What is "sponge cake"

Sponge \Sponge\ (sp[u^]nj), n. [OF. esponge, F. ['e]ponge, L. spongia, Gr. spoggia`, spo`ggos. Cf. Fungus, Spunk.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of Spongi[ae], or Porifera. See Illust. and Note under Spongi[ae].

2. The elastic fibrous skeleton of many species of horny Spongi[ae] (Keratosa), used for many purposes, especially the varieties of the genus Spongia. The most valuable sponges are found in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and on the coasts of Florida and the West Indies.

3. Fig.: One who lives upon others; a pertinacious and indolent dependent; a parasite; a sponger.

4. Any spongelike substance. Specifically:

   1. Dough before it is kneaded and formed into loaves, and after it is converted into a light, spongy mass by the agency of the yeast or leaven.

   2. Iron from the puddling furnace, in a pasty condition.

   3. Iron ore, in masses, reduced but not melted or worked.

5. (Gun.) A mop for cleaning the bore of a cannon after a discharge. It consists of a cylinder of wood, covered with sheepskin with the wool on, or cloth with a heavy looped nap, and having a handle, or staff.

6. (Far.) The extremity, or point, of a horseshoe, answering to the heel.

   Bath sponge, any one of several varieties of coarse commercial sponges, especially Spongia equina.

   Cup sponge, a toilet sponge growing in a cup-shaped form.

   Glass sponge. See Glass-sponge, in the Vocabulary.

   Glove sponge, a variety of commercial sponge ( Spongia officinalis, variety tubulifera), having very fine fibers, native of Florida, and the West Indies.

   Grass sponge, any one of several varieties of coarse commercial sponges having the surface irregularly tufted, as Spongia graminea, and S. equina, variety cerebriformis, of Florida and the West Indies.

   Horse sponge, a coarse commercial sponge, especially Spongia equina.

   Platinum sponge. (Chem.) See under Platinum.

   Pyrotechnical sponge, a substance made of mushrooms or fungi, which are boiled in water, dried, and beaten, then put in a strong lye prepared with saltpeter, and again dried in an oven. This makes the black match, or tinder, brought from Germany.

   Sheep's-wool sponge, a fine and durable commercial sponge ( Spongia equina, variety gossypina) found in Florida and the West Indies. The surface is covered with larger and smaller tufts, having the oscula between them.

   Sponge cake, a kind of sweet cake which is light and spongy.

   Sponge lead, or Spongy lead (Chem.), metallic lead brought to a spongy form by reduction of lead salts, or by compressing finely divided lead; -- used in secondary batteries and otherwise.

   Sponge tree (Bot.), a tropical leguminous tree ( Acacia Farnesiana), with deliciously fragrant flowers, which are used in perfumery.

   Toilet sponge, a very fine and superior variety of Mediterranean sponge ( Spongia officinalis, variety Mediterranea); -- called also Turkish sponge.

   To set a sponge (Cookery), to leaven a small mass of flour, to be used in leavening a larger quantity.

   To throw up the sponge, to give up a contest; to acknowledge defeat; -- from a custom of the prize ring, the person employed to sponge a pugilist between rounds throwing his sponge in the air in token of defeat; -- now, throw in the towel is more common, and has the same origin and meaning. [Cant or Slang] ``He was too brave a man to throw up the sponge to fate.''
   --Lowell.

   Vegetable sponge. (Bot.) See Loof.

   Velvet sponge, a fine, soft commercial sponge ( Spongia equina, variety meandriniformis) found in Florida and the West Indies.

   Vitreous sponge. See Glass-sponge.

   Yellow sponge, a common and valuable commercial sponge ( Spongia agaricina, variety corlosia) found in Florida and the West Indies.

n. A light, soft, baked dessert (commonly layered with cream and jam) that is typically made with flour, sugar, baking powder and eggs.

n. a light porous cake made with eggs and flour and sugar without shortening

Sponge cake is a cake based on flour (usually wheat flour), sugar, and eggs, and is sometimes leavened with baking powder. It has a firm, yet well aerated structure, similar to a sea sponge.

In the United Kingdom a sponge cake may be produced by the batter method or the foam method, while in the US cakes made using the batter method are known as a butter or pound cakes. Two common British batter method sponge cakes are the layered Victoria sponge cake and Madeira cake.

Sponge cake made using the foam method is known as in the UK is sometimes referred to as a whisked sponge. These forms of cake are common in Europe, especially in Italian patisseries. The cake was first invented by the Italian pastry chef Giovan Battista Carbona called Giobatta, at the court of Spain with his lord, the Genoese marquis Domenico Pallavicini, around the middle of the 16th century.

The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first of the non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in the book by the English poet Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman (1615). Though it does not appear in Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy (1747) in the late 18th century, it is found in Lydia Maria Child's The American Frugal Housewife (1832) indicating that sponge cakes had been established in Grenada in the Caribbean, by the early 19th century.

Variations on the theme of a cake lifted, partially or wholly, by trapped air in the batter exist in most places where European patisserie has spread, including the Anglo-Jewish "plava", Italian Génoise, the Portuguese pão-de-ló, and the possibly ancestral Italian pan di Spagna ("Spanish bread").

Derivatives of the basic sponge cake idea include the American chiffon cake and the Latin American Tres leches cake.