Sometimes I want a simple cake that doesn’t require a lot of my 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, just stop by and get some lemons, there is usually a bucket of them sitting outside for giveaways.
How to Freeze Lemons
Because I have so many lemons and can’t possibly use them all I freeze them in different ways ~
- Zest the lemons and juice them, place the juice in an ice cube tray to freeze. Store the zested lemon in zip lock bags and the juice in the freezer for later.
- Cut the lemons into slices, place on a tray and freeze, then put in plastic bags for use later. This is a great way to add lemons to drinks.
- Freeze the whole lemon and then grate it. Yes, you grate the whole lemon and it adds incredible flavor to cooked foods and baked goods.
I love grating/zesting citrus and use this Microplane grater all the time, it stays sharp and the length is perfect for zesting all types of citrus.
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 in that they are mostly made with three ingredients, eggs, sugar, and flour.
Notice, sponge cakes contain little or no butter or oil.
The texture of sponge cakes are 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 maybe 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
- Fresh Ginger
- Cake Flour
- Salt
- Vanilla
- Powdered Sugar
- Raspberries
- Candied Ginger
Sponge cakes are a little like an angel food cake but are made with whole eggs and sugar that is whipped for several minutes to create volume because no baking powder is used. And for an added 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 the flour to the batter
Measure the flour and then sift it into the egg and sugar batter a tablespoon at a time and gently fold 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.
While the cake is cooling make a lemon simple syrup to brush on the top of the cake which will add lots of yummy flavor and moisture.
Finish this cake off with a billowing topping of sweetened whipped cream, berries, lemon zest, and candied ginger.
Whipped Cream ~ Raspberries ~Lemon Zest ~ Candied Ginger
Lemon Ginger Sponge Cake with Whipped Cream and Raspberries
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Cake Ingredients
- 3 eggs, large
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp lemon peel, zested
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tbsp cake flour
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- ⅛ tsp salt
Topping Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tbls sugar
- raspberries or fruit of your choice
- 1 tbls lemon zest, optional
- 1 tbls candied ginger, chopped, optional
Lemon Simple Syrup
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup lemon juice
Instructions
Making the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8-inch pan by buttering the bottom and lining the bottom with a piece of parchment or wax paper. Butter the top of the paper.
- Grate the lemon and set aside
- Using a whip attachment and beat the eggs in a large bowl for a minute.
- Add the sugar to the eggs and beat for 7 - 10 minutes to triple the volume. When properly beaten the mixture should fall from the whipping attachment in ribbons and slowly dissolve in 10 seconds
- Stir in the vanilla, lemon zest and grated ginger.
- Sift 1 tablespoon of flour and salt on top of the batter and slowly fold in the flour. Add the 2nd tablespoon of flour to the batter and fold in until no flour appears. Do not over stir or you will deflate the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Let the cake cool for a minute then remove from the pan and remove the parchment paper then and place on a wire rack to completely cool.
Finishing the cake
- Mix the lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Set aside and let cool.
- Whip the chilled whipped cream with the sugar.
- When the simple syrup is cool, brush the top of the cake.
- Dollop the whipped cream on top of cake and top with the raspberries, lemon zest and candied ginger.
Nutrition
Light and tender Lemon Sponge Cake
I think this is just the perfect cake to have with a nice cup of tea, a glass of Moscato or even a big glass of lemonade. Have some friends over or share with your family.
This is the baking pan I use. It’s nice and heavy with straight sides and bakes cakes evenly.
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Sharon
Hi there, I’ll be making this for my mums birthday. I wanted to ask if you can use actual garlic than candied garlic ?
Jere Cassidy
I just use the candied ginger on top with the raspberries. You can omit this if you like.
Kelly Anthony
Lemon and ginger are a classic combo, and with those raspberries on top, you’ve knocked it out of the park! YUM!
Jere Cassidy
I agree I love the flavor combination.
Jere Cassidy
Beautiful cake
Jacqueline Debono
I adore lemon flavoured anything!! This cake looks and sounds divine. Great idea to freeze lemons. Have to remember that! Thank you!
Allison Hanson
This recipe looks amazing. The combo of lemon and ginger is awesome!
OneHotOven
I agree about the lemon and ginger, they go hand-in-hand.
Nicole
As soon as the weather gets warmer I always crave all things lemon. Love the raspberry combo too! I am trying this asap!
NAYNA
I love the sound of this cake and the flavours are awesome. The cake looks so soft and spongy with great texture.
Alisa Infanti
love this twist on a strawberry shortcake using raspberries! Lemon and raspberry is always a great dessert flavour combo for summer!
Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness
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!!
OneHotOven
Yes, thank God for mug cakes.
Claire
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 😉
OneHotOven
Oh, you are so lucky, Napa is absolutely beautiful right now.
Veena Azmanov
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!
OneHotOven
I have been known to eat cake for breakfast.
Natalie
I love good old sponge cake – it always reminds me of my childhood! Looks absolutely delicious!
Marie
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.
Iryna
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.