Pan di Spagna - a beautiful, light and airy Italian sponge cake made with just four simple ingredients; flour, cornstarch, eggs and sugar. This classic sponge is not only super easy to make but is used to make all kinds of traditional Italian desserts such as Zuccotto and Cassata!
Stand mixer with whisk attachment or electric whisk
Ingredients
4large eggsat room temperature (don't use cold eggs)
65gItalian 00 flour(00 is recommended but all-purpose flour can also be used) (1/2 cup)
65gcorn starch(cornflour) (1/2 cup)
130gcaster sugar(superfine sugar) (3/4 cup)
1teaspoonvanilla extract(optional, see notes for other flavour options)
1pinchsalt
Butterfor greasing
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 320F (160C). A static oven (no fan) is best for this recipe.
Grease the cake tin with butter and place a cut-out disk of baking parchment in the bottom of the tin so the cake doesn’t stick.
Put the eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt in a bowl of a stand mixer. Start whisking the eggs on a medium speed and gradually add the sugar in 3 goes.
Whisk the eggs for 15-20 minutes until thick, pale and fluffy. You’ll know the eggs are whisked enough when you can draw a ribbon in the mixture without it disappearing.
Sieve both flours into the egg mixture a third at a time making sure to gently fold the flour into the egg so you don’t remove too much air. Doing this in three goes will also help avoid lumps in the batter.
Once the flour is fully combined transfer the batter to the cake tin and bake on the lowest shelf of the oven for 35-40 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes, remove then let it cool completely on a cooling rack.
Video
Notes
Use a kitchen scale: as with any baking recipe, the only way to get accurate results every time is to weigh the flour with a kitchen scale. I always test our recipes using a scale and American cups but it's very easy to over-measure flour using cups so I don't recommend it for baking.
Use room temperature eggs: Make sure that your eggs are at room temperature before you start making the cake.
Don't overmix: When folding the flour into the egg mixture do it gently to avoid knocking the air out of the egg and overmixing the batter.
Don't open the oven door! it's very important to not open the oven door until the end of baking or the cake will sink.
Letting it cool - let the cake cool for 5-10 minutes in the cake pan but then remove it to a cooling rack. Don't let it cool completely in the cake pan or it has a risk of overbaking and drying out.
Storage - wrap the Pan di Spagna in plastic wrap or store in an air-tight container otherwise it'll dry out. It'll keep well for up to 3 days.