National Sponge Cake Day is a holiday that falls on August 23rd and is a day to celebrate the light, fluffy cake we all know as sponge cake. Although not everyone is a fan of this type of cake, it can be used to make a variety of different desserts. Some of the desserts that people can make with sponge cake include Cherry Sponge Cake, Victoria Sponge Cake, Orange Sponge Cake, or it can be used to make a tasty version of Strawberry Shortcake. No matter how you enjoy sponge cake, just make sure to share it with friends and family. 

The History Of Sponge Cake

History can be a little bit tricky. What we mean by that is that sometimes it’s difficult to find out what happened only a few years ago but it can be easy to determine what happened hundreds of years ago. Take this holiday, for instance. We don’t know who created this holiday or when they created it, but we do know the history of sponge cake quite well. So, what we’re going to do for this holiday is talk about sponge cake’s storied history. 

During the 15th century, Medieval bakers came up with food items known as biscuits. What do these have to do with sponge cake? Well, they were more like sponge cake in texture than they in texture to modern biscuits. So many food historians consider them to be the forefathers to sponge cake. Between the 1420s and 1615, these “biscuits” would become refined until the first true sponge cake recipe was released in England in 1615. Even though the first recipe for a sponge cake was printed in England, many food historians believe that these cakes actually came from Spain during the Renaissance. 

The sponge cakes made during the 17th century weren’t like the ones we would make today. They were more like cookies than cakes. They wouldn’t become soft and fluffy like modern cakes until the 18th century. This is when bakers began to use eggs as a rising agent in the mid-18th century. The creation of baking powder also allowed the butter to be mixed into the batter. This became known as the Victorian Sponge, Victoria Cake, or Victoria Sandwich Cake. The top of these cakes would be dusted with sugar and they were often filled with jam. Modern versions of the cake don’t use jam, however, but instead use cream. 

Fluffy Facts About Sponge Cakes

Want some more fun, fluffy facts about sponge cakes? If you do, then we have a few of them that we think you’ll enjoy. We’ve discovered the following facts during our research for this holiday. 

• The traditional sponge cake has just flour, sugar, and eggs.
• Sponge cake’s consistency is very much like a sea sponge.
• The disuse of yeast during the 18th century led to a rise in the popularity of sponge cakes.

Observing National Sponge Cake Day

Observing National Sponge Cake Day is as easy as whipping up your favorite version of sponge cake or going to your local bakery to pick one up. We suppose that you could also pick up a sponge cake from your local grocery store, but those tend to be of lesser quality than freshly made ones. While you’re observing this holiday, be sure to use the hashtag #NationalSpongeCakeDay to spread the word about this sweet holiday.