6 eggs, separated
160 grams flour
160 grams sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon or 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the egg whites until stiff.

In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks with sugar until very creamy.

Add the lemon or orange zest to the creamed egg yolks.

Add the vanilla.

Slowly incorporate the flour into the creamed egg yolks.

Fold in the beaten egg whites.

Pour the batter into a well-greased cake pan.

Cook in a moderate oven until ready.

Cool.

Mrs. Anna-Maria Benvenuto has collected hundreds of recipes from relatives, friends, and neighbors over the years. She recorded the recipes in Italian in numerous notebooks, often naming the recipe after the person who gave it to her. Mrs. Anna-Maria Benvenuto also copied recipes from Italian cookbooks, magazines and newspapers. The recipe in this entry was found in an Italian cookbook published in the early 1970s. The photo was taken by Mary Melfi....................... The following notes are taken from the Italian WIKIPEDIA [Google Machine Translation] The sponge is an extremely soft and spongy sweet dough very commonly used in confectionery. A Brief History It is believed that the preparation is derived from an invention of the cook Genovese Giobatta Cabona. These, in the middle of 1700, was sent to Spain in the wake of Dominic Marquis Pallavicini, Genoese ambassador in that country. At a banquet Cabona presented a cake based on a paste of incredible lightness, which was established in his honor P?te G?noise, pasta Genovese. From this, he derived a slightly simplified version that took the name of sponge cake to honor the Spanish court had ruled that the fortune of the preparation. Differences between p?te g?noise and sponge The p?te g?noise is prepared by mixing the ingredients in a hot pan on the bottom of which rests in the water in a saucepan of simmering point. Repeatedly slamming the ingredients with a whisk or whip pans, they become foamy effect of heat on eggs. The dough is then baked in the oven to reach its final form. The mixture of sponge cake, however, is prepared in a cold mixing bowl, a little flour or potato starch, sugar, egg yolks and egg whites beaten stiff steadfast. In both cases, the cake is spongy and soft thanks to the massive presence of eggs: the traditional recipe, in fact, involves the use of yeast. Both are used as the basis of many desserts such as trifles. Lend themselves well to being cut into various shapes to make shapes that are finished with colored icings and decorations of sugar. The p?te g?noise is more common in Anglo-Saxon countries, while the sponge is much in Italy."

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