Sponge Cake

This recipe come from my mother in law. It is a family favorite. A very light lemon flavored sponge cake. Delicious plain or served with berries and cream. It can also split and filled with your favorite filling, then frosted or glazed.

Ingredients:

-1 cup cake flour, or regular flour sifted 3 times

-6 eggs, separated

-1 cup sugar

-1/4 cup water

-1/2 tsp cream of tartar

-1/2 tsp salt

-1 tsp vanilla

-1/2 tsp lemon extract

Glaze-as shown:

-2 cups icing sugar

-1 tsp hot tap water

-1 tsp grated lemon rind, or 1/2 tsp lemon juice

In a small bowl whisk together adding drops of hot water until you get a thick but pourable mixture. Slowly pour glaze over cake letting it run down the sides.

Method:

Using a medium bowl and a larger one separate the eggs, putting the yolks into the larger bowl.

1)Beat egg whites with 1/4 cup of the sugar and the cream of tartar. Beat well until stiff high peaks form. Set aside.

2)Beat egg yolks, adding the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar and beat until thick and creamy in colour. Add salt, vanilla and lemon extract.

3)Add flour 1/4 cup at a time drizzling the water into the batter with each addition of the flour.

4)Add the egg whites to the flour mixture and using a spatula, gently fold in the whites.

5)Put batter into and ungreased tube pan and bake in pre-heated 300º oven for 1 hour.

Do not open the door to the oven when baking .

When cake is done, invert tube pan and cool completely. I find that inverting the pan by balancing it on a cup helps to keep the top of the cake from touching anything.

To remove from pan, run a knife around the outside and the tube and the cake will slide right out. Run the knife along the bottom, turn over and place on cake plate. Glaze.

Wrapped well, this cake (unglazed) freezes for up to a month.

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