Bert Greene's Special Sponge Cake

By norsegal8

I am so pleased to be able to present this extraordinary recipe, offered by one of my dearest friends and most esteemed colleagues. Bert has come up with some truly original and incentive tricks to create one of the most moist and tender sponge cakes I've ever tasted.
As a special touch, some of the sugar is sprinkled on top of the raw batter to produce a delightfully crunchy crust. This cake is perfect for the person with a real sweet tooth, although extra lemon zest helps temper the sweetness and makes salt unnecessary. As an added bonus, it has only 161 mg. cholesterol.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup + 7 tablespoons superfine sugar
• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 5 large eggs, separated + 3 additional whites
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use one ungreased 10-inch tube (angel food) pan, preheated for at least 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the orange juice, lemon zest and vanilla.

Remove 2 tablespoons of the sugar and reserve to beat with the whites. Remove another 2 tablespoons of the sugar to sprinkle on top of the batter.

Remove 3 more tablespoons of the sugar and whisk together with the flour.

Rinse a large mixing bowl with hot water and wrap the sides with a hot towel

Beat in the yolks, gradually adding the remaining 1 cup sugar, on high speed for 5 minutes or until the mixture is very thick and ribbons when dropped from the beater. Lower the speed and gradually add the orange juice mixture. Increase to high speed and beat for 30 seconds. Sift the flour mixture over the yolk mixture without mixing in and set aside.

Beat the whites until foamy, add the cream of tartar, and continue to beat until soft peaks form when the beater is raised. Gradually beat in the 2 tablespoons of reserved sugar, beating until very stiff peaks form when the beater is raised slowly. Add 1/3 of the whites to the yolk mixture, and with a rubber spatula or large skimmer, fold until uncorporated. Gently fold in the remaining whites in 2 batches.

Pour the batter into the hot pan (it will be a little more than 1/2 full.). Run a small metal spatula or knife through the batter to prevent air pockets. Sprinkle the top evenly with the 2 remaining tablespoons sugar. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the center. Invert the pan, placing the tube opening over the neck of a soda or wine bottle to suspend it well aboue the counter, and cool the cake completely in the pan.

Loosen the sides with a long metal spatula and remove the center core of the pan from the sides. To keep the sides attractive, press a spatula against the sides of the pan and avoid any up-and-down motion. Dislodge the bottom and center core with a spatula or long, thin knife. (A wire cake tester works well around the core.) Invert onto a greased wire rack, then reinvert onto a serving plate. Wrap airtight.