This is the kind of cake you bake on a Saturday afternoon, when you’re not in a hurry. When the apartment smells like vanilla and the oven hums gently in the background. A very tall sponge cake, it’s as simple as that — if you respect two or three things that change everything.
Ingredients :
- The eggs — They really do all the work here. It’s not the baking powder or the flour that gives the height — it’s the eggs beaten for a long time. Get them at room temperature, not straight out of the fridge: they whip up much better and higher.
- Olive oil — No butter in this recipe, it’s intentional. The oil keeps the crumb flexible and moist much longer. No need to take your best bottle — a mild, basic supermarket oil works just fine.
- Lemon zest — Grate it yourself, on a real yellow lemon. Jarred zest is pointless. The aromas are in the skin, not the juice, and it completely changes the perfume of the cake during baking.
- Flour — Sift it. Always. It takes 30 seconds, avoids stubborn lumps, and brings lightness to the batter. Ordinary T45 or T55 flour — nothing special.
