Then, with the leftover egg whites, I again attempted the thin 3-layer yellow chiffon cake I made for my sister a week or so ago, the one that came out like a HUGE layer cake. Well, it is extremely thin this time, but now I've got four mottled pots de creme on the kitchen table—dang, cause the other eight look amazingly smooth, like glass—and a HUGE but very thin yellow cookie waited to be frosted, or simply broken into little pieces and dipped in coffee. Oh, and there's a seder for eleven people I'm supposed to bring dessert for in about five hours from now...
Meanwhile, my comment-writing sister chimes in, and wants me to post the following as a comment, but it's too long for that, and also it's pretty funny, and definitely has the Irreverent Family Cookbook spirit. (My only comment: Uh, C., the sliced cake display was my idea, rendered at nine a.m. yesterday morn, if I may be so bold...) Anyway, here she is:
Last night I made Grandma P.'s Sponge Cake to bring to Seder at a friend's house. I would have made a flourless chocolate cake, but my friend said I couldn't use dairy ingredients because some of her relatives who would be at the Seder don't mix milk and meat, at least at Seder, and I didn't want to make the cake with margarine. I had tried the sponge cake once before and it didn't turn out well, but I watched my California sister make it successfully, so I figured I could do it too.
I started by separating 12 eggs. I put the whites in the small bowl of my mixer and let it whirl at high speed. Almost immediately I was covered with eggs whites, as was the counter, mixer, and floor—I had put the beater attachments in backwards. My husband, who had just cleaned up the kitchen after dinner, was not happy. Undaunted, I measured the egg whites that had not flown out of the bowl and estimated that there were four left. I then separated 8 more eggs and started again. All went well until I tried to remove the cooled cake from the pan—it came out ragged and sunk in places, definitely not presentable.
After consulting with both sisters (the California one happened to called late last night from the airport on her way to Spain) and several colleagues at work, I sliced the cake, cut off the ragged parts, and displayed it on a pretty platter. Before serving, I decorated it with whole strawberries and served it with a strawberry sauce similar to L's Strawberry Compote, but cooked briefly and then cooled. I had first attempted to make a strawberry sauce with local strawberries I had frozen last spring, but the sauce tasted strongly of freezer burn. So I left work early to go to Whole Foods to buy non-local strawberries (from California) and had a run-in with a padded pole in the crowded parking garage. My husband was not happy about this either, especially since this was the third time in eight months the right side of my car has needed body work. (Coincidentally, the second time, which was not my fault, happened the day before Rosh Hashanah).
Everyone thought the cake looked and tasted good, especially with the strawberry sauce. It was one of four desserts for thirteen people, not counting the candy, so it wouldn't have mattered much in any case.
This was the first Seder my husband and I spent together without any of our children, parents or siblings. Although I missed being with family, we had a very nice time. Lessons learned—make sure the beaters are put in correctly, a padded pole can do a lot of damage, and go with what you've got—it will be fine.
Grandma P.'s Sponge Cake
My California sister has the original recipe card in Grandma's handwriting—this is the information she gave me.
12 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
rind from one lemon
1/2 glass orange juice (I used 1/2 cup)
1 cup matzo cake meal
1/4 cup potato starch
Separate eggs.
Beat yolks well. Add sugar, then grated lemon and OJ.
Sift cake meal and potato starch together. Add to yolk mixture. Mix well.
Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.
Bake 1 hour in medium oven. (I used 350.) Cool 5 minutes, then turn upside down until cool.
(*From Debra Fioritto Weber, Your Guide to French Cuisine)
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