A cake stand serving a sponge cake filled with lemon curd and whipped cream

Sponge cake

By Sophie Godwin
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(37 ratings)
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Prep: 15 mins Cook: 30 mins

Easy

Serves 8 - 10

Choose your favourite filling for this easy sponge cake – we've opted for lemon curd and whipped cream, but you could have jam. Perfect for afternoon tea

Nutrition and extra info

  • Freezable
  • Vegetarian

Nutrition: Per serving

  • kcal376
  • fat21g
  • saturates12g
  • carbs40g
  • sugars23g
  • fibre1g
  • protein6g
  • salt0.7g
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Ingredients

  • 225g softened butter
    Butter

    Butter

    butt-err

    Butter is a dairy product made from separating whole milk or cream into fat and…

  • 225g golden caster sugar
  • 4 large eggs
    Eggs

    Egg

    egg

    The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition packed with protein and a…

  • ½ lemon, zested
    Lemon

    Lemon

    le-mon

    Oval in shape with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile…

  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 225g self-raising flour
  • splash of milk

    Milk

    mill-k

    One of the most widely used ingredients, milk is often referred to as a 'complete' food…

  • Optional fillings of lemon curd, jam, lightly whipped cream
  • icing sugar for dusting

Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4, butter and line the base of two 20cm spring-form cake tins with baking parchment.

  2. Using an electric whisk beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Crack the eggs in one at a time and whisk well, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the lemon zest, vanilla, flour, milk and a pinch of salt. Whisk until just combined then divide the mixture between the two tins.

  3. Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. After 10 mins remove the cakes from their tins and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Fill how you like. My personal favourite is a good dollop of lemon curd and some fresh cream, then dust the top with icing sugar. Will keep for 3 days.

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Comments, questions and tips

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Katarina Guerrero's picture
Katarina Guerrero
19th Jan, 2020
5.05
It was amazing. The best cake I've ever made. My family all love it. Thanks for the recipe
Madethisaccount...
23rd Dec, 2019
1.05
This recipe was God awful and left me with two thin rubbery disks of buttery garbage. Upon doing further research I have concluded that a sponge recipe should contain little to no fat or butter. A cup of butter in this recipe completely destroyed it. Thanks
Jaivardhan
1st Nov, 2019
5.05
I tried it out it was really soft and tastes amazing with lemon curd.
Kittyyyyy
31st May, 2019
5.05
this recipe is amazing! the result is delicious and probably the best thing i’ve made by far. i added strawberries and whipped cream in the middle which made it fresh and fluffy. so simple but so good thank you
Amber.wright's picture
Amber.wright
11th Apr, 2019
So happy with this recipe, the result was amazing!
Alex.J.Richardson
1st Dec, 2018
This was an amazing result, It was brilliant and very tasty, but remember to use an electric whisk, and I recommend Stork Cakes Butter, it worked the best.
Peter Daly's picture
Peter Daly
2nd Nov, 2018
I was shocked yesterday to see that in my grandsons Mcflurry there were 14 teaspoons of sugar! Utterly unbelievable! And today my son said well you should see how much there is in a cake recipe. So just as an example I looked at this this recipe.225 g of sugar.4g =1 tsp sugar.So there's more than 50 tsp of sugar in this cake. I really can't understand why there's an obesity epidemic!
hannahspruijt
24th Sep, 2019
I usually cut down the sugar content by at least a third, but even then it works out about 3 or 4 tsp sugar per slice. We are teaching our children that it is just something to have not very often, rather than a regular thing. I find crumbles and things like that can be made with no sugar or just a tsp of honey in with the fruit (strawbs and eating apples etc) and they're still yummy.
nbeddoe
31st Oct, 2018
My daughter and I just made a five-layer version of this as first go at a rainbow cake. It's perfect. We used a fifth less sugar and it's stil sweet enough.
Cho_chocolate
11th Jun, 2018
5.05
Loved this sponge cake! So moist and airy, and the lemon gives it a bit of pazzaz. I reduced the sugar and it was still delicious!

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Soukaina Lgamawi's picture
Soukaina Lgamawi
28th Oct, 2018
Can you use one cake tin instead of two?
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
2nd Nov, 2018
We'd recommend using two tins for this recipe to ensure the cakes cook properly.
nbeddoe
31st Oct, 2018
I don't know if you could. When we made the layer cake one layer was much thicker than the others and it was beginning to brown on the outside when it was still wet in the middle.
jennysharpe
12th Sep, 2018
Can this cake be iced to make it a bit more special for a birthday?
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