[SPONGE sb.1] A very light sweet cake made with flour, milk, eggs and sugar.
1825. York Herald, 18 June, 2/1. The assailants scrambled amongst themselves for the ices, which they picked out of the glasses with their fingers, or hit at as if sponge-cake.
1843. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 269. A hot jelly, and one modest sponge cake.
1860. All Year Round, No. 48. 514. I cannot dine on stale sponge-cakes that turn to sand in the mouth.
1874. Burnand, My Time, 97. He returned with a bottle of lemonade and two sponge-cakes in a bag.
attrib. 1846. Soyer, Cookery, 565. Have buttered a large sponge-cake mould.
1883. Annie Thomas, Mod. Housewife, 9. Some nice soup and a spongecake-pudding.