I made quite a few changes to this recipe, based on the reviews here+ a sponge cake recipe in a baking book (that explains their rigorous testing methods) + my own tastes - but I kept the egg ingredients the same since I wanted to use up a whole lot of yolks! Sorry I'm not posting it as a custom version but I don't want to buy that membership! My cake turned out very well (I'd rate 5*) & got many positive comments from the eaters. Texture was just right - a bit spongy, yet light enough - not too dense. Flavor nice. I think the egg whipping is important, see below. Here goes: Total of 1 2/3 c flour, but make it up of about 2 parts cake flour and one part all-purpose flour. Same baking powder and salt as recipe, same sifting together instructions. Same quantity of eggs, but: Separate the whole egg, add its yolk to the others. Whip up the egg white to soft peaks, set aside. Now, spend a LOT of time whipping the yolks, like 10 minutes, til they're REALLY lovely, light, and pale colored. Fold in the whipped egg white. Same amount of sugar. Recipe makes it sound like you have to beat yolks and sugar together for 10 minutes - not sure about that need! Same amount of zest, orange juice. Gentle but thorough folding is probably important. I substituted orange extract for the lemon extract. I added 2 T Grand Marnier (orange liqueur) and removed 2T from the water quantity. I used room temperature water, not boiling water. Tube pan. Check for done-ness at 45 mins. Good luck - Enjoy!

Reviewed On: May 2, 2011

I prefer this recipe to the one that was handed down with the mold, which used Crisco instead of butter and 3 egg whites instead of 2; I added 2 tsp lemon zest which came out very mild in flavor; might experiment with other flavors next time, like orange zest and Grand Marnier! I actually made two, one right after the other (twins!) and they both came out of the mold perfectly. It is a somewhat dense cake and not too sweet, which is fine with me, but needs something liquid to drink or eat (like milk or ice cream) along with it! The eyes are raisin ends, the nose an end cut from a pink jelly bean. Statice flowers form the collar. I used an egg-white based frosting with corn syrup whipped and cooked in a double boiler. Now I've got to figure out what to do with all these egg yolks!!

Reviewed On: Apr. 27, 2011