Recipes

Sponge Cake

Recipe No. 72 from the U.S. Army's WWII cookbook — Cakes and Cookies. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Army TM10-412 · Cake · Desserts

Serves 11½ pounds mixture, 100 servings, 1¾ ounces each.
View source — TM 10-412 Army Recipes (War Department, 1944) ↗

Recipe No. 72 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Cakes and Cookies. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

  • Egg yolks — 36 yolks (4/5 No. 56 dipper)
  • Sugar, granulated — 3½ pounds (1¾ No. 56 dippers)
  • Water, hot — 1⅛ pints (⅝ No. 56 dipper)
  • Vanilla — 1 ounce (2 mess kit spoons)
  • Lemon extract — ¾ ounce (1½ mess kit spoons)
  • Flour, sifted — 2¼ pounds (2¼ No. 56 dippers)
  • Salt — ½ ounce (1 mess kit spoon)
  • Egg whites — 36 whites (4/5 No. 56 dipper)

Directions

  1. Mix egg yolks and ½ sugar; beat 15 to 20 minutes.
  2. Combine water, vanilla, and lemon extract; add to egg mixture. Mix thoroughly.
  3. Sift flour and salt together twice. Add to egg mixture, mixing only enough to combine.
  4. Beat egg whites until light and foamy; add remaining sugar gradually. Continue beating until stiff enough to hold up in peaks but not dry.
  5. Fold egg whites carefully into egg yolk mixture, mixing only enough to combine well.
  6. Fill ungreased 50-ration pans ⅔ full. Bake in slow oven (325° F.) 25 to 30 minutes or until done.
  7. Cool before serving.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Egg yolks — 3 yolks Sugar, granulated — 4½ oz Water, hot — 3 tbsp Vanilla — about ½ tsp Lemon extract — about ⅓ tsp Flour, sifted — 3 oz Salt — a pinch Egg whites — 3 whites

This recipe makes three 50-ration pans, 3¾ pounds mixture each. Serve plain or frost with lemon or orange butter cream frostings (recipes No. 93 and 95). Sponge cakes also may be served with ice cream (recipe No. 132) or with a fruit sauce (recipes Nos. 485 to 486).

⚠ As printed, the manual is inconsistent here — “Water, hot: 1⅛ pints (⅝ No. 56 dipper)”: 1⅛ pints = 9/16 qt, but gloss says ⅝ dippers = 5/8 qt. Transcribed exactly as printed; the parenthetical Army measure is usually the safer one to follow.

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 72, Cakes and Cookies. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.