Food - Drink
What's The Difference Between Sponge Cake And Chiffon Cake?
By JOHN TOLLEY
There are countless varieties of cakes found around the world, and two cakes familiar to modern bakers are sponge and chiffon. While similar, these two cakes diverge in ways that make them both delicious and distinct.
Sponge cake is like the mother sauce of French cuisine, a progenitor to many variations like the Italian Gateau Genoise and the American angel food cake. A typical sponge cake calls for flour, sugar, and eggs, whole and yolks, spiced with anise and coriander seeds all beaten to incorporate a good deal of air, which, along with the heat of baking, allows the cake to rise.
Chiffon cake is yet another derivation of sponge cake, but it marks a profound shift as it includes vegetable oil and baking soda, giving it more heft and density. Chiffon cake, like angel food, is an American invention and its creator Harry Baker kept its recipe a secret for more than 20 years until he sold it to the company that would become General Mills in 1948.