Lemon Ginger Sponge Cake with Raspberries

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

1. Eggs
2. Sugar
3. Lemons
4. Fresh Ginger
5. Cake Flour
6. Salt
7. Vanilla
8. Powdered Sugar
9. Raspberries
10. 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

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5 from 12 votes

Lemon Ginger Sponge Cake with Whipped Cream and Raspberries

This is a simple Lemon Ginger Sponge Cake with a topping of creamy sweetened whipped cream and Raspberries.

Course Cake

Cuisine American

Keyword Lemon Cake, sponge cake

Prep Time 40 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 8 slices

Calories 122kcal

Author Jere @One Hot Oven

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

• 3 eggs, large
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp lemon peel, zested
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp cake flour
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/8 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

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 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

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 122kcal | Carbohydrates: 14.3g | Fat: 6.4g | Cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 177mg

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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