Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Whisk Wednesdays—Biscuit de Savoie (Sponge Cake)

Biscuit de Savoie (Sponge Cake)Savoy (pronounced Savwa) Cake, or Sponge Cake, dates back to the 18th century and is a simple cake using five pantry ingredients. The only odd ingredient is potato flour, which helps produce a more tender cake. Although similar to a pound cake, it's often baked in a mold that looks like a turban.

After combining the yolks, sugar and vanilla, fold in the flours. Then, after whipping the egg whites, fold them into the yolk mixture. Bake at 350°F until the center comes out clean. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve with crème anglaise or fresh whipped cream and berries. Très simple.



Recipe

Serves 6

Biscuit de Savoie (Sponge Cake) mise en place
7 eggs, separated
1¼ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup sifted all-purpose flour
¾ cup sifted potato flour

Confectioner's sugar for dusting
Unsalted butter, softened, for cake pans
All-purpose flour for cake pans

You can find the recipe for Biscuit de Savoie (Sponge Cake) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home or here. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Serve with crème anglaise and berries.

Tasting Notes
I was surprised by how much we liked this cake. It was perfectly sweet paired with berries and fresh whipped cream and seemed a cross between angel food and pound cake. Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best.

Next Class
• Spiced Shrimp Balls on page 38 in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $1,517.31 + $3.86 = $1,521.17
($0.64 per serving)

Butter used so far: 12 pounds, 31 tablespoons

93% complete Basic Cuisine

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::Whisk Wednesdays::
We're cooking our way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, we try to find a suitable substitution. Find out more here.

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  • 15 comments:

    katie said...

    chinatown makes some of the lightest and most springy spongecakes I have ever tasted.

    I have always wanted to know how.

    Alternatively, you can steam the cake batter, which equals moist goodness.

    lisa is cooking said...

    Beautiful! The crumb looks just perfectly moist and tender.

    Anonymous said...

    Ooh...this looks wonderful. I'll like the texture. YUM.

    Kayte said...

    Well, I was thinking of ditching this week, but I guess I will probably just be late instead as this looks good, simple, and a recipe I should probably have at my disposal. I am just desserted-out at the moment! Four of my blog alongs this week were desserts and a famaily can only just eat so many desserts, right? Might make this in a little 4" pan. Yours looks beautiful.

    Sunei said...

    I agree that sometimes the simple classics are the best. This looks great -- and it could be used so many different ways. I'm inspired! Thanks!

    Food Monster said...

    I've never been able to master spongecake but I'm not going to give up until I get it! You're recipe will be the next I try

    Lo said...

    Sponge cakes are some of my favorites. Potato flour, huh? Brilliant!

    Eliana said...

    This cake sounds delicious. I'm so intrigued by the potato flour that I'm going out to look for it. I also love how easy it came together for you.

    pigpigscorner said...

    The texture looks wonderful!

    Unknown said...

    This looks beautiful and delicious! I'm excited to have found this blog and add it to my sidebar.

    Anonymous said...

    I wish I'd seen this in time...I'd have made this for my granddaughter's birthday cake...strawberry shortcake! It would have been marvelous! Beautiful presentation Shari!

    Hilary said...

    It looks so... spongey! You're right, sometimes simple really is best.

    Jeannie said...

    I am still searching for a very fine texture cake...this looks like what I am looking for! Bookmarking this! Beautiful blog btw:D

    Colette (Coco) said...

    Is potato flour just potato starch?

    Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

    Hi Colette, I found this link that will help you with your question: http://www.foodallergyqueen.com/2009/04/potato-starch-vs-potato-flour.html Good luck!