La Cucina Italiana
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We are still working on this page! This basic sponge cake is the Italian equivalent of a Victoria sponge. It is prepared without butter, making it a lighter and healthier option.
In Italy, this sponge is eaten for breakfast by dunking it into your cappuccino. In addition, it is used in many Italian desserts, for example: in la zuppa inglese (trifle), and for special cakes for birthdays, etc. If you add the traditional Italian cream used in cakes - la crema pasticciera - you can make a fabulous birthday cake for friends or family.
Here's how you do it. La Preparazione:
To make il pan di Spagna for 8 people you will need: 6 uova grandi - 6 large eggs 150 grams plain flour 150 g. di zucchero - 150 grams sugar 1 bag vanilla yeast 1 bag / a few drops of vanilla essence
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Baste the cake tin and line with flour to prevent the cake from sticking.
Separate the egg yolks from the whites, into two large bowls. Using an electric whisk, whip the egg whites until they are stiff. Here's a tip my nonna gave me, try adding a few drops of fresh lemon juice into the egg whites to help them firm, by the end of it they should look something like this:
Once this is done, add the sugar to the egg yolks in another large bowl and using the whisk again, whip the mixture until it becomes thick. Using a sieve, sift the flour little by little into the yolks and fold with a metal spoon until it disappears into the mix and then add some more. When adding the last bit of flour, empty the contents of the yeast and vanilla sachets over the top and continue to fold with the spoon.
Now we can add our egg whites. Using the spoon add little bits at a time for about half the egg whites folding them in gently. The mixture should now be noticeably softer, continue to add the whites a little at a time but use the whisk now to blend them in.
Once they're all in continue to whisk the mixture for another couple of minutes, when you see bubbles starting to form, it's ready to go in the oven.
Place in the oven and leave to cook for 35-40 minutes. Make sure you don't open the door at any point to allow the yeast to raise the cake. When the time is done, switch the oven off but leave the cake inside with the door still closed. This allows the cake to cool slowly and will prevent it from sagging in the middle when it's exposed to the cool air.
And there you have it. As I mentioned earlier this makes a delicious Italian breakfast and can be used to make all sorts of other puddings.
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