1,554 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

Génoise (Genoa sponge)

Name: Génoise (Genoa sponge)
Prep time: 48 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 1 h 13 min
Yield: 1 Génoise (Genoa sponge)
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 4 eggs; 50 g noisette butter; 110 g caster sugar; 15 g vanilla sugar; 125 g flour; 30 g flakeds almonds

A Génoise (or Genoa sponge) is a very light and delicate cake. It is good on its own, but is more often used as the base for many different French-style gâteaux, with layers of mousse or cream between 2 (or more) layers of sponge. It is a tricky recipe to get right, rather technical, but here's a simple and very effective method.

248 K 5× 4.2/5 (23 reviews)

1 hour 15 min. difficulté

Average

2 €

1 Génoise (Genoa sponge)

6 Ingredients

Last modified on: March 10^th 2019

For 1 Génoise (Genoa sponge), you will need:

1 4 eggs
2 50 g noisette butter
3 110 g caster sugar
4 15 g vanilla sugar
5 125 g flour
6 30 g flakeds almonds (optional)
Total weight: 500 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 35 min.

Resting: 15 min.

Cooking: 25 min.

All in all: 1 hour 15 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - ⌛ 10 min.

Put 4 eggs in a pan of hot water from the tap and leave for 10 minutes to warm, just to warm eggs not to cook them.

If your eggs have been in the fridge, leave them for 20 minutes, renewing the hot water halfway through.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 5 min.

Also fill the food-processor bowl with very hot water and leave to warm up.

This is so that the eggs can be beaten in the warm, which improves their texture. In most Genoa sponge recipes, the eggs are beaten in a bain-marie, which is more difficult.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 5 min.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F).

Empty and dry the food-processor bowl, break the eggs into it and add 110 g caster sugar and 15 g vanilla sugar.

Stage 4 - ⌛ 10 min.

Beat immediately at high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy...

Stage 5

...and sticks to the beater slightly.

Stage 6 - ⌛ 5 min.

Reduce the speed and add 50 g noisette butter, pouring in a thin stream (through a sieve to remove all the small impurities left after heating).

Stage 7 - ⌛ 5 min.

Stop the machine and sieve 125 g flour into the mixture.

Stage 8 - ⌛ 1 min.

Incorporate the flour into the mixture quickly using a hand whisk.

Important: this is the tricky part. You have incorporated lots of air into the mixture be beating the eggs and sugar together and it is this air in the form of tiny bubbles that will make the mixture foamy and give you a light sponge. You need to incorporate the flour as quickly as possible (within 30 seconds if possible) so that the mixture doesn't "fall".

Stage 9 - ⌛ 5 min.

Prepare a mould or tin by lining the bottom with a sheet of cooking parchment, as Genoa sponge sticks terribly and turning it out can be difficult.

You can also scatter a few flaked almonds in the bottom.

Stage 10 - ⌛ 2 min.

Pour the batter into the mould and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Stage 11 - ⌛ 25 min.

Turn out while hot onto a wire rack.

Remarks

For a chocolate Genoa sponge, reduce the flour by 50g and add 20g of powdered chocolate or cocoa powder.

Keeping: A few days in an air-tight tin.

Source: After Hervé This, who states that this Michel Bras's method.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	40 RDI=20 %	280 RDI=30 %	90 RDI=10 %	1,790 RDI=90 %	7,490 RDI: 90 %
Per 100 g	8 RDI=3 %	60 RDI=5 %	20 RDI=3 %	360 RDI=20 %	1,500 RDI: 20 %

Possible allergens in this recipe: egg, milk, Gluten, Nuts

How much will it cost?

For 1 Génoise (Genoa sponge) : 1.55 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

Some other recipes using this recipe

Black Forest gateau

Black Forest gateau is a sophisticated dessert which comes from Germany. It is essentially a combination of four flavours: chocolate, cherries, cream and kirsch. Here is my own version.
170 K4.6 2 hours 35 min.

Fraisier (French strawberry cake)

This classic French patisserie is a delicious assembly of 2 layers of genoa sponge filled with strawberries and crème mousseline (confectioner's custard with butter). The sponge is soaked in strawberry syrup and the cake is topped with a thin layer of marzipan.
192 K4.2 2 hours 45 min.

Baked Alaska

The name may be odd, but Baked Alaska is an elegant dessert. The core of this version is a "sandwich" of vanilla ice cream and blackcurrant sorbet between 2 layers of sponge soaked in rum-flavoured syrup. This is then covered in a layer of meringue and put in a very hot oven for just a few minutes...
74 K4.3 6 hours 50 min.

Framboisier

This is a classic French raspberry-flavoured dessert. It generally consists of raspberries in cream sandwiched between two layers of cake. In this version, the cake is genoa sponge and the cream is vanilla-flavoured and mixed with mascarpone. This is just as good made as a large rectangle or, as...
73 K3.8 2 hours 40 min.

This recipe uses (among others)

Other recipes you may also like

Oriane's tuna rillettes

Quick to make, delicious as an aperitif.

February 21^th 2011211 K5 20 min.

Stock-pot fish

A julienne of vegetables (small sticks) mixed with choice morsels of fish, slowly cooked in vegetable stock.

December 31^th 2013331 K4.3 2 hours 40 min.

Fresh fruit in sabayon

Fresh grapefruit and / or pears, covered with a sabayon and a pinch of citrus crunch.

February 21^th 2011303 K4.7 55 min.

Sweet pancake rolls from Brittany

Stewed apples, raisins soaked in whisky, toasted almonds, rolled in a lightly caramelized pancake.

March 10^th 2015263 K4.3 2 hours 20 min.

Soft fruits in sabayon

This recipe is made by briefly cooking an assortment of soft fruits (raspberries, blackcurrants, blackberries, blueberries, currants...) with a little sugar to glaze them. They are served in a small dish, covered with a delicious sabayon which can be lightly "burned" on surface.

February 21^th 2011281 K3.9 50 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

The 5 comments already posted on this recipe

I'm sure you can't imagine how many genoise I've missed, before having a good and nice one (like on the photos).
Keep courage!
Posted by jh april 12^th 2013 at 15:16 n° 5
@ jh Thank you for your reply. I will give attention to this point on future occasions. It may be that I was paying too much attention to the instructions that I have only thirty seconds to get the flour into the batter? I did use a balloon whisk to do the mixing of the flour, and the eggs and sugar were whisked by high-speed whisking in a Kenwood machine. When I have spent time whisking in the flour, I seem to have knocked too much air out of the batter, hence my haste to get the flour in and the batter into the tin
Posted by Biggles april 12^th 2013 at 12:07 n° 4
@Kristin: You're right, hand beaten genoa sponge is a sign of courage...

@biggles: It could be a problem of not enoughly mixed flour to the egg+sugar mixture.
Posted by jh april 12^th 2013 at 10:28 n° 3
My sponge turns out uneven, far too often. (i.e, one side higher than the other) I don't know if it is the fan that is disturbing the rather light batter. Anyone else having the same trouble please?
Posted by Biggles april 11^th 2013 at 20:27 n° 2
Thank you for the recipe and clear instructions. I halved the recipe since I am cooking for two and it still came out beautiful. But beating the eggs and sugar mixture with the hand mixer took a very long time! :)

Thanks,
Kristin
www.erisbeauty.com
Posted by Anonymous april 11^th 2013 at 17:07 n° 1

Follow this recipe (as 4 people already do)

If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.