Almond sponge does not rise as much as I expect?

[LMHmedchem]

Hello,

I am trying to make a decent almond cake for a Victoria sandwich with strawberries and orange butter cream. I am having trouble getting the sponge to rise well. I know this can be an issue when adding ground almonds to the mix but my alterations have not solved the issue.

This is what I have come up with,

300 grams unsalted butter (softened)
150 grams white sugar
150 grams turbinado sugar
6 medium eggs
200 grams all-purpose flour
100 grams almond flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Preheat the oven to 360°F/fan

Butter and spray two 9 inch cake pans and line with baking paper. Butter the baking paper.

Place the white sugar and turbinado sugar in a food processor with a cutting blade and process until fine.

Separate the eggs and set the yolks aside. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and then add ⅓ cup of the castor sugar mix 1 tbl at a time until the whites reach a meringue with stiff glossy peaks. Transfer the meringue to a clean bowl and cover. Cream the softened butter, salt, and the remainder of the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time and whisk until each is just incorporated. When the batter is smooth, sift in the all-purpose flour and almond flour and whisk until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract, almond extract, and ⅓ of the meringue and mix to slacken the batter. Sift in the baking powder and make an effort to spread it evenly over the batter. Fold in the rest of the meringue in two additions until just incorporated and the mixture has a consistent color.

Divide the batter between the 2 pans and smooth level. Bake on the middle oven shelf for 20-25 minutes until a skewer pushed into the center comes out clean. Remove the sponges from the oven and leave in the pans for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The cake is alright, but the volume is about 50% less than I would expect. The baked cake doesn't come anywhere near the top of the pan. The texture is not bad and it's reasonably light, so I am wondering if I am just not using enough mix for the 9-inch pans. They seem to bake more quickly than I would expect, which would also suggest that there is not enough mixture in the tins.

I thought it would help to whisk up the egg whites and add the baking powder at the end, but that did not show much of an improvement over the all-in-one method. To me, the cake also does not have that much flavor and is not sweet enough. It tastes more like good soft honey cornbread than cake. I'm not really tasting the almond but I am afraid to add more ground almonds since that would make the raising issue worse. I sometimes find European cake recopies to be like this (less sweet), but I don't know how to fix it. I am sure it won't be awful with the strawberries and buttercream but I am hoping I can do better.

Should I increase the total quantity of ingredients in the mix?
Should I add more baking powder?
Should I add the baking powder at a different time or in a different way?

I have attached a picture if that helps. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

LMHmedchem

 

[retired baker]

Whipping egg whites as step 1 , then setting the meringue aside til later is backward.
Always make the batter first, then start the egg whites.

The reason the author wrote it backward is so they don't have to clean the mixing bowl after doing the batter.
Thank the author for their laziness ruining your cake.