Chinese Bakery Sponge Cake

Instructions

Make Homemade Cake Flour In Advance:

• If using store-bought cake flour, go straight to the next step "Make Vanilla Sponge Cake".
• It is straightforward to turn organic all-purpose flour into cake flour at home. Simply steam the flour for 10 minutes in a bamboo steamer. Read here for a detailed guided recipe.
  

Make Vanilla Sponge Cake:

• Gather ingredients for the sponge cake. Separate egg yolks from egg whites. Place egg whites in the Stand Mixer along with 3 tsp white vinegar. Place wet ingredients (egg yolks, avocado oil, milk, and vanilla extract) in another large mixing bowl. Place cake flour and salt in a bowl. Add cane sugar to another bowl.
  
• Turn the Stand Mixer to medium-high, 6 out of 10 for instance, and set a timer for 5 minutes. Gradually sprinkle the sugar into the mixer in a circular motion after 2 minutes of beating. Stop the mixer once the volume has expanded multiple times and the peaks have formed. It usually takes about 5 minutes for my KitchenAid Stand Mixer.
  
• Use an electric hand mixer to beat the wet ingredients until everything is fully blended. Slap the mixing bowl a few times to get rid of the bubbles.
  
• Sift the cake flour and salt into the wet ingredients mixing bowl, and use a silicone spatula to fold into the liquid mixture.
  
• Do a small batch at a time. Once you have folded the flour with the egg yolks/oil/milk mixture, should you see large flour particles, use a large egg whisk to pound and break them. Use a vertical quick up and down pounding motion, do not stir in circles to avoid the flour turning doughy.
  
• Add half of the homemade meringue to the mixing bowl and use a fold motion to blend.
  
• Pour everything from the large mixing bowl into the Stand Mixer and use the fold motion to blend.
  
• Pour the cake batter back into the large mixer, and continue to use fold motion to blend everything together. However, remember not to overwork the batter, otherwise, the cake will taste doughy.
  
• Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
• Line the two 8-inch cake pans with the unbleached parchment paper. Add half of the cake batter to the cake pan respectively.
  
• Use the spatula to gently level and then slap the cake pans firmly on a hard surface to get rid of the bubbles and level the top.
  
• Bake on the middle rack for 25 minutes and then remove to cool on a wired rack.
  
• To prevent condensation potentially cumulating in the bottom of the cake, As soon as the cake is cool enough to handle with hands, use a butter knife to slice along the sides of the cake pans and remove the cake along with the parchment paper and cool.

Make the Whipped Cream:

• The freshly whipped cream is the best. Do this right before you are ready to assemble the cake.
• Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract under "For Whipped Cream" in the Stand Mixer, and add sugar to a bowl.
• Turn on the Stand Mixer to medium-high (e.g. 6 out of 10) and set a timer for 6 minutes. Start to sprinkle the cane sugar into the Mixer along the edge, little by little 2 minutes into the beating. Be careful not to let the bowl touch the rotating part of the Mixer.
• Once the volume expands to multiples and peaks form, stop the Mixer. This takes about 5-6 minutes.
  

Assemble the Cake:

• Make sure the cake is fully cooled to room temperature. You can certainly store the cake in the refrigerator and assemble it the following day which I do quite often.
• Remove the parchment paper gently. You can use a knife to peel one thin layer to remove the crust and level the cake. I usually adopt a rustic approach and skip this step.
  
• Generously top each sponge cake with freshly made whipped cream. Stack the two cakes, and cover the cake tower with whipped cream. Garnish the strawberry slices.
  
• All done! Enjoy a naturally yummy cake.