Steamed sponge cake is the rare dim sum item that is easily made at home. It has the springiness of angel food cake but a fuller flavor, like a regular omelet compared to an egg white one. Its Italian/French sponge cake cousin, the genoise, can be dry, but steaming makes the Chinese version softer and moister, even without the added butter of many genoise cakes.<br /><br />This is a cake for snacking. It works for breakfast – not health food, but it is very eggy – or to grab a slice on the run. Its spongy texture makes it convenient for eating out of hand, unlike a regular cake which would be too crumbly, and its light vanilla sweetness is appealing any time of day.<br /><br />I’ve made this cake many times over many years, and it is never quite perfect. But I don’t make this cake for its looks; a steamed cake will never have the nicely golden crust of a baked one. It’s a cake I make just because I like to eat it.<br /><br />You don’t need a bamboo steamer to make this cake. Usually I just make it in the steamer basket of my pasta pot after lining it with wax paper. But more attractive is to use a regular 8-inch cake pan. Find a wide, covered pot that will fit the pan, and the only trick is finding a rack to fit in the bottom of the pot that will hold the cake pan above the boiling water.