Sponge Cake History of Sponge Cake

Sponge Cake - History of Sponge Cake

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Sponge Cake are similar to angel cakes in that they use many eggs and no shortening or leavening. Sponge cakes use the whole eggs, while angel cakes use only the whites.

1420-1520 - During the renaissance, Italian cooks became famous for their baking skills and were hired by households in both England and France. The new items that they introduced were called "biscuits," though they were the forerunner of what we now consider to be sponge cake.

1615 - Gervase Markham (1568-1637), English poet and author, recorded the earliest sponge cake recipe in English in 1615. These sponge cakes were most likely thin, crisp cakes (more like modern cookies).

18th Century - By the middle of the 18th century, yeast had fallen into disuse as a raising agent for cakes in favor of beaten eggs. Once as much air as possible had been beaten in, the mixture would be poured into molds, often very elaborate creations, but sometimes as simple as two tin hoops, set on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. It is from these cake hoops that our modern cake pans developed.