now let's move on to the main process.
Place a saucepan of water on the fire and bring it to a boil.
Beat all the eggs into a large bowl (breaking them one at a time into a separate container to avoid any spoiled eggs getting into the dough).

Place a bowl of eggs on top of a pan of boiling water, immediately (!!!) add fine sugar, constantly (!!!) stirring, bring the mixture to 35-40 degrees. The mass should be warm, never hot.
I admit, I checked the temperature with my hand. The eggs heat up in less than a minute in my glass bowl, stirring constantly with a whisk.
Now remove from heat and immediately begin to beat the eggs with a mixer. At the same time, turn on the oven to 180 degrees.
The egg mass should increase by 2-3 times; with a powerful mixer this will take about 8 minutes.
Beating is finished when a non-sinking groove remains on the surface.

Now add flour with cocoa and butter.
Sift 1/3 of the flour and cocoa mixture into the egg mixture. Mix with a whisk or spoon in several movements (must be movements from bottom to top, not circular).
Now pour half of the cooled butter along the edges of the dough.
Mix again from top to bottom.
Another 1/3 of the flour mixture.
Mix.
And again oil.
Stirred.
The last third of the flour is with cocoa.
Mix.
Don't forget about top to bottom movements.
As soon as the mass becomes uniform in color, it needs to be poured into a mold prepared in advance and sent immediately to a preheated oven (I placed it in the center).
You don’t have to remember about the biscuit for 30-35 minutes.
You shouldn’t look in so that the dough doesn’t fall off.
Readiness is determined by using a wooden stick, and the finished dough should spring back when pressed slightly.
Then take out the biscuit and use a sharp knife to run along the edge and sides.

Carefully remove and let cool on a wire rack.
If you start cutting it now, it will crumble and fall apart in large pieces.
You need to let the biscuit stand for 8-12 hours.
Then it can be carefully cut.
A mold with a diameter of 24 cm produces a sponge cake about 4 cm high.
Decorate the cooled biscuit to your taste.

Cooking time: 1 hour

Servings: 2 biscuits with a diameter of 18 cm or 1 biscuit with a diameter of 23 cm

How to cook Genoese sponge cake, step-by-step recipe with photos:

Step 1. Degrease the saucepan using alcohol or lemon juice, thoroughly wipe the container and mixer beaters.

Pour the eggs into a saucepan and add sugar to them.

Carefully prepared little details in the preparation of a biscuit are the key to the success of its baking, which means you should not neglect degreasing.

Step 2. In a water bath, heat the eggs to 35-40 degrees, constantly stirring them with a whisk or non-metallic spatula (metal makes the whites darken), then remove the saucepan from the water bath and beat the Genoese sponge cake until thick foam (5-7 minutes) using mixer.

Step 3. Add the sifted flour and cocoa to the egg mixture, after each serving (about 30 grams), carefully but gently knead the dough with a spatula from bottom to top so that the air bubbles contained in the egg white after beating do not burst.

Step 4. Bake the biscuit in an oven preheated to 170 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Do not open the oven for the first 20 minutes, otherwise the genoa cake will fall.

If you can turn off the convection setting on your oven, do so. This way the biscuit “cap” will not crack and it will turn out even.

Step 5. Before cutting the biscuit, let it rest at least overnight in the refrigerator in cling film. This way the moisture will be distributed throughout the cake, and it will not break when slicing.

I baked 2 cakes with a diameter of 18 cm from this amount of dough and what a beauty it turned out to be!

Bon appetit!