1-Start your easy genoise cake recipe right. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch round pan, line bottom with parchment. Sift flour and salt twice. Melt butter with vanilla, keep warm. This setup ensures smooth how to make genoise cake process.

2-First Step: Set up bain-marie. Fill saucepan with 1-inch water, simmer. Place eggs and sugar in heatproof bowl over water. Water should not touch bowl bottom.

3-Second Step: Whisk eggs and sugar constantly. Heat to 110°F, about 8-10 minutes. Mixture triples in volume, turns pale yellow. Test ribbon stage: drizzle forms figure-8 lasting 5 seconds. Remove from heat.

4-Third Step: Whip on high speed 5-7 minutes until cool and thick. Batter holds stiff peaks. Scrape bowl often. This builds stable foam for homemade genoise sponge cake fluffiness.

5-Fourth Step: Sift one-third flour over batter. Fold gently with spatula in 10 strokes. Repeat twice. Use under-and-over motion. Avoid deflating air. For vegan, fold aquafaba same way.

6-Fifth Step: Fold in warm butter mixture quickly. Drizzle over edge, fold 5-8 strokes. Batter should shine, no streaks. Pour into pan, tap sides gently. Smooth top with offset spatula.

7-Sixth Step: Bake 25-30 minutes. Edges pull from pan, top springs back. Toothpick clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes, invert on rack. Peel parchment. Brush with simple syrup: 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1/4 cup water, boiled cool.

8-Final Step: Cool fully inverted. Slice horizontally for layers. Fill with jam, cream, or fruit. Dust powdered sugar. Serves fresh same day. Adapt gluten-free by baking 28-32 minutes.