Sweet Mitten

Vanilla Cake

 

YIELD: Makes 8 servings

 

Ingredients

 

1 cup cake flour

14 tablespoons baker's sugar or superfine sugar, divided

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

3 large eggs, separated

6 tablespoons water

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

 

 

For cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter two 8-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides. Line pan bottoms with parchment paper; butter parchment.

 

2. Sift flour, 7 tablespoons baker's sugar, baking powder, and salt into large bowl.

 

3. Whisk yolks and next 4 ingredients in small bowl until smooth. Add yolk mixture to dry ingredients; whisk until smooth.

 

5. Beat egg whites in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add 7 tablespoons baker's sugar; beat until whites resemble thick marshmallow fluff. Fold whites into batter in 3 additions.

 

6. Divide batter between prepared pans. Bake until cakes are golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes*.

 

7. Cool in pans on racks 15 minutes. Turn out onto racks, peel off parchment, and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap and store at room temperature.)

 

Notes:

* I typically bake my cakes about 5 minutes less than what the recipe calls and take it out when the tester is not complete clean but somewhat still a bit sticky. When cooling the cake, the hot pan still cooks the cake, by taking it out earlier, you will have a cooked but still moist cake.