Mamon (Filipino sponge cake)

Mamon - made August 18, 2019 from Recipe ni Juan (English translation: Juan's Recipes)

My first attempt at mamon

I can only suppress my baking tendencies for so long and once I'd dropped 8 pounds, I gave myself the green light to try another baking recipe. In keeping with the Filipino cooking I've been doing, I now turn to Filipino baking.

This is what the Goldilocks Bakery mamon looks like

Mamon is a childhood favorite. I grew up mostly in the US but whenever one of my relatives visited, they always brought a bag full of mamon from Goldilocks Bakery, a popular bakery chain in the Philippines. To call mamon a sponge cake would be both accurate and inaccurate. It has the texture and fluffiness of a sponge cake. But it tastes much better than your average sponge cake, homemade or not. The closest comparison I can come to is those Sara Lee pound cakes you buy in the freezer section at the grocery store. As much as I do my own baking and have for years, I also have a soft spot for those Sara Lee pound cakes, as much from nostalgia as from the soft, fluffy texture of the cakes.The same with mamon.

I used paper liners as I didn't have mamon cake molds

Times have changed and Goldilocks bakeries are now in the United States as well as other Filipino bakeries who sell mamon. I decided to try making my own. It's made like a basic sponge cake. The yolks go into the main batter and the whites are beaten to medium peaks then folded into the batter. That, and a little bit of leavening, help create the fluffy texture.

One thing to be aware of with making this recipe. You'll see some of the tops are browned and others aren't. When they were done per the toothpick test, they were still a bit of a sickly pale color. Goldilocks mamon were evenly browned on top. I didn't want to bake them longer for fear they'd dry out so I did a quick, 1-minute broil in the oven before I took them out. A few of them browned faster than I expected so I took them out before the others browned on top as I didn't want the rest to get too dark or burn on top.

This was good in terms of taste and it had the fluffiness of a good sponge cake but alas, it isn't quite a Goldilocks copycat. The texture wasn't quite the same. It's similar to my quest for a banana cake like the one from Icing on the Cake. I can get close to the flavor but the texture remains a holy grail. Goldilocks mamon has a tighter crumb but with a soft, fluffy, cakey texture. This was soft, fluffy, cakey but the crumb had more holes in it and wasn't quite like Goldilocks. I'm glad I tried it though and, while I don't have the same penchant for mamon like I do with Icing on the Cake's banana cake, I could see trying out more mamon recipes to get closer to the Goldilocks version.

1/4 cup salted butter, melted, plus more for brushing molds and cakes
1 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup and 1/2 cup sugar
6 eggs, separated
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Generously brush paper molds with melted butter; set aside.
3. Sift cake flour, baking powder and 1/3 cup sugar together into a bowl; set aside. 
4. Combine egg yolks, water and melted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix at low speed until well combined. With the mixer running, slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
5. In a separate bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat with the whisk attachment of the stand mixer. Beat at high speed until egg whites double in volume. With the mixer running, slowly and steadily add 1/2 cup sugar. Continue beating until medium peaks form. Medium peaks hold their shape but the tip of the peak curls back onto itself when the whisk is lifted.
6. Gently and quickly fold in the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites. Divide the batter evenly among the molds.
7. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the molds on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the molds and let cool completely on a wire rack.