Two-Egg Cake
2 eggs 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup boiling water 2/3 cup sugar 1 1/2 cups sifted pastry flour Grated yellow part of the rind of 1 lemon Put together like Plain Cake.
The objection is sometimes made to cakes in which soda or baking powder is not used and which are made light by beating air into them, that they are dry and unpalatable compared with cakes made in the usual way. The reason they seem dry is because they contain no shortening (fat in some form), which is used in cakes of the ordinary kind to make them moist and tender. Cakes made light by beating depend for their lightness upon air beaten into the eggs which are used in them. Fat of any kind added to the eggs will prevent them from catching air and becoming light. Therefore shortening cannot be added to such cakes in the usual way. But it is possible to add a little oil to cakes of this kind if it is added at the right time and in the right way, and this makes the cake more moist and more tender.
The following is a recipe for a cake in which a little oil is used:
This is a hot-water sponge cake: no butter, no baking powder, its rise coming entirely from air beaten into whole eggs. The method is carried over from the book's Plain Cake, so the ingredient list is all you get here.
- The hinge: beat the eggs to the ribbon stageWhole eggs and sugar must be beaten until pale, thick, and falling from the beater in a wide ribbon that holds its shape for a second or two on the surface. That volume is the only leavening in the cake; under-beat and it bakes flat and tough.
- Where the boiling water goesIn hot-water sponges of this kind the water is generally beaten into the egg-and-sugar foam before the flour goes in, which loosens the batter and helps it stay tender; the recipe itself refers you to Plain Cake for the order. Add it in a thin stream so the foam is not deflated all at once.
- Fold the flour, do not stir itSift the flour over the surface in three or four additions and fold with a spatula until just combined. Overworking develops gluten and drives out the air you have just spent five minutes creating.
- Pastry flourModern pastry flour is roughly 8-9% protein. If you have none, the nearest approximations are cake flour, or all-purpose flour with about two tablespoons per cup replaced by cornstarch.
- Keep fat out of the bowlThe note that follows the recipe is correct: any fat, including a trace of yolk-greased beater or an oiled bowl, interferes with the foam. Use a scrupulously clean bowl and grease the pan only, not the beaters.
- Pan and ovenAn 8-inch round or a small loaf pan suits this quantity; around 350F for 25-30 minutes, until the top springs back and a skewer comes out clean, is a workable modern setting. Cool in the pan a few minutes before turning out.
- Lemon rind"Grated yellow part of the rind" means zest only, no white pith. A microplane over the sugar lets the sugar carry the oils into the batter.
- YieldA small cake, about 8 modest slices. It is best the day it is baked; without shortening it stales quickly and is better eaten plain or with fruit and cream.