Chocolate Italian Sponge Cake
This chocolate Italian sponge cake is quite fast and easy to prepare, once you understand exactly what you have to do.
Italian sponge cake (Pan di Spagna) is used in desserts like cassata, zuppa inglese and tiramisù. It can be soaked with your favorite mixture and layered with cream fillings or jam, covered with fondant, or just eaten on its own sprinkled with icing sugar.
You only need 4 ingredients: eggs, granulated sugar, cake flour and unsweetened cocoa powder. It’s made without butter, oil and baking powder; it relies solely on well-beaten eggs for its leavening.
My tips to get a perfect chocolate Italian sponge cake:
- You need extra large eggs (each egg should weight approximately 70 grams/2.46 ounces) at room temperature. Take them out from the fridge 20 minutes before you need them, or soak them for a few minutes in a bowl of warm water.
- Beat the eggs and sugar for at least 15 minutes, until the mixture becomes clear, triples in volume, and reaches the ribbon stage.
- Use cake flour, if it’s not available in the store, you can make it at home (check this tutorial by Joy the Baker).
- Sift the flour and cocoa powder on top of the egg mixture, a little at a time, and fold it gently with a wooden spoon. Don’t pour it all at once or it will sink to the bottom of the bowl.
- Don’t open the oven while the cake is cooking, or the cake will deflate.
- When the cake is ready, turn off the oven and leave it inside for another ten minutes (put a wooden spoon in the oven door to keep it slightly open).
You can prepare the chocolate Italian sponge cake up to 3 days ahead, wrap it in cling film. and keep it in the fridge. You can also wrap it in cling film and freeze it for up to a month. To defrost it, take it out from the freezer the night before and thaw it unwrapped at room temperature.
This recipe is for a 18-20 cm / 7-8 inches baking pan. If you are using a larger pan, use the follow ratios:
- 15 cm / 6 inches pan: 3 eggs, 90 grams granulated sugar, 75 cake flour, 15 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
- 22 cm /9 inches pan : 5 eggs, 150 grams granulated sugar, 120 grams cake flour, 30 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
- 24 cm / 10 inches: 6 eggs, 180 grams granulated sugar, 145 cake flour, 35 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
- 26 cm / 11 inches: 7 eggs, 210 grams granulated sugar, 170 grams cake flour, 40 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
If you try this recipe let me know what you think! Leave a comment and don’t forget to take a picture and share it on my Facebook page or tag it #aseasyasapplepie on Instagram!
How To Make It: Chocolate Italian Sponge Cake
Ingredients
- ½ cup+1½ tablespoon (120 g) granulated sugar
- 4 extra large eggs at room temperature
- 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons (100 g) cake flour* sifted
- 3 tablespoons (20 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
- Take the eggs out from the fridge ahead of time or soak them for a few minutes in a bowl of warm water.
- Preheat the oven to 338°F (170°C).
- Butter and flour a 8 inch (20 cm) pan, or spray it with baking spray.
- Put the eggs and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Beat the eggs until very fluffy and pale yellow (about 15 minutes on medium/high speed). To test that it has been beaten enough, let some of the mixture fall into the bowl; if it remains “sitting” on top, that means that it’s ready.
- Sift the flour and cocoa powder on top of the egg mixture, a little at a time, and fold it gently with a wooden spoon, from bottom to top.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Don’t smooth the top or bang the pan on the counter; leave it as it is!
- Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Don’t open the oven for the first 20 minutes!)
- Turn off the oven but leave the chocolate Italian sponge cake inside for at least 10 minutes so it can cool down slowly (put a wooden spoon in the oven door to keep it slightly open). After that, remove it from the oven, let it cool for 10 more minutes, loosen around the edges with a knife, and then flip the cake on a wire rack upside down (without the pan) to cool completely.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Do you prefer a vanilla or lemon Italian sponge cake?
Would it be possible to use this recipe for a Swiss roll? if so what would the baking time be, at what temperature and how much batter?
Thanks!
What’s the size of your baking sheet?
I’ve been looking for a moist sponge cake recipe. Will this cake come out moist? If not do you have one?
Hi Nicole! No, it’s not moist. You need to soak it with juice, liqueurs, or simple syrup.
This cake is very moist.
I am excited to make this cake for my grandson’s 3rd birthday! Will definitely let you know how it turns out. I am using a 9” round pan. Can you please give me the measurements for sugar, flour and cocoa powder in non-metrics system (cups, tbsp, tsp)? Thank you!
Hi Marina! You will need : 5 eggs, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder.
Hi Elena,
I’m looking for a good sponge cake recipe to make a buche de noel with. Which measurements do you recommend if I will be baking this on a 53 by 38 cm baking sheet. Thank you!
Hi Kim! You will need: 6 eggs, 120 grams (1 cup) flour, 180 grams (3/4 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons) granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Bake at 220 degrees C (428 degrees F) for 6-7 minutes. Here you can find the step by step (it’s in Italian but just look at the pictures)
I hope this helps :)
Hi, I am going to attempt to make my son’s birthday cake. It will be a 10 inch square Mickey mouse cake. Would this be a good recipe and how many do you think I would need to make for this cake? https://pinterest.com/pin/471822498437771662/?source_app=android
Hi Felicia! You will need : 8 eggs, 195 grams (1 1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoon) flour, 45 grams (1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon) unsweetened cocoa powder, 240 grams sugar (1¼ cup minus 1 tablespoon ).
Please let me know how it goes :)
Thank you for your reply. His birthday party is the 21st. I will let you know how it goes. Do you think I could do 2 layers and put chocolate ganache in the middle and it still be ok. I also plan to use molded chocolate instead of fondant.
You can even make 3 layers. Just make sure that you prepare the cake the day before so it’s easier to cut it (wrap it in cling film and keep it in the fridge). I can’t wait to see the result :)
ciao Moya,
Would it be possible to use this recipe for a 3 tier cake with pie pudding creme in the middle ?
I also need to cover it with frosting (birthday cake) on the outside.
Grazie mille !
Daniele
Scusa…I refer to the wrong name.
ELena !!!!!!
Grazie mille Elena.
Ciao Daniele!
Yes, this cake will be perfect! :)
Hi Elena
I made this today, it rose wonderfully and is so nice and even on top, only thing is it didn’t get the height like the cake in your picture, is that a 6″ or 8″ pan? I used an 8″ and it looked a bit flat in comparison, so ended up making another cake to get more height for a birthday cake. Planning to fill it with whipped dark choc ganache and cherry jam. :D
Thanks!
Vanessa
Hi Vanessa! I used 3 eggs for a Wilton round pan 6″ wide and 3″ high.
The filling sounds DELICIOUS! I love dark chocolate + cherry. :)
What a great recipe! I really appreciated the details on the eyes. When I weighed my large eggs they were 60 g and I adjusted the quantities per your instructions. My first cake was a ‘tester’served with some home made vanilla bean ice cream and a strawberry compote. I intend to make a black forest cake with this recipe soon!
Cheers!
Your “tester” cake sounds delicious! :) Glad you liked this recipe, Doug!
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I made a cake with your recipe and it turned out very nice, fluffy and not to sweet (which I liked) ! The only thing I added was a teaspoon of baking powder to the mixture as I used white flour instead of cake flour which I suppose comes with a batter raising ingredient. I used the cake it in two layers and filled it and topped it with cane syrup and topped with a mix of crumbled toasted, cinnamon powder. peanuts, apple, chocolate powder, and some sweet flour made of graham crackers. It is just delicious!!!!!!
I am glad you liked this recipe, Carla! :)
70 grams with the shell or without shell?
With the shell
Hi! Can i use 4 normal egg whites and 3 yolks instead of using 3 extra large eggs?
Hi Alena! No, this recipe wouldn’t work
Hi, I want to use this recipe to make a 4 layer cake, I have 2 26cm tins so I want to bake 2 cakes and cut each in half. Can I just split the 7 eggs mix between the tins or should I increase the amount?
Hi Sarah! For 2 26 cm tins you have to double the ingredients. You can also use 6 eggs, if you just want to cut the cake in half…but still double ingredients for 2 tins. Let me know how it goes :)
What is your recipe for syrup for this cake?
I usually use diluted coffee, or milk + cocoa powder, or freshly squeezed orange juice + water
Hi. I have a rectangular baking tray 30cmx22cm and height is 4 cm
Would it be possible to tell me the measures to fit this tray,
I want to use it fit my daughter birthday
Thanks a lot
Hi Dalia!
For a 30×22 cm pan you will need:
9 eggs, 270 grams sugar (2 1/3 cup sugar), 220 grams (2 cups) cake flour, 50 grams (1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon) cocoa powder. I think it’s better that you line your pan with parchment paper ( Trace the bottom of the pan on a piece of parchment paper. Cut it out and line the bottom of the pan. Then line the sides of the pan with parchment paper so that it creates a collar that sits 1 to 2-inches above the pan. Make sure that you brush some melted butter to the bottom and sides of the pan so the parchment paper sticks.)
Let me know how it goes! :)
can i covered it with fondant or not ??
Yes, you can! I covered several cakes with fondant…they turned out perfect! :)