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Rhubarb Shortcake
3 egg yolks 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 cup sugar 1 cup flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 stiffly beaten egg whites Beat yolks light, add lemon juice, gradually beat in sugar. Sift flour, baking powder, salt together, add to the egg mixture lightly. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake the cake in 2 layers in moderate oven, 375 degrees, about 25 minutes. Fill with rhubarb filling, between layers.
A lemon sponge baked in two layers and filled with stewed rhubarb — closer to a hot-milk-free sponge cake than to a biscuit shortcake. The method is all in the aeration, since there is no fat and no liquid beyond the lemon juice.
- The hinge: fold, don't stirWith no butter and almost no liquid, much of the lift comes from air beaten into the yolks and whites, working alongside the 2 teaspoons of baking powder. Sift the dry ingredients over the yolk mixture and cut them in with a few strokes, then fold the whites in three additions until just streak-free.
- Beat the yolks properly"Beat yolks light" means beating for several minutes, until pale and thick enough to fall in a ribbon. Add the sugar gradually to that base rather than all at once.
- PansTwo 8-inch round pans, greased on the bottom only or lined with parchment.
- Oven375F as written is right for a thin sponge layer. Check at 20 minutes; the layers are done when the top springs back and the edges begin to pull away.
- Rhubarb fillingThe book assumes you have a rhubarb filling to hand. Roughly 1 lb rhubarb cut in 1/2-inch pieces, cooked down with 3/4 to 1 cup sugar and thickened with a tablespoon of cornstarch, gives about the right amount for two layers — cool it completely or it will soak the sponge.
- Sugar noteOne cup of sugar to one cup of flour makes a distinctly sweet, tender crumb that stales quickly. Fill and serve the same day.
- YieldEight to ten servings from a two-layer 8-inch cake.