The Biscuit de Savoie, Gateau de Savoie or Savoy cake, is a very light and airy sponge cake. It comes from the Savoy region in France. The ingredients are very simple: eggs, sugar, flour and potato starch.
How to make a Biscuit de Savoie
If you look at the ingredients, you will see that it is nothing more (or less!) than a sponge cake. However, the method of preparation differs, giving a different result. You really want to have a light and airy sponge cake, with a slightly crunchy envelop.
To get this texture, the order is important:
First beat the yolks with half the sugar. Sift the flour and starch and add to the yolks. Beat the eggs white with the remaining sugar and fold into the previous preparation.
Which mold/pan to use for the Biscuit de Savoie
The beauty of the Savoy biscuit (to me at least) is its shape. If you have a Kouglof mold or Bundt Pan at home, use it! I started being mold. With pastry and food in general, I always think the prettier the better. I usually see all Gateau de Savoie in a similar shape which has the whole in the middle of the cake.
It is important to grease well your mold. To do so, use butter making sure to cover all the surface, then dust flour and remove excess by taping the mold. If you miss a spot, the cake will be hard to unmold and most probably break.
How long can I keep the Savoy cake
You can easily keep it at room temperature to up to 5 days. If you want to save so,e for later, you can also slice the Gateau de Savoie and freeze it. You will then be able to toast the slice and eat with some jam for breakfast instead of using Brioche, it is delicious.
Possible variations
The Biscuit de Savoie is very good by istelf, but you can tweek it very easily to add more flavour to it.
Feel free to add orange blossom water to it or any zests (lime, lemon or orange). You can go one step further by adding anise seeds (or fennel seeds if you don’t find any). You can also use some saffron.
I added lime zest in this version. Try it with or without, it is totally optional.
Biscuit de Savoie
Equipment
- 1 Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- 1 Silicon Spatula
- 1 Cake mold (Kouglof or Bundt Pan)
- 1 Wire baking rack
Ingredients
- 6 eggs
- 170 g sugar
- 115 g flour
- 35 g potato starch
- Zest of half a lime
- Butter and flour for the pan
Instructions
- Preheat your oven at 170°C (338°F). Grease you mold with butter and dust with flour.
- Separate the egg whites and the yolks.
- Sift the flour and potato starch together.
- Beat the yolks with half the sugar.
- Gently fold the flour, starch and lime zest.
- Beat the eggs white with the remaining sugar and fold into the previous preparation. Do not overmix.
- Add the preparation in the mold and bake for about 45 minutes.
- Check if it is cooked by inserting a knife (it should come out dry and not wet with batter).
- Remove from the mold and let cool down on a wire rack.
This looks simple yet tasty!