Honey Sponge Cake For Passover

This was my first Passover-friendly baking experience. I think it went well. I will not have the final verdict until we try it tomorrow night at our Passover Seder. The process was not too difficult though, just relied on a lot of ingredients that I did not have in my pantry prior to this afternoon. The final product is a bit sticky, (because of the honey, I suppose) but seems like a light, spongy cake; not dry like most desserts that you get for Passover.

Here is what you will need -unless you are a gluten-free eater, you will probably need to get to the store before-hand to get the grain-free ingredients:
6 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1/2 C Honey (about half of a normal sized container of honey)
1/2 C Sugar
Zest and Juice of half a Lemon
1/2 C Matzah Cake Meal
3 Tblsp Potato Starch
1 Tblsp Ground Cinnamon

And now for the important part, the process: (drum roll please)
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Have handy an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.
Seperate your eggs first, so that they are all ready to go when you need them.

























Zest and juice your lemon, and set this aside


















Beat egg whites in large bowl until stiff (read fluffy, airy, etc).

















Continue beating, while very slowly adding the sugar. When whites are shiny, set aside.

















ooooo shiny! no, we must focus!


Beat egg yolks with honey, lemon zest and juice.
















The chunky looking stuff is just lemon zest-calm down :-)

Fold in Cake Meal, Potato Starch, and Cinnamon

































Fold yolk mixture into whites, until all is incorporated.

















See how the egg whites look all fluffy, and light? This is how you know you have beaten them correctly/long enough. Fold this in carefully to ensure that you do not ruin that fluffiness. I used a silicon spatula, and mixed very, very, very (do you get the point?) slowly. This fluffy egg white mixture will aid in the leavening of the cake. It will also add an airy-ness that would otherwise be replaced with dry, grossness. We have to be especially careful about this since we are not using regular flour.

Pour batter into an ungreased pan and bake 55-60 minutes.

























I placed my tube pan on top of a cookie sheet to catch any spilled batter. This is a good idea because the tube pans do not always seal all the way. Or, if you are a klutz like me, and spill the batter while you are pouring it, it will be on the cookie sheet instead of all over everything else (hopefully)


















When the baking time is complete, invert the cake on a cake rack and let cool completely before removing from the pan. The cake will be very sticky, so be ready!


















The cake smelled delicious while it was baking, I cannot wait to try it tomorrow night! Check back to see the photographs of the completed product, and to find out if it tastes as good as it smells!