Sometimes, I want a simple cake that doesn’t require much time or ingredients, and this Lemon Ginger Sponge Cake with Raspberries is quick and easy to make. This light and airy lemon and ginger-flavored sponge cake looks elegant topped with whipped cream and red raspberries and tastes heavenly.
Sponge Cake topped with Raspberries
with lemon and ginger
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This year, I have been blessed with an abundance of lemons and have been zesting and juicing lemons like crazy. Over the years, I have become very creative in what to do with buckets of lemons. Of course, that includes lots of lemony baked goods.
If you happen to live near El Dorado Hills, CA, stop by and get some lemons; there is usually a bucket of them sitting outside for giveaways.
What is a Sponge Cake
Let’s talk about the sponge cake since that’s what we are making. Sponge cakes are a bit unusual because they are mostly made with three ingredients: eggs, sugar, and flour.
Notice that sponge cakes contain little or no butter or oil.
The texture of sponge cakes is light, airy, and spongy from whipping the eggs for a long time. These cakes are called foam cakes.
The possibilities are endless for adding in your choice of flavorings. You can fill or top the cake with your favorite jams or some lemon curd and fruit.
For today’s cake, I added two of my favorite flavors lemon and ginger, but feel free to experiment with orange, cinnamon, lavender, coconut or maybe vanilla.
Ingredients to make a Lemon Ginger Sponge Cake
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Lemons
- Cake Flour
- Vanilla
- Whipping cream
- Powdered Sugar
- Raspberries
Sponge cakes are a little like angel food cakes but are made with whole eggs and sugar that are whipped for several minutes to create volume because no baking powder is used. And for a bonus, there is no fat added to the cake, which is good for the waistline, right?
Sponge Cake Batter
Here is my tip for adding flour to the batter
Measure the flour and sift it into the egg and sugar batter a quarter cup at a time, gently folding it into the batter. This way, the egg mixture won’t deflate. If the batter deflates well, then the cake will be a pancake, and we aren’t making pancakes.
Finish this cake off with a billowing topping of sweetened whipped cream and lots of berries.
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Lemon Sponge Cake with Whipped Cream and Raspberries
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 5 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoon zested lemon peel
- ¾ cup cake flour you can also us All-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
Topping Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1-2 pints raspberries Substitute other fresh berries. You can add any amount of berries you like.
Instructions
Making the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a round 8-inch cake pan by buttering the bottom and lining it with parchment or wax paper.
- Using a citrus zester, zest the lemon and set aside
- Add the eggs to a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer mix on medium speed to break up the eggs. If you have a whip attachment, that works the best, but the regular beaters will also work.
- Gradually add the sugar to the eggs and beat for about 10 minutes on medium-high to high speed until the egg mixture has tripled its volume. When properly beaten, the mixture should fall from the whipping attachment in ribbons and slowly dissolve in 10 seconds. The batter will look thick almost like cake batter.
- Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.
- Sift ¼ cup of flour and salt on top of the batter and slowly fold it into the batter with a rubber spatula. Add the remaining flour in ¼ cup increments, folding until no flour appears. The batter should still be foamy. If you over-stir, the batter will deflate.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and with a toothpick or skewer, drag it through the batter in a spiral to remove the air bubbles, and then gently tap the cake pan on the counter.
- Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes then let cool for 10 minutes. You will see the cake shrink away from the pan, take a serrated knife and go around the edge of the pan to loosen it, then remove the cake and turn it upside down on a plate or platter. Remove the parchment paper and let the cake completely cool.
Finishing the cake
- Add the chilled whipping cream to a large mixing bowl and add the sugar. With an electric mixer, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.
- Dollop the whipped cream on top of the cake and top with the raspberries.
Storage
- Store any leftover cake covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for two days.
Notes
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Nutrition
Light and tender Lemon Sponge Cake
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About Jere’ Cassidy
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place. I am glad to be sharing sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.
Hi there, I’ll be making this for my mums birthday. I wanted to ask if you can use actual garlic than candied garlic ?
I just use the candied ginger on top with the raspberries. You can omit this if you like.
Lemon and ginger are a classic combo, and with those raspberries on top, you’ve knocked it out of the park! YUM!
I agree I love the flavor combination.
Beautiful cake
I adore lemon flavoured anything!! This cake looks and sounds divine. Great idea to freeze lemons. Have to remember that! Thank you!
This recipe looks amazing. The combo of lemon and ginger is awesome!
I agree about the lemon and ginger, they go hand-in-hand.
As soon as the weather gets warmer I always crave all things lemon. Love the raspberry combo too! I am trying this asap!
I love the sound of this cake and the flavours are awesome. The cake looks so soft and spongy with great texture.
love this twist on a strawberry shortcake using raspberries! Lemon and raspberry is always a great dessert flavour combo for summer!
Haha, sometimes? I ALWAYS want a super easy cake. I have zero patience for making cakes, which is why the only cakes I have made in the past year are mug cakes :p
This looks so good! I have never made a sponge cake before, but it is definitely on my to-do list!!
Yes, thank God for mug cakes.
Lemon is just my favourite flavour!!!
I was the kid who ate the lemon slices and not much has changed!
This cake looks so fluffy and delicious!!!!
I love the fact you have a giveaway basket on your drive. I am actually flying to California on Sunday!!!! But I am based in Napa…bit of a long way to go to get some lemons 😉
Oh, you are so lucky, Napa is absolutely beautiful right now.
Yum Yum Yum!!! I want to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Looks incredible! I can not wait to try this tastes. Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
I have been known to eat cake for breakfast.
I love good old sponge cake – it always reminds me of my childhood! Looks absolutely delicious!
I love all types of lemon desserts and this one looks incredible! I love the addition of ginger for that warm, spicy flavour, and the fresh sweet raspberries on top is perfect.
This cake looks absolutely scrumptious! And I never thought of freezing lemons. That’s a great idea. I often have leftovers of lemons that end up being spoiled in the fridge. Gotta freeze them next time.