Ladyfingers or Ladyfingers Sheet Cake Recipe

Why Make This Recipe

If you are looking for an easy ladyfinger recipe that can be baked as a layer in a half sheet pan or piped into fingers, this is the one you want.

The cake/ladyfingers bake up light and spongy and ready to soak up espresso syrup for tiramisu (might I suggest my easy eggless tiramisu?) or any kind of simple syrup to be used in a trifle, jelly rolls, or pretty much any layered dessert you can think of.

This type of sponge cake is not a stand-alone snack.

What it is is a component that’s good to have in your back pocket for anything from a quick layer cake to a cake roll.

The recipe makes a generous amount of cake or ladyfingers, and you can make either a chocolate or vanilla variation.

How to Make Ladyfingers

A ladyfinger is nothing more than a fat-free (added fat, anyway) sponge cake batter piped into a finger shape.

So, while their shape may set them apart, their ingredient list does not.

Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Egg yolks: Assists in browning, leavening, and emulsification. The fat in the yolks is also the only fat in the recipe, so it helps to tenderize the sponge.
• Egg whites: Aids in structure and leavening.
• Sugar: Brings sweetness, assists in browning and retains moisture in the sponge cake.
• vanilla: Adds flavor and a negligible amount of water.
• salt: Helps to firm up the foam during mixing and brings out flavor
• cake flour: Adds bulk and structure with a relatively low amount of gluten. You can substitute all-purpose flour, but I prefer the finer texture that cake flour brings.

Chocolate Ladyfinger Variation

For chocolate ladyfingers, you’ll substitute 1 oz of cocoa powder for 1 oz of the cake flour and sift the two together.

Seriously, that’s the only difference.

You can add a touch more depth of flavor by adding in a couple of teaspoons of instant coffee or espresso powder.

To build a ladyfinger, you need 3 basic items plus some flavorings: eggs (separated), sugar, and flour.

Procedure

The procedure is fairly straightforward:

1. Whip your yolks with some of the sugar until very thick and light.
2. Whip the whites with the rest of the sugar to medium peaks and add on top of the yolk mixture.
3. Sift flour over both, gently but thoroughly fold together.
4. Pipe/spread and bake.
5. The End.

What you’ll end up with is a very light, airy, dry little cake (or ladyfingers).

And that by itself does not seem like a Worthy Achievement. Until you bring some added moisture to the party.

Booze, simple syrup, coffee, fruit juice—whatever sounds good.

Liberally sprinkle/brush/spray/dunk your sponge with the liquid so it soaks it all up. You want it moistened all the way through but not dripping.

Equipment Recommendations

You can use a stand mixer or a hand mixer to make these delicate this ladyfingers recipe.

I like to use a large offset spatula to spread it gently into the pan. I use a half-sheet pan rather than a jelly roll pan because I find it to be a more versatile size and depth.

And while I often recommend parchment for baking, I think Silpat or another silicone baking mat is the way to go here.

If you do use parchment, spray lightly with pan spray and then dust with cake flour for vanilla sponge or cocoa powder for chocolate. That will make it easier to peel the paper off the cake once baked.

I use a fine-mesh strainer for sifting because I can also use it for other things, and many dedicated sifters are not dishwasher-safe.

Visual How-To

There’s not a lot of ladyfinger baking going on in the US, I don’t think.

So here are some short video clips to give you visual clues for what your yolks, whites, and the finished batter should look like.

I hope you find them helpful and instructive.

Note how thick and pale the egg yolks will get. They should be very, very thick, almost like marshmallow cream:

Don’t take the whites all the way to stiff peaks or you run the risk of overmixing them when you fold everything together.

Take the whites to medium to medium-stiff peaks. The peaks will curl over when you hold up the beater:

Once the whites are at the correct thickness, pour them on top of the yolks, and then fold them together along with the flour or flour/cocoa powder mixture.

Rather than dumping the flour in, use a sifter.

If you fold the yolks and whites together and then add the flour and fold that in, you could lose too much volume, so I like to fold all three components in at the same time.

Tips for Success

If you are doing all your mixing in the same bowl, whip the yolk mixture first. The yolks will hold up waiting for you to whip the whites, but the reverse is not true.

If piping into fingers, use a very large round tip, or just snip off the corner of a ziptop bag and pipe them without a tip. Forcing the batter through a small opening will make it deflate and become runny.

Once baked and cooled, the very outer top crust of the cake will be slightly moist and gummy. You can “roll” that outer crust off with your fingers. Not only does this improve texture, but it also allows syrups to more easily soak into the cake.

Baking time is 12-15 minutes. Test for doneness by pressing with your finger. It should completely spring back. If you can still see your finger mark, bake another minute or two.

In the following video clip, you can see my finger left shallow marks, so I baked the cakes for an additional minute before calling them done.

Ladyfingers Recipe Q & A

What Can I Make with Ladyfingers?

Most people think of tiramisu when they link of ladyfingers, if they think of them at all.

But this ladyfingers recipe (or ladyfinger sponge cake) can be used in many ways, especially when baked as a sheet and then cut to size and shape.

Since they don’t get hard in the freezer, they make an excellent cake base for ice cream cakes. Yes, you’ll still want to soak them with syrup, but most syrups have enough sugar in them that they won’t freeze hard like ice.

Note that the ice cream cake I link to doesn’t have a base cake layer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t add one or even two. Maybe one chocolate and one vanilla. Use your imagination and make the cake you want!

You can also use a ladyfinger spongecake for jelly roll cakes or even for a buche de noel.

You can also make a mousse cake by lining the bottom and sides of a cake pan or springform pan with ladyfingers–a circle of the sponge on the bottom and piped ladyfingers around the sides, spray them all with syrup, and fill with chocolate mousse or butterscotch mousse for a sliceable mousse dessert.

Cut slices of jelly roll and fit them tightly into a glass bowl lined with plastic wrap. Fill the center almost up to the top with softened ice cream.

Place a sponge circle to fit tightly on top of the ice cream. Freeze until solid, make and pipe on some Italian Meringue and then torch for a beautiful Baked Alaska.

These are just a few ideas for you. I hope you are getting the idea that ladyfingers are very versatile!

Questions

If you have questions about this post or recipe, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.

If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I’m asleep.

Thanks for joining me today. Enjoy the ladyfingers recipe, and have a lovely day.