Vanilla Sponge Cake with Orange Glaze

I found this recipe in my Great Grandmother Cobb’s recipe box. I just love that it says bake quickly! I had never made a sponge cake before this. I thought it was so much fun. With this recipe I made 12 bundtlets and one bundt cake. My bundt cake stuck pretty bad but I was still able to glaze it and it was just as good. Basically a sponge cake is a cake with little or no leavening, using beaten egg whites to help the cake rise. This sponge cake is an older type of sponge cake, the cold water sponge cake.

I did my proper reasearch this time, but I couldn’t find anything on cold water sponge cakes. A sponge cake is what they (the food experts) call a foam cake. Sponge cakes are made with three main ingredients sugar, flour and eggs. The reason they are so fluffy is because of the air beaten into the separated egg whites and the egg yolks.

You may have noticed the lovely wooden board that the bundtlets are sitting on. If you want one you can can find them here. This cheese/bread board is made in Tunisia by Natural Olive Wood.

I used this recipe to edit the one from my Great Gandmother Cobb.

You can find the original recipe for the orange glaze here. I did edit the recipe a little by changing proportions and adding a litttle lemon juice.

Vanilla Sponge Cake with Orange Glaze

Ingredients

CAKE

• 4 eggs, separated
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 c. cold water
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

GLAZE

• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 4 Tbsp fresh orange juice
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

WHAT YOU DO

Beat egg yolks well. Add dry ingredients, cold water and vanilla. Fold stiffly beaten egg whites in gently; pour into (REALLY) well greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. (I left my bundtlets in for 17 minutes and my cake in for 25 because I separated the batter.)

Once the cakes are cool, make glaze by combining all ingredients in a small bowl. Add powdered sugar and orange juice as necessary to get your prefered consistency. Drizzle over cakes. Slice and serve (or eat it all yourself).