Last updated: March 24, 2023
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Fanny Longfellow's Sponge Cake
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- Duration:
- 7 minutes, 59 seconds
Talya, Museum Tech, bakes a sponge cake using the recipe from Fanny Longfellow's manuscript recipe book.
Frances Elizabeth Appleton Longfellow Papers, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters NHS
The Historic Recipe
This recipe comes from a manuscript book of lists of household goods & recipes kept by Fanny Longfellow from around her marriage in 1843 to 1858. The volume today is part of her papers at Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters NHS.
The original recipe, in Fanny Longfellow's handwriting, reads:
The weight of 12 eggs in fine powdered loaf sugar, the weight of 6 eggs in sifted flour, the grated rind & juice of one lemon. The whites & yolks to be thoroughly beaten separate, & then well beaten together, add the sugar & beat it hard, then the lemon & then when your oven is all ready add the flour and get it into the oven as quick as possible. Bake from three quarters of an hour to an hour in a quick oven.
At first look, the recipe seems straightforward. To recreate it, there are two key pieces to interpret. First, the baking temperature instructions are for a "quick oven." In the video above, Talya interpreted this as 400 degrees Farenheight. Based on her experience, she strongly recommended a lower oven temperature.
Second, while the recipe gives a clear ratio for sugar and flour, based on weight, on a closer read, there is no indication of how many eggs should be used! The recipe below uses Talya's interpretation, which resulted in a light, fluffy sponge.
NPS Photo
Sponge Cake
A light, lemony sponge cake.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Yield: 1 cake
Ingredients:
- 5 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 cup sifted flour
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Separate the eggs and beat separately the whites and yolks. Beat the whites and yolks together, then add sugar and beat. Add lemon juice and zest, and mix. Add flour last, and immediately pour the mixture into a cake pan and bake for 45 minutes to one hour.