Sponge Cake

Ingredients:
Unsalted butter and flour for preparing the pans
1 cup cake flour
Pinch of salt
6 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare your baking pans. I always butter mine, add parchment paper, butter the paper, then flour the paper.

Pass the flour and salt through a fine-mesh sieve over a small bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, combine the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until thickened and pale yellow. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

To a clean bowl add the egg whites. Whip on medium speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue beating, until the whites have formed soft peaks. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and beat in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar at a rate of about 2 Tbs. every 15 seconds. After all of the sugar has been incorporated, beat the whites for 1 minute more, until they form stiff peaks.

Add about one-third of the egg whites on top of the yolk mixture. Then, fold the mixtures together. Pile the remaining egg whites on top of the mixture and fold them in.

Fold in the flour mixture in 4 additions until the batter is light and foamy.Pour the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it evenly. Bake the cakes for 18 minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then remove from pans. Discard the parchment. Let cool completely on the racks, about 45 minutes.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Mastering Series: Cakes