Guyanese Sponge cake is a rich dessert very similar to pound cake. This deliciously decadent cake is often made with multi-colored swirls and is mostly enjoyed at celebrations like birthdays and Christmas.
Jump to:
- Guyanese Style Sponge Cake
- About this Sponge Cake Recipe:
- Why You'll Love This Guyanese Sponge Cake Recipe
- Ingredients for Guyanese Sponge Cake
- How to Make Guyanese Sponge Cake
- Substitutions & Variations
- Adding the color swirls (marble) to the batter Step by Step
- Equipment
- Storage
- Tips for the Best Guyanese Sponge Cake
- FAQ
- Related
- Printable Recipe Card
Guyanese Style Sponge Cake
I have such fond memories of my mother making this sponge cake in Guyana. She made it for all of our birthdays and sometimes for our school Christmas parties. My mom also made sponge cake at Christmas time when baking seem to span over weekends and all of her sisters came by to bake bread, black cake, fruit cake, and sponge cake.
This Guyanese sponge cake recipe is from my Aunty Cheryl who is one of the best bakers, chefs, and creators, in my family. It is so important to me that my children have similar memories of Guyanese traditions around food. So I make this Guyanese style sponge cake whenever my children ask to bake a cake.
About this Sponge Cake Recipe:
And let me say that non Guyanese people reading these ingredients, might say this sounds like a pound cake and it really is. Not sure why we call it sponge cake, except that it looks like "old school" sponges.
Why You'll Love This Guyanese Sponge Cake Recipe
- Better Than Storebought: Instead of a box cake, whip this beauty up! It's fresher and tastes much better!
- Easy to Make: Aside from technique, this recipe is all about combining ingredients. Combine, bake, cool, serve, and devour.
- Beautiful Presentation: On occasion, we'll add food coloring, each child owning a particular color. It is amazing to watch their reaction when the cake is cut open and they see the colors they worked on.
Ingredients for Guyanese Sponge Cake
The bulk of this recipe is eggs, butter, sugar, baking powder, and flour. The other ingredients are for flavor, so pick and choose which to use.
- Butter: Start with room temperature butter for this recipe. It makes a difference in how the sugar and butter creams together.
- Granulated sugar: It will integrate much smoother with room temperature butter and eggs.
- Eggs: I also use room temperature eggs in this recipe. I just take my eggs out an hour or so before I need to bake and let them sit on the counter. You can also just put your eggs in some warm water while you measure out your ingredients and it will be just as good.
- Flour: Sift all purpose flour.
- Baking powder: This makes the cake rise.
- Vanilla essence: You can use vanilla extract in its place but essence has a much stronger flavor.
- Almond essence: This is an optional ingredient for almond flavor.
- Navel orange: Use orange zest for a touch of bright, citrus flavor.
- Rum: This is totally optional but highly suggested. It helps the cake stay fresh longer and does not impact the taste. The alcohol content will burn off.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Guyanese Sponge Cake
This step-by-step video tutorial features my son Andrew as he is helping me with the ingredients. Generally, this recipe makes two 8-inch round sponge cakes. But I explained in the video that my son picked the pan out and there was no convincing him to change his mind.
It worked out perfectly and the cake was a huge success. The measurements are actually really easy to half and make one cake if you don't want this much cake. That's typically what I do when I make it with the kids.
Substitutions & Variations
- Butter: To make this dairy free I use dairy free butter. Earth balance and country crock vegan butter are two of my favorite butter substitutes.
- Sugar: I've also tried this recipe with coconut sugar and it works as a cup to cup substitute, however the cake is really dark in color because of the coconut sugar.
- Frosting: Although not traditional, you can add frosting to your Guyanese pound cake.
- Eggless Guyanese Sponge Cake: You can substitute the eggs in this recipe for ½ cup of unsweetened apple sauce and 1 cup of milk. Or ½ cup of apple sauce, ½ cup of yogurt, and ½ cup of milk.
- Guyanese Sponge Cake with Cherries: I don't like maraschino cherries in the cake so I didn't add any to this one but you certainly can.
Adding the color swirls (marble) to the batter Step by Step
- Separate the cake batter into 3 equal parts. Then add 3 drops of gel food coloring with the color of your choice and mix together well. Add more color for darker, more intense color but remember it will darken even more as it bakes.
2. Add dollops of the uncolored batter, followed by pats of the colored batter to a 9x13 baking pan. Then using the handle of a wooden spoon swirl to make a marble effect in the batter. If you wanted to have an element of surprise you could divide the batter into 4. Color two and leave two portions uncolored. Then add the two colored batter and one uncolored batter to the pan. Swirl, then top with the remaining uncolored batter, smoothing the batter to cover the top completely. Once it bakes you would only see the marble once you cut into the cake.
3. Bake at 350°F for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. You could also bake this cake at 325°F for an hour and a really soft cake.
4. Cut into it for that beautiful colored marble effect! Depending on how you added the batter you will see either even bits of color or big chunks.
Equipment
- Bundt cake pan or two 8 inch round pans: To contain the cake batter and bake the cake. This recipe makes two 8 inch x 3 inch pans or 1 9 inch by 13 inch sheet cake pan.
- Stand Mixer/Hand Mixer: Use either of these for easy creaming.
Storage
Store leftover Guyanese pound cake in an airtight container at room temperature for five days. It will last in the fridge for about 1 week.
Tips for the Best Guyanese Sponge Cake
- Do not mix ingredients at high speed. As you incorporate the ingredients to make the batter, keep the stand mixer on a low setting.
- Incorporate one egg at a time into the cake batter for easier mixing.
- I prefer to grease the pan but you can also line the baking pan with parchment paper in order to prevent the cake from sticking.
- For the best results, do not open the oven door to check on the cake. Otherwise, it may sink.
- Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan.
FAQ
What's the difference between sponge cake and pound cake?
Although both cakes contain flour, eggs, and sugar, traditional sponge cakes are made with separated egg whites and egg yolks. Pound cakes also contain butter.
What are the four main types of sponge cakes?
The four main types of sponge cake are biscuit sponge, genoise, angel food cake, and chiffon cake.
Related
Do you love this recipe? Have questions or suggestions? Let me know in the comments section. Then check out my YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram for more delicious recipes. Happy baking!
Printable Recipe Card
Guyanese Sponge Cake
Equipment
- Bundt cake pan or two 8 inch round pans
- Stand Mixer/Hand Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 lb butter room temperature
- 1 lb granulated sugar
- 10 eggs room temperature
- 1 lb flour sifted
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 teaspoon almond essence optional
- zest of one navel orange
- 1 teaspoon rum optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 °F
- Cream together the sugar and butter until fluffy and most of the sugar crystals have dissolved
- Add eggs one as a time and mix into the creamed sugar and butter
- Then add baking powder to the flour and sift together
- Next add sifted flour, ½ cup at a time to the creamed butter, sugar and egg mixture and slowly mix together forming a smooth batter.
- Add vanilla essence, orange zest and rum (if using)
- Pour mixture into a greased bundt cake pan or two 8 inch round pans
- Place on the middle rack in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until a wooden skewer or tooth pick comes out clean (free of batter) when inserted into the cake
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the baking pan
Notes
- For best results use room temperature butter. It makes the creaming process easier and helps the batter to be fluffier. Room temperature eggs are also great in the recipe. If I plan to make this I leave the eggs and the butter out over night. If I am doing it spur of the moment, I microwave the butter a little (not the best, but it works) and drop the eggs (shell on) in some warm water.
- To add color to this cake, divide the batter into 3 then add 3-5 drops of food coloring of your choice to two of the three portions of batter. Then add the batter into a greased baking pan. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, swirl to make a marble pattern. Then bake.
- Adding the rum to the batter might be new to most but I promise you it makes the cake fresher longer. Give it a try and tell me what you think!
Jonelle says
This is the best sponge cake recipe I've tried. Thank you for suvh an amazing treat!!
Althea Brown says
You are welcome. So glad you tried and liked it.
Bernadette Elizabeth Gouveia says
This reminds me of my mommy in the kitchen Christmas time....
Doll says
I try this recipe and my cake was very soft,moist and delicious thank you
Althea Brown says
This is awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Sabita says
Why does this recipe contain So much eggs...seems a bit excessive...is that many necessary?
Althea Brown says
This is how my family makes it. If you google sponge cake or pound cake you will see this many eggs in the recipe. You can try reducing the eggs but I can’t guarantee the texture will be the same. Also this recipe makes two cakes. So you can half the ingredients for 1 cake if you like.
Petal says
The eggs add texture. Some people put 12. I do.
Diane christiani says
Althea, thank you so much for this recipe. It's pretty close to my mother-in-love cake and i consider her the best baker. I made it yesterday and it's divine. I also make your bakes often. you are amazing!!
Althea Brown says
This is awesome. It’s my Aunt’s recipe and I think she’s the best baker! Thank you so much.
Shanay says
I used this recipe a few weeks ago and my cake came out amazing. I used it again for mothers day to bake a fruit cake but i used a little less flour and i was pleased. I love your recipes.keep up the good work!!!
Shanay says
I used this recipe a few weeks ago and my cake came out wonderful. I used it again for mothers day to bake a fruit cake but i used a little less flour and i was pleased. I love your recipes.keep up the good work!!!
Althea Brown says
So glad you loved it. I also have a really great fruit cake recipe. Take a look when you can.
Dianne Lopez says
How much less flor did you use for fruit cake
Nichette R says
OMG!!! I tried this recipe today-my first time ever baking a sponge cake from scratch and it was off the charts PERFECT. Love the touch of rum which is not a noticeable taste in the finished product. GREAT RECIPE! I will continue to use it. Thanks.
Althea Brown says
Thank you so much for trying the recipe and sharing. It’s a family favorite.
Michaela says
This is my favourite cake! I’m making it for my son’s birthday today. Was my Grandma the only one to put almond essence in hers?
Love your recipes!
Althea Brown says
You can totally put almond essence. Some people also add mixed essence.
Althea Brown says
Happy Birthday to your son!
Viji Debideen says
Hi my name is viji and I used your sponge and fruit cake recipe last Christmas and today .
It's not flattering for myself but I can say your recipe" ROCKS".
Althea Brown says
Thank you so much! And for trying them yumm
Martha says
Hello ...I will definitely will try it what kind of run used Eldorado Rum.
Sandy says
Made this during last Christmas and it was a hit. Will be making it again!
Rowena says
I tried this sponge cake for Christmas last year...The recipe helped me achieve an amazing cake! Better than I was even expecting 🙂 Everyone was pleasantly surprised and now somehow thinks I magically like baking! Lol Thanks Altee 🙂
pamela rai says
hi there how much cups of flour is equal to one pound of flour, and butter. i would like to bake you sponge cake. thank you pam.
Althea Brown says
There is about 3 1/3 cups in 1 pound of all purpose flour and 2 cups for 1 pound of butter.
Hema says
Made this today for the first time after seeing your instagram story; I swirled in some batter mixed with maraschino cherries for a pink swirl. So good! Thanks so much for this, Althea.
Althea Brown says
Thank you so much for trying it! So glad it was a hit.
Jo says
MY KITCHEN SMELLS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DELICIOUS. I know it's gonna be great!