How to prepare a Genoese cake to fill

How to make a Genoese cake . If you want to make desserts at home on the blog you have a lot of ideas, perhaps it is one of the families with the most recipes.

You have them very simple, a little more elaborate and some of them, that you have to prepare several times until you get the point.

Most are very easy, for example the recipe that I present today, a very sponge cake and very high to take as is or to use as a base in many desserts, the Genoese cake .

There are many options to prepare a birthday cake or cake, the most useful option to later fill the cake and bathe it with the type of topping that you like the most is this type of cake. It only has eggs, sugar and flour, so as it does not have any type of fat, it is a dry type cake that we can then get drunk to taste.

The ideal is to soak it in syrup and fill it with all kinds of creams, gelatin, jam or preserves, chocolates, fruits, pastry cream and whipped cream. It is also perfect for preparing the famous gypsy arm , in which we will make a thinner sponge cake plate.

The Genoese or Genoese sponge cake is an ancient recipe of Italian origin, baptized with that name in honor of the city of Genoa. Closely related to Italian and French cuisine, in the latter it is known as genoise. Its origin is very old, there is already news of this type of cake in the year 1500, it was served to the guests of the banquets of the Republic of Genoa.

It achieved fame in the second half of the 19th century, when it was incorporated by the Berlin gastronomy school for examinations as a final test for great pastry chefs. The result was a soft and delicately flavored cake, they named it “ Pâte Génoise ” which I hope will encourage you to prepare it at home.

Preparation of the Genoese sponge cake cream

1. Before starting the recipe, put the oven to heat at 180º C, heat up and down without air. The oven must be hot to introduce the sponge cake cream and then it should be done without problems.
2. For this sponge cake I use a mold of 23 cm. diameter. This way I avoid the problems of the baking paper in the mold or that the surface is not greased enough. With this container we don’t have to do anything more than add the cream and bake.
3. We separate the yolks from the whites and place each one in a different bowl. We are going to mount the egg whites until stiff . We reserve in the fridge while we prepare the rest of the cream.
4. In a large bowl beat the yolks with the sugar, they have to blanch as much as possible. I usually beat them with a mixer with electric rods, but with skill and some manuals it also comes out. Add the vanilla and the lemon juice.
5. Add the previously sifted flour to the bowl and approximately the measure of one of the whites mounted to the dough of yolks and sugar. Mix with a spatula, always with smooth and enveloping movements, until there are no lumps of flour.
6. We introduce the rest of the whites mounted to the point of snow to the cream.
7. We continue mixing with enveloping movements so that the cream does not come down, this is the most laborious part. Pour the mixture into the mold and smooth the surface with a spatula.

Baking and final presentation of the Genoese cake

1. Bake in the middle tray at 180º C for about 30-35 minutes. The dough must have grown quite a bit. Check the sponge cake point with a fork, skewer or knife. We click in the center, if it comes out clean it is ready.
2. When this is baked we take it out and let it cool for a few minutes outside the oven. This type of cake is fragile and if it is very hot it can easily break. It is essential that it is cold before unmolding.
3. We carefully knife the edges. Unmold and place it upside down on a rack until it cools completely.
4. We already have it ready for any recipe or to take it as it is with your favorite coffee or infusion.

The recipe is very basic and super simple. Follow the steps that I explain below and it will be delicious. You will tell me the result.

Be sure to enjoy all the dessert  recipes that we have on the blog. You can see all the step-by-step photos of this  Genoese cake recipe  in the next album.

Tips for a Genoese yummy sponge cake

• If you are going to fill it, I advise you to let it rest for a day, well wrapped in plastic film. Gain firmness and it will be easier for you to cut and manipulate it. It can even be frozen if you are going to prepare the sweet another day.
• Furthermore, as it is a dry and fluffy dough, it is recommended to moisten each cut with a syrup or similar. and then fill it with your favorite cream.
• In the original recipe, the eggs are assembled whole together with the sugar, for which it is very helpful to mount them on a water bath, but in this case I have directly mounted the egg whites until they are easier to prepare.
• It does not need any chemical yeast since the air is introduced by the whites and I assure you that it gets a good volume.
• It is a basic ingredient in the soletilla biscuits of the popular tiramisu and you can prepare a chocolate genovesa substituting part of the flour for cocoa powder, many times it is used to make the Sacher cake .