Genoise sponge cake recipe from Helen Goh
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Cover the bottom of a 20 cm cake tin with baking paper. Leave the sides lean and unlined. Preheat the oven to 165C fan (185C conventional).
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Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat (or in the microwave) and set aside to cool.
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Put the egg yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer, add 100 g of sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat with whisk attachment on medium-high speed until thickened and lightened in color (about 3-4 minutes). Scrape down the bowl, then add the hot broth on low speed. Once incorporated, gradually increase the speed to medium-high and beat until thickened and pale (another 3-4 minutes). Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape the mixture into a large, wide mixing bowl.
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Add half the melted butter to the bowl and sift in half the flour, then gently fold in with a hand whisk (a method used in light doughs to mix ingredients quickly and airily) until almost combined. Repeat with remaining butter and flour, folding until almost combined (does not need to be fully combined yet).
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Place the egg whites in the clean bowl of an electric mixer and beat with the whisk attachment at medium-high speed. When it becomes foamy, add the remaining 50 grams of powdered sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.
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Add about a third of the egg white mixture to the yolk batter and gently fold with a hand whisk to combine. Fold in remaining egg whites.
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Pour the mixture into the prepared cake mold and place in the oven. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top of the cake is light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
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Remove the cake from the oven and immediately drop the mold onto the kitchen counter from a height of about 20 centimeters. This may seem counterintuitive, but it helps minimize the “sinking” that often occurs with airy cakes. Place the cake, still in its tin, on a wire rack to cool completely.
