Sunday, April 15, 2012

Bubbe's Famous Sponge Cake (non Passover)







Hello world! Sorry for my slight laziness in updating this blog.

But I have a surprise for you!

After you taste this sponge cake, you'll forget that I took forever to update.  Here's the recipe everyone has been bugging me for. Bubbe's sponge cake.

This recipe puzzled me as soon as I saw it.  Next to flour and sugar, she had put the measurement in "gl."  Now, as good as I am at googling things, I had no clue what it was. Luckily, cousin Toby knew exactly what it was: a yahrzeit candle glass.


With this knowledge, I enlisted my favorite blog to find out, what the quantity of a yahrzeit glass in the 1960s was. You can see the responses here:the kitchn. One reader responded that it was equivalent to about 10 oz, so I went with that.

This cake was a staple at every single family event.  The grand finale of every meal.  And, it worked on my first attempt at trying it. Success!

There are some things to keep in mind while making it as my mother reminded me.  First, since there's nothing to make it rise other than the egg whites, it's super important that you are as quiet as possible while it bakes.  That means, no opening the oven door to peak, no speaking in loud voices (whispering only while bubbe made it), and by no means, opening and closing doors.  

So here goes:

Bubbe's Sponge Cake 

Ingredients:  

9 eggs (separate)
2 c sugar
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c orange juice
3 tbs vegetable oil
1 tsp salt

Steps

 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease angel food cake pan
2. Combine dry ingredients (make sure to sift the flour)
3. Add the vanilla
4. Add half of the egg yolks to the flour- mix on low.
5. Add oil, mix.
6. Add the rest of the egg yolks, mix.
7. Combine with the orange juice.
8.  Beat egg whites to soft peaks, then fold it into the flour mixture.  Be very careful not to crush the whites (otherwise your cake will be flat).
9. Bake for 1 hour (or until toothpick comes out clean).