You know what I love? That perfect, light, airy sponge that you can get from so many bakeries. You know what I hate? Trying to duplicate that at home– it never seems light enough, airy enough, sponge-y enough. But those times are behind us, my friend… because you can take your standard boxed cake mix and create a delicious, moist, light, sponge cake at home. That’s right, I’m going to show you how to make sponge cake from cake mix, and it doesn’t really take any longer than just baking it by package directions. I’m serious.
To start, you’ll need a little water, some canola oil, 3 eggs, and your boxed cake mix. Any flavor will work, but flavors that don’t include mix-ins (like chocolate chip cake, sprinkle cakes, or cakes with fruits and nuts) will work slightly better during the sifting process.
The very first thing you need to do is separate your eggs. Discard the yolks, and place the whites in a large bowl (yes, a large one– they’re getting ready to expand like crazy!) With your mixer, beat them until they form stiff peaks. This will bring a ton of air to your cake.
You’ll want your eggs to look like this. Like I said, they expand quite a bit. Set the eggs aside.
Next, sift your cake mix, twice, into a separate bowl. When you buy a cake mix, everything settles, and there’s no air or lightness to large clumps of mix in a box. Double sifting this mix brings back all of the light, tiny granules of mix, and it makes it much less densely packed.
Mix 1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil and 1 1/4 cups water into your cake mix. Then, carefully fold in your egg whites. Gently mix until the entire mixture is combined.
Spread the mix into a greased bundt pan or the pan of your choice, and bake the mix at 325. Start with the time listed on the package for your pan size, and bake until the cake tests done.
Rather than using a toothpick, you can actually test a cake with a simple touch of the finger… if you lightly touch a cake with your finger, it’s done when it gently springs back to you. Undercooked, and your finger will sink slightly with no springback. Overcooked, and it’ll be too firm for it to have spring.
Let the cake cool slightly before turning over onto a plate.
Overturn your cake onto your plate, and then top it. You can frost it, but this cake is so moist that it really doesn’t need it. I love to just drizzle it slightly with white chocolate!
This cake is truly delicious and easy to make– really, if you can make a cake mix from a box, you can make this light, airy alternative, also from a box!
- 1 Boxed Cake Mix, any flavor
- 3 Eggs, separated
- 1/3 Cup oil
- 1 1/4 Cups water
- Beat egg whites to stiff peaks and set aside.
- Sift boxed cake mix twice.
- Combine cake mix, oil, and water until combined, then gently fold in egg whites.
- Once folded together, place mix into a greased bundt pan or other pan of your choice.
- Bake cake at 325 according to time listed on package, adding additional time as needed until cake tests done.
- Frost, or drizzle lightly with chocolate or white chocolate. This cake is great plain or topped!
The links below are Amazon Affiliate Links. MamaPlusOne.com is a participant in the Amazon affiliate program.
Sponge cake is my FAVORITE! I can not wait to try this, Pinned. We would love for you to join us at Party in Your PJs, our weekly link party.
Kim @ The Cookie Puzzle recently posted…Party in Your PJs #52
Love this modified version! Thanks for sharing!
theartbug recently posted…What’s Up Wednesday
I’m going to have to try this. I love sponge cake and it looks so yummy!
It’s SO easy to get the perfect light sponge. Let me know how it turns out for you!
That looks absolutely wonderful! I’m tweeting this! 🙂
Thanks! 🙂 I’m so glad that you stopped by!
Recipe state to use 3 eggs seperated, which to me indicates you uses yolk and white. However, Directions don’t say whether to use yolks. Can you please clarify? Thank you.
So sorry, to clarify, you’ll use the whites, and discard the yolks. The recipe should read “3 egg whites” rather than “3 eggs separated,”– I’ll correct that! Thanks for pointing it out.
What a great way to make sponge cake! It’s a favorite, and this method seems pretty straightforward. I hope you can stop on by and share this or any other recipe with us on Five Friday Finds! (Open until midnight Wednesday.)
CJ Huang recently posted…Five Friday Finds #183
This method is definitely easy– it doesn’t take much effort to get that light, airy texture!
So delicious! I need to make this soon! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
Karly recently posted…What’s Cookin’ Wednesday #113
I am anxious to try your modified cake mix version! Does the brand or size of the mix matter?
So far, it has worked for me with Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker, and Pillsbury. I think it should work with most cake mixes on the market– the size/weight difference is fairly negligible!
I’m about to try this, but am curious as the amount of carbs and sugars (for my diabetic mom, if she can have it too) for this recipe. Would you happen to know the nutrition facts? – or should I just look at the cake mix box? Thanks!
The nutrition details will vary depending on the cake mix you use, so I can’t give exact nutrition information. However, you can use an app like Myfitnesspal online to plug in ingredients for exact information! I hope you both love it.
Since I have not had luck trying a spong cake from scratch I am anxious to try this. wIll this type of sponge cake hold up by adding custard and thinly slicked strWberries between the layers? i want to make a Cleveland style cassata cake. Thank you
I haven’t tried it with custard, but if you do try it, definitely let me know what you think!
Mine was definitely light and airy, but crumbled excessively after I cut it. Did anybody else have this problem? I’m trying desperately to recreate Nothing Bundt Cake’s white chocolate raspberry. It had the same look and feel but theirs does not crumble at all. I wondered if they could have added non flavored gelatin in the mix? Theirs almost has a Jello like bounce to it.