Chocolate Genoise Sponge Cake
Our Chocolate Genoise Sponge Cake is as light and airy as our Vanilla Genoise Sponge Cake but with the rich chocolate flavour that chocolate lovers crave.
Start practicing your Genoise Sponge Cake baking skills. This cake is part of our Basic Building Blocks series. Once you perfect it, it will be the cake base for many more cakes.
Chocolate Genoise Sponge Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 8 large eggs
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter melted and cooled
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
- Sift the flour and cocoa powder together. Set aside.
- Place the eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
- Beat on high speed for 10-12 minutes.
- Turn off mixer. Sprinkle half of the flour/cocoa powder mix over top.
- Gently fold in by hand. Repeat with remaining flour/cocoa powder mix.
- Add the butter and fold in by hand.
- Pour cake batter intothe prepared pan.
- Bake for 15 -20minutes.
- Cool the sponge cakein the pan before unmolding it to a wire rack.
What is a Genoise cake?
This type of cake relies on eggs, sugar, and the incorporation of air to keep it light and fluffy. You’ll note in the recipe that it does not rely on a leavening agent to help it rise.
Chiffon cakes, angel food cakes, and some flourless cakes are also foam cakes.
Check out our Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe.
What is the secret of a good Genoise sponge cake?
Work with warm ingredients. Warm eggs whip up into a higher volume. That’s what you want in a Genoise sponge cake!
If you forget to take the eggs out of the refrigerator, warm them up in a bowl of lukewarm water for several minutes.
Be sure to whip the eggs to the ribbon stage. This will take a good 10-12 minutes, so give it the full amount of whipping time. When it’s time to incorporate the flour/cocoa powder mixture and butter, do it gently by hand.
What is the ribbon stage?
The ribbon stage is when eggs, eggs, and sugar are beaten to a thick emulsion. When the whisk attachment is pulled across the properly beaten mixture, it will be thick enough to leave a trail that resembles a ribbon.
Visual clues that show you have reached the ribbon stage include:
- The mixture will turn from yellow to pale yellow or white.
- The mixture will thicken.
- The mixture will increase in volume.