What is Genoise

You said in the sheet cake area to use 4-5 cups of batter or 8 Genoise what is that?


Hi great question,

Genoise is a French Sponge Cake. It is also referred to as Gateau in Britain and Biscuit in Germany.

Sponge cake has a higher proportion of eggs and sugar with a smaller amount of fat then most cakes. The Genoise does not contain baking powder, and is leavened by the egg foam.

The egg is warmed together with the sugar before being whipped. The texture of a sponge cake is light and delicate, with a fine grain. It does have a tendency to be slightly dry and is normally brushed with a flavored syrup, which adds some moisture and flavor to it.

The Genoise originated in Genoa Italy.

Here is a vanilla sponge cake or Genoise recipe from Susan Purdy's book A Piece of Cake. It's fairly involved.

1 1/2 cups of sifted flour plus 1 Tablespoon
Pinch of salt
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
6 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift flour and salt onto a piece of wax paper.
Place your sifter on another piece of waxed paper and pour the flour mixture into the sifter.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Discard any foamy residue that rises to the surface. Set aside
Now put your eggs and sugar in a large heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set this over a double boiler that is hot to the touch. Stir constantly with a large whisk until it
feels very warm to your finger.

Remove the bowl from the heat and attach it to your mixer. Whip for 3-4 minutes at high speed, until it triples in volume. Add the vanilla or other flavorings and whip for 2-3 seconds.

Hold the sifter over the batter bowl and sift a small amount over the eggs. Fold in the flour gently. Continue folding until you add all of the flour.

Put 1 1/2 cups of batter into the small bowl and fold the melted butter in. Finally fold this butter mixture into the entire bowl of batter. Do not over work the batter.

Divide the batter between the pans, bake in a preheated oven for 22-27 minutes or until golden.

Soaking syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 Tablespoons fruit or nut flavored liqueur or rum or brandy, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 3-4 Tablespoons strained fruit puree.

Combine the sugar and water in a heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove the pan from the heat and cool. Add the flavoring of your choice right before you use it on the cake. Store the syrup in a covered jar in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.

A chocolate mousse, whipped cream or custard filling goes very well with a Genoise sponge cake.
Here is a link to my cake filling recipes

Personally though I prefer the good old American butter cakes. They are simpler to make too.

Thanks for visiting and asking a great question. Happy Baking

Click here to post comments

Return to Baking Questions.

This article was printed from Wedding-Cakes-For-You.com

Print Article
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.