It all started with a simple request in my Facebook group, Norene’s Kitchen! Joan Elkon from Lovettsville, Va., posted: “Would anyone share their Pesachdike sponge cake recipe, please?“
Elise Braunstein Lainof, now of Fair Lawn, N.J., and formerly of Calgary, posted her family’s favourite sponge cake recipe and replied: “My mother-in-law taught me all I know about sponge cakes!” Enjoy…
Elise Lainof’s Passover sponge cake
o 1 3/4 cups sugar
o 1 tsp. salt
o 9 eggs separated
o 1/2 cup cake meal
o 1/4 cup potato starch
o zest and juice from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 orange (Mom uses just a whole orange and no lemon)
Preheat oven to 350. Beat together egg yolks and sugar, adding the salt, cake meal, potato starch, zest and juice. Blend well.
Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until high peaks form, but not dry.
Fold whites into batter gently by hand.
Bake for 1 hour in an ungreased 10-in. tube pan. Let cool upside down (see tip, below).
Yield: 15 slices.
Elise’s chocolate Passover sponge cake (Variation)
Same as above but substitute the citrus zest for the following:
o 4 tbsp. cocoa powder
o 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Elise’s tip: “I cool it upside down over a coke bottle or with the rim of the cake pan on coffee cups.”
Editor’s note: The idea is to raise the top of the upside down cake pan so that air circulates all around the cake.
Later that evening, I met up with a close group of friends for a birthday dinner celebration. Of course, the discussion turned to food, and then to what we were preparing for Passover. We all love sweets, so of course we started discussing our favourite Passover sponge cakes. I convinced them to share their treasured recipes and recollections with you, my readers.
READ: IT’S NOT PASSOVER WITHOUT SPONGE CAKE!
My friend, Elaine Kaplan, who prefers to edit rather than bake, commented: “Norene, you’re ‘sponging’ off us! Now I will need to add everyone’s cakes to my collection of recipes that I don’t cook/bake!” Happy baking, happy, healthy Passover to all!
Tolsa Greenberg shared: “I always used to make my mother’s sponge cake and loved it – that was my tribute to her. But my aunt, Pearl Caplan, said one day: ‘Bake Ma’s cake (my grandmother’s) instead – you’ll find it more moist.’ So now I make my grandmother’s sponge cake and make my mom’s coconut macaroons and mandelbroit. ”
Tolsa Greenberg’s ‘Ma Kate’s’ Passover sponge cake
o 1 cup potato starch
o 2 heaping tbsp. cake meal
o 1 orange
o juice of 1/2 lemon (fresh is better)
o 2 tbsp. wine
o 9 eggs, separated
o 1 1/2 cups sugar
Preheat oven to 350. Sift together potato starch with cake meal 6 times.
Squeeze juice from orange into a cup and add grated peel from top half of the orange. Add lemon juice and wine to orange juice. (Ma would always pour in a bit of water to wash the lemon off the squeezer.)
Beat egg yolks in large bowl of an electric mixer on medium high speed. Slowly pour in sugar and beat until light.
Add dry ingredients to yolk/sugar mixture alternately with juice.
In a clean bowl and with clean beaters, beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into yolk mixture.
Pour batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan with removable bottom and bake for 1 hour. Check with a toothpick for doneness.
Invert cake pan and let hang until completely cool. Remove from pan, using a metal spatula to first loosen cake from sides, bottom and centre tube. Transfer to a serving plate.
Yield: 15 slices.
Variation: If desired, a cinnamon-sugar and nut mixture can be spread in the center when putting the batter into the pan.
Helene Medjuck emailed us photos of her favourite sponge cake. She had done a test run before Pesach to try it out, using chametz baking ingredients. “It’s worth buying a can of potato starch to try it out before the big days. I do that sometimes with a new recipe to see if it’s good before experimenting on Pesach. No time for flops then!”
Helene Medjuck’s chocolate or vanilla sponge cake (Gluten-free/non-gebrocht)
o 10 eggs, separated
o 1 cup sugar, divided use
o 1/2 cup oil
o 3/4 cup potato starch
o 1 pkg (3.3 oz) Passover instant chocolate or vanilla pudding
o Passover icing sugar and grated chocolate to garnish (optional)
Preheat oven to 350. Place egg whites in large bowl of electric mixer and bring to room temperature. Beat whites on high speed, gradually adding 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until stiff, about 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
In another large bowl (or food processor), beat egg yolks with remaining 1/2 cup of sugar until well mixed. Add oil and beat until light. Add pudding mix and potato starch and mix just until combined. Batter will get very thick.
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold whites into yolk mixture, just until whites disappear. Make sure to fold in thick batter at bottom of bowl.
READ: KIDS WILL LOVE THESE BREAKFAST IDEAS FOR PASSOVER
Pour batter into an ungreased 10-in. tube pan (preferably one with a removable bottom).
Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Immediately invert pan and cool completely.
Use a flexible metal spatula (or a knife) to loosen cake from sides, centre tube and bottom of pan. Remove cake carefully from pan and transfer to a cake platter.
If desired, sprinkle lightly with icing sugar and grated chocolate. Yield: about 15 slices. Freezes well.
