My great grandmother, Anna, was known as an excellent cook and baker. One of her most famous recipes is her sponge cake. We enjoy the cake alone and also made into strawberry shortcake which we often have for birthdays. I hope this recipe includes all of the ingredients -- in that day and age home cooks often left an item or two out so that no one could recreate the recipe as well as they did.
6 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup Swandsdown flour (or cake flour, not self raising), sifted
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Beat egg whites with pinch of salt and cream of tartar until they stand up in stiff peaks. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks with orange juice, sugar and vanilla for 5 minutes. Fold flour into the egg yolks. Fold egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.
Pour into an ungreased tube pan. Place in a cold oven and turn oven to 325 F. Bake for about 1 hour until brown.
Turn upside down over a cake rack. Let cool for one hour. Loosen and remove from pan.
To make into strawberry shortcake:
Slice some strawberries and combine with a few tablespoons of sugar and set aside. Whip cream, adding sugar and vanilla extract to taste. Cut cake in half horizontally and cover bottom layer with some of the whipped cream and the sliced strawberries. Place the top layer over the bottom layer and cover the cake with whipped cream. Top with whole, hulled, strawberries.
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