Paper-Lined Sponge Cupcake

Due to my obsessive compulsive disorder, I must try making sponge cake one more time since I already kinda figured out what went wrong with my previous Japanese cheesecake recipe and I wanted to immediately make the correction and see if it works. I thought of those sponge cake you buy from Asian bakeries; those lined with paper. This recipe seems easy, thorough, and the feedback is awesome too, so I just gave it a try:


http://www.beachloverkitchen.com/2010/05/paper-lined-sponge-cupcake.html

I had to convert the measurements from grams and mls to cups and table/teaspoons before starting.

Part A
1 cup cake flour
1/4 cup corn starch/corn flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
=> Mix all and sieve

Part B
5 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
=> Beat til foamy and glossy

Part C
5 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
=> Beat til well combined then stir in
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
=> Mix well

Then fold in ingredients A (flour) into ingredients C (egg yolk mixture) until mixed. Then gently fold in ingredients B (egg white mixture) until mixed, but do not overmix (definitely no beating or whisking).

Scoop batter into muffin pan lined with parchment paper.

I baked them in preheated oven 350F for 34 minutes.

Smells and tastes very egg-y. Slightly crunchy top and sides.

Texture is much lighter than the Japanese cheesecake I made earlier. I can conclude that whisking egg white is a very important step to get spongy cake. Also, do not overmix the flour+egg mixture.

Note: Make sure to whip egg whites to soft peaks (similar to making a foam). Whip eggs to soft peak, then add cream of tartar and slowly add sugar. Superfine sugar works better than granulated sugar when trying to get fluffy sponge cake.