Golden Sponge — the American yellow butter cake

i. Origin & history

The golden butter cake descends from the English pound cake — a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs and flour — which crossed the Atlantic with colonial cooks. Early American cookbooks such as Amelia Simmons's American Cookery (1796) included pound cakes and similar butter cakes, raised only by the air beaten into the butter and eggs, or by pearl ash, an early alkaline leavener.

The cake as Americans know it took shape in the nineteenth century. A popular formula, the 1-2-3-4 cake — one cup of butter, two of sugar, three of flour, four eggs, plus milk — was easy to remember and appeared in countless household recipe books. Commercial baking powder, widely sold from the second half of the century, made cakes lighter and more reliable, and finely milled, low-protein cake flour, marketed from the early twentieth century, gave them a softer, more velvety crumb.

The term 'yellow cake' became fixed in the mid-twentieth century, when boxed cake mixes from brands such as Betty Crocker, Pillsbury and Duncan Hines turned yellow cake, white cake and devil's food into the three basic American flavours. Yellow cake with chocolate frosting became the default birthday cake of the United States and the usual base for school, office and party sheet cakes.

The name needs one clarification. In Britain a golden sponge or golden syrup sponge usually means a steamed pudding baked over a layer of golden syrup, served hot with custard — a cousin of spotted dick and jam roly-poly. The American golden sponge on this page is the yellow layer cake, which in British terms is closer to a Victoria sponge, though richer in yolks and milk; both descend from the same creamed-butter tradition as the Georgian queen cake.

ii. What the extra yolks and cake flour do

Three choices give this cake its particular character: extra egg yolks, cake flour and the creaming method.

Egg yolks bring the colour — their carotenoid pigments are what make the crumb golden — but they also bring fat and lecithin, a natural emulsifier. Lecithin helps the butter and milk combine smoothly in the batter, and fat coats flour proteins so they form less gluten. The result is a moister, more tender cake than one made with whole eggs alone. A white cake, made with only egg whites, is lighter and whiter but drier and less rich.

Cake flour is milled from soft wheat and has a lower protein content (around 7–9 per cent) than plain flour, so it develops less gluten; in the United States it is usually treated to absorb more liquid and sugar, which lets a cake hold a high proportion of both and still set. In Britain, where true cake flour is rare, the same effect comes from plain flour with a little cornflour replacing some of the flour.

Creaming — beating softened butter and sugar until pale and fluffy — whips thousands of tiny air bubbles into the fat. Baking powder does not create new bubbles so much as expand those that already exist, so a well-creamed batter rises evenly and gives a fine, even crumb. The eggs are added one at a time so the emulsion holds, and the flour and milk go in alternately and briefly: once flour meets liquid, mixing develops gluten, and over-mixed batter bakes into a tough, tunnelled cake.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 300 g cake flour (or 260 g plain flour plus 40 g cornflour)
• 2½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 225 g unsalted butter, softened
• 300 g caster sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 240 ml whole milk or buttermilk, at room temperature
• 200 g unsalted butter, softened, for the frosting
• 300 g icing sugar, sifted
• 50 g cocoa powder, sifted
• 100 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
• 3 tbsp milk, for the frosting

Everything for the batter must be at room temperature: cold eggs or milk make the creamed butter seize and curdle, and the cake bakes dense. Cake flour gives the softest crumb; the plain-flour-and-cornflour substitute is very close. Buttermilk gives a slightly tangier, more tender cake; if using it, add ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda with the baking powder. The classic American pairing is a chocolate frosting, given here; vanilla buttercream, whipped cream and fruit, or a simple dusting of icing sugar are all common too.

iv. Method

1. Heat the oven to 175 °C (350 °F), or 160 °C fan. Grease two 22 cm round cake tins and line the bases with baking paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
2. Beat the 225 g butter in a stand mixer or with an electric whisk for 1 minute, then add the caster sugar and beat for 4–5 minutes, scraping down the bowl, until very pale and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs and yolks one at a time, beating well after each, then the vanilla. If the mixture looks curdled, add a spoonful of the flour.
4. On low speed, add a third of the flour mixture, then half the milk, then another third of the flour, the rest of the milk and the remaining flour, mixing only until each addition just disappears. Finish by folding with a spatula.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the tins and smooth the tops. Bake for 28–32 minutes, until golden, risen, starting to come away from the sides, and a skewer in the centre comes out clean.
6. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.
7. For the frosting, beat the 200 g butter until creamy, then beat in the icing sugar and cocoa on low speed. Add the melted chocolate and milk and beat for 2–3 minutes until smooth, glossy and spreadable.
8. Set one cake upside down on a plate, spread with a third of the frosting, top with the second layer right side up, and cover the top and sides with the rest, swirling it with the back of a spoon.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Cream for longer than you think. Four to five minutes, until the butter and sugar are almost white and doubled in volume. Short creaming is the main cause of a heavy yellow cake.
• Bring everything to room temperature. Cold eggs and milk harden the butter and break the emulsion, giving a greasy, dense crumb.
• Mix the flour in gently. Stop as soon as it disappears. Over-mixed batter bakes into a tough cake with tunnels and a peaked top.
• Weigh the batter between tins. Equal layers bake in the same time and stack neatly.
• Do not open the oven early. In the first 20 minutes, a rush of cold air can make the rising cake sink in the middle.
• Frost only when completely cool. Warm cake melts buttercream and the layers slide.

vi. Variations

Sheet cake: bake the batter in a 23 × 33 cm tin for 30–35 minutes and frost the top — the standard American party cake. Cupcakes: bake in cases for 18–20 minutes, making about 24. Boston cream pie fills two thin golden layers with vanilla custard and covers the top with chocolate glaze. White cake uses only egg whites for a paler, lighter crumb. Lemon or orange golden cake adds the zest of two fruits to the sugar.

The same batter is the starting point for many cakes on DessertCat. Swirl part of it with cocoa for a marble cake, split and fill it with berries and cream as a quick strawberry shortcake, or compare it with the tangy, buttermilk-and-oil crumb of blue velvet cake and the deep chocolate of a blackout cake.

vii. Serving & storage

Golden sponge is a celebration cake: candles, chocolate frosting and a glass of cold milk are the classic American accompaniments. Unfrosted, it is also good in thick slices with fresh berries and whipped cream, or toasted lightly with butter.

Keep the frosted cake under a cake dome or loosely covered at cool room temperature for up to 4 days; buttercream protects the crumb from drying. In very warm weather refrigerate it, then bring it back to room temperature for an hour before serving so the butter softens. Unfrosted layers, wrapped tightly in cling film, keep at room temperature for 2 days or freeze for up to 2 months; frozen layers are actually easier to level and frost, as they produce fewer crumbs.

ix. More from North American

• Strawberry Shortcake — berries, cream and cake
• Marble Cake — swirled chocolate and vanilla
• Blue Velvet Cake — red velvet's blue cousin
• Blackout Cake — Brooklyn chocolate layer cake
• Queen Cake — Georgian ancestor of the cupcake
• Gâteau de Savoie — French whisked sponge