Experimental data concerning heat and mass transfer phenomena during the baking process of a sponge cake batter are presented, namely the surface and internal temperatures profiles, the surface and mean water contents and the cake expansion curves, for different process temperatures and batter thicknesses. The product textural evolution during the process was also investigated by photography and image analysis. By means of these data, two baking periods and the corresponding main transfer mechanisms were described, namely the "heating up" period and "crust and crumb" period, delimited by the formation of a dry crust at the batter heated surface. During the heating up period, water migrated from the core to the surface by diffusion in liquid phase and heat was transferred from the surface to the core by conduction and by water vapor evaporation, diffusion and condensation. During the crust and crumb period, the main resistances for heat and mass transfer are located in the dry crust where heat was transferred by conduction and water vapor migrated by convection under a gradient of total gaseous phase pressure.