My father’s birthday always fell on Passover and I remember some pretty awful cakes – and once some pieces of matzah layered with jam and birthday candles on top.
Perhaps the reason was that my mother was a terrible cook (my father did all the cooking!) and there were no Passover bakeries near where we lived. Nevertheless, today it’s possible to have beautiful, high-rising cakes on Passover – whether for a special birthday or not. Here are two cakes that will be a huge hit.
It is important that the pan for a sponge cake, and any whipped egg white cake, should be ungreased, because the cake clings to the sides as it rises, thereby allowing it to rise in spite of its weight. Some reasons a cake might be falling or failing to rise, would be overbeating the egg whites – they will fall if you beat them too long – or folding the batter in too roughly, again, causing the egg whites to lose their ability to hold the air.
