Petit Four
Follow recipe for Cream Sponge Cake. Bake in a shallow pan, cool, and shape, using a small round cutter. Split, and remove a small portion of cake from the centre of each piece. Fill cavities of one-half the pieces with whipped cream sweetened and flavored, cover with remaining pieces, and press firmly together. Nuts or glacé fruits cut in pieces may be added to cream. Melt fondant, color, and flavor to taste. Dip cakes in fondant, decorate tops with pistachio nuts, violets, or glacé cherries, and place each in a paper case.
Sponge Cake
Yolks 6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Grated rind one-half lemon
Whites 6 eggs
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Beat yolks until thick and lemon-colored, add sugar gradually, and continue beating, using Dover egg-beater. Add lemon juice, rind, and whites of eggs beaten until stiff and dry. When whites are partially mixed with yolks, remove beater, and carefully cut and fold in flour mixed and sifted with salt. Bake one hour in a slow oven, in an angel cake pan or deep narrow pan.
Genuine sponge cake contains no rising properties, but is made light by the quantity of air beaten into both yolks and whites of eggs, and the expansion of that air in baking. It requires a slow oven. All so-called sponge cakes which have the addition of soda and cream of tartar or baking powder require same oven temperature as butter cakes. When failures are made in Sunshine and Angel Cake, they are usually traced to baking in too slow an oven, and removing from oven before thoroughly cooked.
Sunshine Cake
Whites 10 eggs
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
Yolks 6 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Beat whites of eggs until stiff and dry, add sugar gradually, and continue beating; then add yolks of eggs beaten
