A fabulous sponge cake recipe for passover from the childhood friend of our dear departed Libby Sklamberg’s (ala-ha-sholem).

Ingredients

9 large eggs (separate 7)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tbsp orange zest
1 tsp lemon juice (optional)
1/2 tsp lemon zest (optional)
2 heaping tbsp potato starch
1 cup (minus 2 heaping tbsp) matzo cake meal

Preparation

Place oven rack on lowest level. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a metal bowl, beat 7 egg whites until stiff and set them aside. In a second bowl, beat 7 egg yolks plus 2 whole eggs. Gradually add the sugar, continuing to beat the mixture until it is pale yellow. Add the orange juice and zest (plus lemon juice and zest, if desired). Into a 1-cup measuring cup, put 2 heaping tbsp of potato starch. Fill the remainder of the cup with matzo cake meal. With your mixer at its lowest speed, add the remaining matzo cake meal to the yolk mixture. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand. Put the bowl with the egg whites on the mixer stand. Again, using the lowest speed, pour 1/2 of the yolk mixture slowly into the whites. Fold in the remaining yolk mixture. Pour into an ungreased tube pan with a removable bottom. Bake at 350 degrees on the lowest oven rack. Check the cake after 55 minutes. Do not open oven door before that, or your cake will fall. The sponge cake should be golden brown and spring back to the touch.

Libby told me that this recipe was from her lifelong friend, Martha Cubrilovic. They were friends since they were seven. She taught Libby how to knit and crochet when they were kids (they were both left-handed.) She was a skilled baker shared many of her wonderful recipes with Libby.