Tang 燙: scald. Mian 面: flour.
This is my absolute favourite sponge cake to eat. Perfect in summer with whipped cream and topped with seasonal fruits. Made using the tang mian method, it has a moist, light cottony texture. The tang mian (cooked dough) method coats the flour with fat before adding anything else. By coating the flour with fats, it inhibits the formation of gluten. This means a beautifully fluffy bite that melts in your mouth.
The science:
Gluten won’t start to form until the flour comes in contact with liquid (like milk and egg whites). Coating the flour with butter or oil creates a barrier which slows down the formation of gluten. This is fantastic news because long strands of gluten in cakes mean tough and dense mouthfuls of cake. No thankful, this induces flashbacks of my early baking days when watching the beaters beat the crap out of the cake batter seemed therapeutic.
When mixing, you can see that the dough becomes gelatinised and shiny. Gelatinised dough is also able to absorb much more liquid, resulting in a much more moist cake than any traditional chiffon cake.
The recipe
- Line the bottom of your cake pan with baking paper.
- Heat butter in a small saucepan using low-med heat, stirring gently until it just begins to bubble. Remove from heat.
3. Add cake flour to butter. Stir quickly to form a paste. Transfer into a large mixing bowl.
4. Add milk and mix well.
5. Add vanilla bean paste and salt.
6. Whisk in egg yolks by hand one at a time, stirring well after each addition to form a shiny and smooth batter. The gelatinised dough will look stretchy and glossy, webbed against the whisk.
7. Place egg whites in a clean mixing bowl. Beat egg whites until frothy.
8. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat until foamy.
9. Slowly add sugar in batches and continue beating until firm peaks are formed. Take care not to overwhip or it will be hard to fold in the next step. If you overwhip, egg whites look grainy and dull. Adding the sugar with the egg whites help to stabilise the egg whites, so here you don’t have to worry as much!
10. Add one third of the egg white to the yolk batter and mix well. Using a spatula, fold the remaining egg white in two batches. Do so gently and thoroughly so no streaks of egg white remain.
11. Pour the batter into the cake pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Tap pan against the tabletop to get rid of any large air bubbles.
12. Put the cake pan into the hot water bath, ensuring that the water height reaches at least a third of the cake pan.
13. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes then reduce temperature to 140ºC and bake for another 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of cake comes out clean.
14. Remove from oven and tap the pan against the tabletop a few times to prevent shrinkage. Transfer to cool on a wire rack pan for 10min before unmoulding.
15. To decorate, add whipped cream with your desired seasonal fruits. I love a good strawberry sponge but when mangoes are in season, they are irresistible!
Cottony Soft Sponge Cake (tang mian method)
Ingredients
- 70 g unsalted butter
- 1 pinch salt
- 70 g whole milk
- 104 g cake flour
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)
- 100 g castor sugar
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
Instructions
- Line the bottom of your cake pan with baking paper.
- Heat butter in a small saucepan using low-med heat, stirring gently until it just begins to bubble. Remove from heat.
- Add cake flour to butter. Stir quickly to form a paste. Transfer into a large mixing bowl.
- Add milk and mix well.
- Add vanilla bean paste and salt.
- Whisk in egg yolks by hand one at a time, stirring well after each addition to form a shiny and smooth batter. The gelatinised dough will look stretchy and glossy, webbed against the whisk.
- Place egg whites in a clean mixing bowl. Beat egg whites until frothy.
- Add cream of tartar and continue to beat until foamy. Slowly add sugar in batches and continue beating until firm peaks are formed. Take care not to overwhip or it will be hard to fold in the next step. *Note
- Preheat oven to 150ºC and prepare your hot water bath.
- Add one third of the egg white to the yolk batter and mix well. Using a spatula, fold the remaining egg white in two batches. Do so gently and thoroughly so no streaks of egg white remain.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Tap pan against the tabletop to get rid of any large air bubbles.
- Put the cake pan into the hot water bath, ensuring that the water height reaches at least a third of the cake pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes then reduce temperature to 140ºC and bake for another 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of cake comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and tap the pan against the tabletop a few times to prevent shrinkage. Transfer to cool on a wire rack pan for 10min before unmoulding.
Hello! Thanks so much for sharing your recipe. I’m on a mission to find the perfect sponge and have tried your recipe 2 times already and need some help. Does your timing apply to both a 6″ pan and an 8″ pan? I’ve been using a 6″ and every time it comes out under done and I need to add in more time. Should I be splitting the batter into 2 6″ pans for the timing instead? Thanks for your help. Love your website 😀
Hey Tiffanie! Yes, give it a go separating it into 2 6″ pans. Every oven is slightly differently so you might have to play around with the timing. Hope you can find your perfect sponge!
I have been looking for a recipe like this one for EVER! And I’ve found it–just in time, as I’m planning on baking my wedding cake this fall!
I have experimented with this a bit, and found that in my oven, I get better results if I use half butter/half oil (to stay soft under refrigeration), don’t reduce the oven temperature, and remove the pan from the water bath for the last 5 minutes of baking. (My oven runs cool, especially on the bottom heating element. And I think that’s the case for many people.) I also found that stirring 1.5 tsp of baking powder into the flour/fat mixture RIGHT before adding the meringue opens the texture up even more. I know that’s a lot of changes, but I wanted to share them just to help people know about the versatility and possibilities of this great recipe! If it doesn’t work in your oven the 1st time, or if you want slightly different results, just experiment a little–this recipe is a winner!
Incredible Alex! Firstly, congrats on your wedding! Thank you so much for adding the extra notes, very interesting about the baking powder 😊
did you happen to use 1 single 6 inch cake pan or divide it into 2 and what time did it need to bake if so ? thanks ~love your input
Hello Denise, every oven would vary but I would recommend reducing the baking time by 5-10 min if you are splitting the batter between two 6″ pans
thank-you for the quick response ~` possibly do you have measurements in cups and tablespoons by chance also ?
I don’t sorry, I recommend using a scale as the measurements are more accurate. Google can help heaps though if you’re looking for alternative measurements!
I used deep single pans for all the sizes I made, including 6 inch, and sliced them afterward. I scaled the recipe up and down–my biggest layer was 12″ and I water-bathed it in a 14″ pan!
It’s been a while now so I don’t remember exactly how many batches I made, but one thing I did learn was that it’s easier to make this recipe turn out perfectly if you’re not making a huge batch at once, because that makes overmixing way more likely. So only double it if you have to~~ and certainly don’t quadruple it unless you’ve got *perfect* folding technique. But overall, I think this is a great and flexible recipe and it gave me delicious and beautiful results.
I agree Alex! Definitely better to start with a smaller batch first. Glad that the recipe has worked well for you!