The difference between these three types of cake is compared as follows

Pound cake, which appeared in the 18th century, originated in England, due to the ingredients in its recipe:

Butter: Sugar: Eggs: Flour = 1 lb. Since 1 pound equals about 454 grams, this recipe totals 1,816 grams, which is a good amount of volume.

This recipe requires a high level of whipping skill. Especially for the butter-sugar mixture, you have to turn the butter up from the bottom at least three times to make sure that the butter is evenly whipped. And, be careful not to over-whip, or the butter will beat like tofu crumbs.

Harley's Cake, a cupcake, is said to be named after the finished product, which is shaped like a Harley comet. Personally, I don't think it really resembles Harley's comet, except to say that people are always full of romanticism about food.

The recipe for Harley's Cake actually has some roots in pound cake, with the following base recipe:

Eggs: Sugar: Flour: Oil = 1:1:1:1, but with the addition of baking soda equal to 2.5% of the egg amount.

As you can see from the recipe, this is a variation of the pound cake recipe, but by replacing the solid fat with liquid oil and giving the cake's power to loosen the whipping to baking soda (a chemical bulking agent), you can skip the fat whipping step. It is a heavy fat cake, and it is also an easy cake.

It is meant to completely lower the technical threshold of cake making, especially in terms of whipping control, basically the ingredients are mixed well, that is, you can bake a good cake.

Annexed Harley cake finished illustration, (imagine Harley comet look)

Sponge cake: different from the above two kinds of cake, sponge cake is relatively a big category. Sponge cake and grease cake is the two basic categories of cake.

Sponge cake: eggs, sugar, flour as the basis of the material, the finished product has a strong flavor, the organization is fluffy, and its porous structure is similar to the sponge and so named. Its loose hair mainly use the egg white whisked into the air will form a fine foam of this physical properties, the recipe of sugar can help this foam structure more stable, flour in the foam body between the empty space to fill the role.

Sponge cakes are more technically difficult to whip than heavy cream cakes. Because the whipping of egg whites will be inhibited by the fat, and the whites become brittle after whipping, the air holding capacity becomes poor, the stability of the whipped egg white paste is also poor. I once used a 20-egg recipe and whisked it quickly for almost half an hour after eggs + sugar to get the right volume.

Realistically, by splitting the eggs (separating the whites and yolks completely to minimize the effect of lecithin in the yolks, etc., on the egg white whisking.)

The structure of the sponge cake is shown in the picture: