Ladyfinger sponge or ladyfingers

The ladyfinger cake or the ladyfingers we all know are flat, elongated little cakes, tender and spongy, made with a very common sponge cake formula, similar to or almost identical to the Genoise sponge; in fact some people use the Genoise recipe directly.

The proportions hover around 25 grams of sugar and 25 grams of soft flour per medium egg, about 55 grams. If you want fluffier ladyfingers you can increase the sugar weight to 30 grams per egg and conversely, if you want firmer ladyfingers increase the flour weight to 30 g per egg. As with muffins, the recommended oven temperature is higher than for a regular sponge cake to encourage the batter to rise.

As for preparation, some people whip whole eggs with the sugar, some whip only the whites into a French meringue, some whip the whites and yolks separately each with half the sugar… There are also recipes where the flour contains a proportion of starch (cornstarch, for example). Methods for every taste with slight variations in the final texture. I tend to whip the whites with the sugar and then mix with the rest of the ingredients, so here’s the recipe.

KitchenAid stand mixer, T&G acacia wood tray and Laura Ashley porcelain espresso cups with saucer

Ingredients

• 3 medium eggs at room temperature
• 65 g sugar
• 75 g soft flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• Additional sugar for sprinkling

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 200° so it’s ready when the batter is finished.
2. With a kitchen scale, weigh all the ingredients. Sift the flour, add the salt and set aside.
3. Separate the whites from the yolks and reserve the yolks. Place the whites in the bowl of a machine like the KitchenAid and beat at medium-high speed until foamy.
4. Add the sugar by tablespoons without stopping beating, until fully incorporated. Continue beating until a firm meringue forms.
5. When the meringue is ready, add the slightly beaten yolks and fold in with a spatula using gentle folding motions.
6. Do the same with the flour until combined.
7. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a round tip of about 2 cm and pipe strips of batter about 8 cm long onto a baking paper, keeping the bottom of the tip touching the paper. Sprinkle the batter with some sugar.
8. Bake the ladyfingers without fan, using top and bottom heat only, in the lower third of the oven for about 12–15 minutes, until they begin to brown.
9. Remove them and let cool on a rack.

See, making homemade ladyfingers isn’t as hard as it looks, is it?

It really helps to have the right tools, like a good stand mixer or whisk mixer that allows you to properly whip the whites.