Pan di Spagna!

It means Bread of Spain, but it’s really a classic Italian Sponge Cake that I love flavored with lemon. It uses no leaveners at all. It’s leavened only by the beating of the egg whites and yolks so it’s a very delicate batter, but it comes out light as a cloud.  I actually use 3 different ways of flavoring, Lemon Zest, Lemon Extract, & Limoncello.  Once it’s made you can fill it with strawberries, lemon custard, or whatever you can come up with. But my favorite way is to just eat it plain, as is, with a nice cappuccino in the morning. Any way you choose to enjoy it, you’ll love it! Buona Fortuna!

5                              Eggs, separated into 2 mixing bowls*

1 ½         cups       Sugar

1 ½         cups       Flour

1              tsp.        Lemon Extract

2              Tbl.         Limoncello Liqueur

The zest of one Lemon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and Flour a 10” (2” deep) cake pan and place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom (also greased and floured).  With an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with about half of the sugar, the lemon zest, lemon extract, and the limoncello, until they are very pale in color, thick and rich. Then, IN A CLEAN BOWL, beat the egg whites until they come to soft peaks*. Gradually add in the other half of the sugar and continue to beat to medium/stiff peaks.

Once the eggs are beaten, with a rubber spatula, very delicately fold in the whites into the yolks in 3 stages leaving streaks of white in the mixture. Do not fold them in completely. Once you’ve folded the whites in, sift the flour into the egg mixture very slowly and in many stages while folding. In other words, sift-in enough flour to cover the mixture and gently fold it in with a rubber spatula being careful not to deflate the eggs. Repeat until all the flour has been incorporated.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. If you did it right, the cake should be golden brown and nice and level. Let cool for 10-15 minutes then turn the cake out onto a 10” plate and allow to come to room temperature before cutting into it…if you can!

Buon Appetito!

*It is imperative that the bowl for the egg whites is clean. If there is ANY trace of oil, yolks, or fat in the bowl they will never beat correctly.