Sponge cake as an element of the dessert in the Passover meal during the Seder service, when it is often combined in serving with a fruit compote. Sponge cake Sponge cake is a cake based on flour (usually wheat flour), sugar, butter and eggs, and is sometimes leavened with baking powder. It has a firm yet well-aerated structure, similar to a sea sponge. In the United Kingdom a sponge cake is produced using the batter method, while in the US cakes made using the batter method are known as butter or pound cakes. Two common British batter-method sponge cakes are the layered
Roux French cuisine, but may be lard or vegetable oil in other cuisines. The roux is used in three of the five mother sauces of classical French cooking: béchamel sauce, velouté sauce, and espagnole sauce. In Cajun cuisine, roux is made with bacon fat or oil instead of butter and cooked to a medium or dark brown color, which lends much richness of flavor, albeit less thickening power. Central European cuisine often uses lard (in its rendered form) or more recently vegetable oil instead of butter for the preparation of roux, which is called in Slovak, in Czech, in Polish, ()