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why does my almond sponge not rise very much? (1 Viewer)

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LMHmedchem

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Hello,

I am trying to make a decent almond cake for a Victoria sandwich with strawberries and orange butter cream. I am having trouble getting the sponge to rise well. I know this can be an issue when adding ground almonds to the mix. This is what I have come up with,

300 grams unsalted butter (softened)
150 grams white sugar
150 grams turbinado sugar
6 large eggs
200 grams all-purpose flour
100 grams ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Preheat the oven to 360°F/fan

Butter and spray two 9 inch sandwich tins and line with baking paper. Butter the baking paper.

Place the white sugar and turbinado sugar in a food processor with a cutting blade and process until fine.

Separate the eggs and set the yolks aside. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and then add ⅓ cup of the castor sugar mix 1 tbl at a time until the whites reach a meringue with stiff glossy peaks. Transfer the meringue to a clean bowl and cover. Cream the softened butter, salt, and the remainder of the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time and whisk until each is just incorporated. When the batter is smooth, sift in the flour and ground almonds and whisk until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and ⅓ of the meringue. Mix until the batter slackens. Sift in the baking powder and make an effort to spread it evenly over the batter. Fold in the rest of the meringue in two additions until just incorporated and the mixture has a consistent color.

Divide the batter between the 2 tins and smooth level. Bake on the middle oven shelf for 20-25 minutes until a skewer pushed into the center comes out clean. Remove the sponges from the oven and leave in the tins for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


The cake is alright, but it is about 50% less than the volume I would expect. The texture is not bad and it is reasonably light, so I am wondering if I am just not using enough mix for 9-inch tins. They seem to bake more quickly than I would expect, which would also suggest that there is not enough mixture in the tins.

I thought it would help to whisk up the egg whites and add the baking powder at the end, but that did not show much of an improvement over the all-in-one method. To me, the cake also does not have that much flavor and is not sweet enough. It tastes more like good soft cornbread than cake. I'm not really tasting the almond but I am afraid to add more ground almonds since that would make the rasing issue worse. I sometimes find European cake recopies to be like this (less sweet), but I don't know how to fix it. I am sure it won't be awful with the strawberries and buttercream but I think I can do better.

Should I increase the total quantity of ingredients in the mix?
Should I add more baking powder?
Should I add the baking powder at a different time or in a different way?

I have attached a picture if that helps. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

LMHmedchem
 

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Hi LMHmedchem

Welcome to the site.

From the first line of your post, I need to ask you if you are looking to make an Almond Cake or a Victoria Sandwich Cake because both cakes are different in taste, texture and recipes.

Victoria Sandwich cakes are an English Classic. They're light and fluffy sponges that derive from equal amounts of butter, sugar and flour. The sponge itself is made using the creaming method, and then the eggs are added one at a time.

For an Almond cake, you would predominantly use a large number of almonds and have a minimal amount of flour. Looking at your recipe, you have a combination of the two whereby you’re substituting flour with ground almonds.

Did you create this recipe yourself?

With regards to the height of your cake, smaller tins usually, bake batter quickly so 20-25 mins baking time is what I would expect for a sandwich tin. The height of the cake is also on par with what will be coming out of a sandwich tin. The size of the tin is only 1-2-inches which is what the depth of your cake will amount too.

If I place a Victoria Sandwich recipe that I usually split into sandwich tins and put the batter into a 6-inch x 3-inch cake tin, it will make a much deeper cake. So the depth will always be down to the size of tin that you use.

If the mixture is baking quickly, this is usually because the batter is in a small tin, the oven is at a higher temperature, or there is a small amount of mixture on a larger surface area which is seemingly baking quickly. I always use 7-inch Sandwich tins with my recipes.

Adding too much baking powder to a recipe will give the cake a bitter taste, so it's best to avoid. Also, check to see whether it is a single-acting powder (this starts creating carbon dioxide as soon as the powder is mixed into your ingredients so as soon as you incorporate it get it into the oven) or a double-acting powder which starts to work when it is in the oven and heat incorporates into it.

Baking is very much a science, so once you start altering things, the texture, taste and consistency of a cake can quite literally go out the window albeit I get your frustrations.

I'd say if you were happy with the flavour of the cake and are looking for extra height, then I would bake it in a deeper tin but seeing that you've done numerous methods and you're still unhappy with the overall result then I'd look at changing the recipe.

I have a tried and tested Victoria Sandwich Recipe that I use all the time, this can be doubled up to create a deep cake, used for cupcakes and used to make the original sandwich cake.

Here is the tutorial:


I also have a lovely Orange and Almond Cake Tutorial that you may wish to try out to see how it compares to yours.


I also have an Orange Cream Cheese Filling that you may also wish to try.


The cake picture you sent over does look fine, so I assume you are going to sandwich the other layer on top with the filling which will give the cake more height.

I hope the above helps, but if you need anything else, then please let me know.

Good luck! 😊
 
Last edited:
Hello Angie,

Thank you for the reply.

From the first line of your post, I need to ask you if you are looking to make an Almond Cake or a Victoria Sandwich Cake because both cakes are different in taste, texture and recipes.
I guess I am trying to make an almond flavored Victoria Sandwich Cake. I have sometimes found the Victoria Sandwich to not have allot of flavor and thought that the addition of almond would go nicely with the strawberries and the orange buttercream.

Did you create this recipe yourself?
This recipe is based on the traditional Victoria Sandwich with equal amounts of sugar, butter, and flour, with one medium egg, ½ tsp baking powder, and ¼ tsp salt per 50g of the other ingredients (I don't generally have self raising flour). I switched out ⅓ of the flour for almond flour and added the almond extract.

My first effort used the creaming method but the cake was too flat, too dense, and a bit dry. I realized that I had used a recipe for 8-inch tins and baked in 9-inch tins, so the cake batter was not very deep in the pans. I thought it likely that the thinner layer of mixture cooked more quickly than I was expecting and so the cake dried out some. I don't know why it didn't rise very much. To address this, I increased the amount of mixture for the larger pans, and decided to separate the eggs and add the whites as a meringue to lighten it. I also added the baking powder as late as I could.

The cake is definitely lighter and has a nicer crumb then before. It also was moist and fairly light the second day, which I think is a better test. Most everything tastes nice right out of the oven.

With regards to the height of your cake, smaller tins usually, bake batter quickly so 20-25 mins baking time is what I would expect for a sandwich tin. The height of the cake is also on par with what will be coming out of a sandwich tin. The size of the tin is only 1-2-inches which is what the depth of your cake will amount too.

If I place a Victoria Sandwich recipe that I usually split into sandwich tins and put the batter into a 6-inch x 3-inch cake tin, it will make a much deeper cake. So the depth will always be down to the size of tin that you use. If the mixture is baking quickly, this is usually because the batter is in a small tin, the oven is at a higher temperature, or there is a small amount of mixture on a larger surface area which is seemingly baking quickly. I always use 7-inch Sandwich tins with my recipes

Based on the Victoria Sandwich recipe you linked to, if you are baking in 2"x7" tins, I should need about 40% more of each ingredient to get the same result in a 2"x9" tin. For your recipe, that would be 210g of flour/butter/sugar and 4 eggs. I am already using more than that and am getting a cake that is 1" high in my 2"x9" tin. The top of the cake also doesn't have much of a dome. Is this just the almond flour or do I need to whip more when I cream the butter, or something like that?

This time, I left the cake in for 20 minutes, but was worried by about 15 and turned the oven down some. It came out fine but you really shouldn't have to change the oven temp for something like this.

Adding too much baking powder to a recipe will give the cake a bitter taste, so it's best to avoid. Also, check to see whether it is a single-acting powder (this starts creating carbon dioxide as soon as the powder is mixed into your ingredients so as soon as you incorporate it get it into the oven) or a double-acting powder which starts to work when it is in the oven and heat incorporates into it.

I have checked the date on my baking powder but I think I will buy a new can anyway. I have no idea whether it is single or double acting. It doesn't say on the can. Do you have a favorite brand or type? Do you think that 2 tsp is enough for a 300g flour/butter/sugar mix? Should I possibly add it with the egg yolks to make sure that it gets good and wet?

Baking is very much a science, so once you start altering things, the texture, taste and consistency of a cake can quite literally go out the window albeit I get your frustrations.

I'd say if you were happy with the flavor of the cake and are looking for extra height, then I would bake it in a deeper tin but seeing that you've done numerous methods and you're still unhappy with the overall result then I'd look at changing the recipe.

I think that the flavor of the cake is ok but not exactly an eye-opener. The almond did came through more on the second day but it is not as sweet as I would like. Can I add more sugar and a bit more almond extract without messing up the structure of the cake? I will try cake flour next time as well

The cake picture you sent over does look fine, so I assume you are going to sandwich the other layer on top with the filling which will give the cake more height.
I am going to be doing some baking for a tea this weekend and would like to get a bit of an improvement. I do think that the last one I made would be fine once the strawberries and buttercream were added but I do think it could be better.

LMHmedchem
 
If you're quite happy with experimenting then here's a couple of options for you:

If you want the cake lighter in texture, then opt for a Victoria Sponge recipe, make the cake using cake flour or all-purpose flour and add an extra teaspoon of baking powder (for the 300-gram mix) and maybe add some Amaretto to give it a more in-depth Almond flavour.

(By adding the baking powder to the flour you are effectively making self-raising anyway, so check the side of the baking powder tub as this usually indicates how much you will need to convert it).

To give the cake maximum aeration mix the butter and sugar until they turn from a yellow to a pale colour. This incorporates air into the mixture also sieve the flour and baking powder into the mix. I usually add my dry ingredients at the same time.

The traditional Victoria sponge cake will give you more of a dome effect, whereas an Almond cake will provide you with a denser, flatter texture.

Dense, flat and dry results can be caused by overbeating the batter or the flour itself. Ground almonds lack gluten, so the cake has more of a denser texture to it and won't rise as well. The incorrect amount of batter and the size of your tin will cause the cake to spread and become thinner.

You were correct with the quantities of the Victoria Sponge, for a 4 egg mix I use 200 grams of each.

Your oven temp is running high, so you may wish to lower it instead of changing the temperature halfway through. Try reducing the temp overall by about 10 degrees and see if that fairs any better for you.

Your turbinado sugar may alter the flavour of the cake and could give hints of a caramel flavour, so perhaps using all white sugar may also help.

Adding too much sugar can alter the structure of the cake so if you're looking for more flavour then add 2 tsp of almond extract and remove the vanilla flavouring.

The baking powder from the local supermarket will probably be the double-acting powder, and I tend to use Dr Oetker.

dr oetker.JPG

To make a deeper cake place all the batter in a bigger tin, bake for longer, then cut the cake in half.

I think I covered everything, but if I've missed anything, then please let me know. 😊
 
Thank you again for all of your help.

I am going to try the following,

- use 100g cake flour, 100g all-purpose flour, 100g almond flour
- use 3 tsp baking powder for the 300g total flour weight (I only used 2 tsp before)
- whip the butter and sugar more during creaming
- sift in the flour (I did this last time as well)
- fold in the flour after sifting instead of using the mixer
- add the baking powder at the same time as the flour

I think the combination of the above should result in more rise.

Another question I have is about how to grease the pan. I use 2"x9" non-stick cake pans. I butter the pans, add a circle of parchment to the bottom of the pan, and then lightly butter the parchment. I can always get the cake out when I do this. I know there are some cases where you don't want to grease the sides of the pan so that the batter can grip and move up as it bakes and rises. Is this one of those cases? Should I not butter the sides of the non-stick pan or place a ring of parchment around the sides and not butter the inside?

I would guess the answer is no and that I should stick to what I have been doing but I thought I would ask.

LMHmedchem
 
You're most welcome, hopefully with the use of cake flour, additional baking powder and extra creaming you will get the extra rise but if you don't then I would look at reducing the amount of almond flour you're using. (Also note how it tastes).

I don't use parchment or butter to grease sandwich tins I always use a cake release spray which works wonderfully. I either use Bake Easy or PME Release-a-Cake Sprays.

bake easy.JPG pme release a cake-001.JPG

You spray these all around the tins and then when the cakes have baked they slide right out. I only use parchment paper for lining the base when using deeper tins. I also use it to surround the tin to give me an even bake. (Anyway that's another cake so back to the topic at hand). 😊

Greasing your tins is dependent on your recipe so anything that contains fats/butter or relies on additional leavening (like this one) will require greasing. It's more egg white-based cakes such as Angel cake that don't need the pan to be greased as the 'foamed egg whites' use the tin to rise by adhering to it as it bakes.

I think you would struggle a little trying to place a thin layer of parchment in the sandwich tin because they're not very deep so stick with your butter method (which works) or use the butter method and then lightly coat the tins after greasing with a little flour to stop the cakes from sticking.

I'm sure you've got all your bases covered, so fingers crossed for the bake! 🤞
 
Hello,

I am trying to make a decent almond cake for a Victoria sandwich with strawberries and orange butter cream. I am having trouble getting the sponge to rise well. I know this can be an issue when adding ground almonds to the mix. This is what I have come up with,

300 grams unsalted butter (softened)
150 grams white sugar
150 grams turbinado sugar
6 large eggs
200 grams all-purpose flour
100 grams ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Preheat the oven to 360°F/fan

Butter and spray two 9 inch sandwich tins and line with baking paper. Butter the baking paper.

Place the white sugar and turbinado sugar in a food processor with a cutting blade and process until fine.

Separate the eggs and set the yolks aside. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and then add ⅓ cup of the castor sugar mix 1 tbl at a time until the whites reach a meringue with stiff glossy peaks. Transfer the meringue to a clean bowl and cover. Cream the softened butter, salt, and the remainder of the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time and whisk until each is just incorporated. When the batter is smooth, sift in the flour and ground almonds and whisk until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and ⅓ of the meringue. Mix until the batter slackens. Sift in the baking powder and make an effort to spread it evenly over the batter. Fold in the rest of the meringue in two additions until just incorporated and the mixture has a consistent color.

Divide the batter between the 2 tins and smooth level. Bake on the middle oven shelf for 20-25 minutes until a skewer pushed into the center comes out clean. Remove the sponges from the oven and leave in the tins for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


The cake is alright, but it is about 50% less than the volume I would expect. The texture is not bad and it is reasonably light, so I am wondering if I am just not using enough mix for 9-inch tins. They seem to bake more quickly than I would expect, which would also suggest that there is not enough mixture in the tins.

I thought it would help to whisk up the egg whites and add the baking powder at the end, but that did not show much of an improvement over the all-in-one method. To me, the cake also does not have that much flavor and is not sweet enough. It tastes more like good soft cornbread than cake. I'm not really tasting the almond but I am afraid to add more ground almonds since that would make the rasing issue worse. I sometimes find European cake recopies to be like this (less sweet), but I don't know how to fix it. I am sure it won't be awful with the strawberries and buttercream but I think I can do better.

Should I increase the total quantity of ingredients in the mix?
Should I add more baking powder?
Should I add the baking powder at a different time or in a different way?

I have attached a picture if that helps. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

LMHmedchem

The recipe you posted is quite wrong.
Egg whites that are to be folded into a batter cannot be held so they are always the final step, not the first step.
And substituting almond for flour will only impede it from rising all the more.
I'd say its dead on arrival as written.

You might like a dacquise or japonaise nut meringue.
 

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