Banana Sponge Cake 香蕉海綿蛋糕

My mom is a good chef and she can make all kinds of desserts, as long as you request it.  This is her style of banana sponge cake, recipe and steps are all here.  The steps seems easy but it requires quite a lot of 'technique' when making it.  She told me all the techniques though, but I was concentrating in taking pictures... which means, in another word, I wasn't really listening!  ........................

Banana Sponge Cake 香蕉海綿蛋糕

Egg 蛋                                 8 counts (separate egg yoke and egg white)
Sugar 糖                              ¾ + ½ cup
All Purpose Flour 麵粉          1 ½ cup
Baking Soda 梳打粉             ½ teaspoon
Baking Powder 發粉             ½ teaspoon
Salt 鹽                                 ¼ teaspoon
Oil 菜油                                ¾ cup
Banana 香蕉                         2 counts

10” 糕盆 (tube pan)

 Method:
1. 將麵粉﹐發粉﹐梳打粉﹐鹽伴均﹐過篩。Sift flour, baking soda, baking power and salt altogether.
2. 蛋白打至半企身﹐加½ 杯糖打至蛋白光亮備用。Whip the egg white until it’s half done, then add ½ cup of sugar and continue to whip until it’s creamy.
3. 香蕉打成蕉蓉。Mash the bananas.
4. 蛋黃加 ¾ 杯糖打至淺黃色泡沫狀﹐加油﹐香蕉蓉伴均。Add ¾ cup sugar into the egg yoke and whip until the color changes to light yellow, then mix in oil and mashed banana.
5. 將(1) 之麵 粉和(2) 之蛋 白分三次加入(4) 伴均。Mix flour (1) & egg white (2) into egg yoke (4),
6. 將粉漿倒入焗盤﹐350°F焗﹐ 20分鐘後調低至325°F 再焗30-40分鐘。Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the cake for 20 mins and turn down the temperature to 325°F, bake for another 30-40 mins.
7. 將竹籤插入蛋糕後取出﹐如竹 籤無麵 粉漿便已焗熟。Iinsert a clean toothpick into the middle of the cake, if the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.
8. 將蛋糕從焗爐取 出立即倒轉至放涼便可享用。Remove the cake from the oven and flip it upside down right away.  Wait until it's cooled and remove it from the pan.

Mom's procedures might be a bit different but over all that's almost the same:

 Sift the flour, baking soda, baking power and salt first.

 Separate the egg yokes and egg whites.

 Starts with the egg yoke first.  Add in the sugar and whip it.

 Whip until it's foamy.

 Add in the whole banana first, no need to smash it.  Banana must be very ripe (with lots of black spots on it), raw banana won't work!

The mixer will crumble down the banana, so don't worry about it.

 Add in oil and mix again, set aside.

 Now let's work with the egg white.

 Note:  be sure that there is absolutely no oil in the container or on the mixer, if not the egg white will remain watery no matter how hard you whip it.

 Add in cream of Tartar (1/2 tsp) when it's bubbly. (This was not mentioned above...)

 A picture of cream of Tartar.

 When you see more foam, pour in the sugar bit by bit.

Done, set aside.

 Pour 1/3 of the flour mix into the egg yoke/banana batter.

 Either use a cake scraper to fold the flour mix into the batter, or use a mixer to do it. Note: you don't need to mix it very well, just roughly mix it will do.

 Pour another 1/3 flour mix into the batter, mix well and do the same for the last 1/3 flour.

 Remember not to over mix the batter, slightly mix it will do.

 I have this egg white batch and banana batter batch side by side.

 Scoop 1/3 egg white into the banana batch.

 Fold it again, lightly.

 Once the first 1/3 egg white is mixed, scoop another 1/3 egg white into the banana batch.  Mix well.

 Last, scoop the remaining egg white into the batter, fold it.

 Done.

 Pour the batter into the tube pan.  No need to spray it with a layer of oil at all.

 Done.

 Put it into a preheated 350°F oven and bake it for 20 mins, then turn down the temperature to 325°F and bake it for another 30-40 mins.

 Done...and of course you have to poke it with a toothpick to make sure it's fully cooked.

 Flip it upside down right away when you removed it from the oven.  This tube pan is designed to have 3 legs so that it stands when you flipped it over.

 Reason for this flipping is that the cake will shrink when it's out from the oven, and you don't wanna see your cake becomes flat or sink to the bottom (of the container) after time, that's why you need to flip it upside down, so that it won't sink.

 Remove from the tube pan after it's completely cooled.