Passover Sponge Cake with Apples (Page 711)

RECIPE #995

• Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 -- 9pm
• Location: Bloomington, IN
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B
  

I waited until right before Passover to attempt to make this recipe, figuring then I would have the best chances of finding matzo cake meal. As it turned out, I couldn't find it even then, so I had to order it. By the time it came I was in the midst of getting ready for the wedding and I forgot to make it. It was the first thing I made when we got back from our honeymoon though. I separated 6 eggs then beat the yolks with some sugar for a long while, then added some lemon zest and lemon juice. In a different bowl I beat the whites with some salt and sugar until they formed stiff peaks. I folded matzo cake meal and potato starch into the yolks, then folded in the whites. I layered this batter in the pan with sliced apples and cinnamon sugar. Then I baked until it was cooked through. This cake was perfectly fine. It indeed had a very spongy texture: light but a little bit chewy. I liked the layers of cinnamon- doused apples and the apples were nicely cooked. My real complaint was just that it was dull. There was no punch to it, and consequently my special gentleman and I each ate a piece and then weren't too interested in eating any more. It's in the freezer now, and I am sure there will be a night a few weeks or months from now when we will dig it out and think, "Ooooo.... cake!" And we will be happy it's there.

The recipe is here.

Every semester I think, "This semester I am sure I will be traveling less than last semester!" I enjoy the traveling of course (well, not the traveling itself, but I enjoy being in other places and seeing people, giving talks, etc...), but in the last couple years it has gotten a little out of hand. In the summer, though, traveling is less stressful because I am not also teaching. Somehow when I first thought about this summer I thought my special gentleman and I would spend most of our time at home in Indiana, relaxing and getting work done. That vision, though, has changed. The summer so far has been pretty eventful. In May I only traveled two weekends, but we were getting ready for the wedding, which was a fair amount of work. And at the end of the month, of course, we had a lot of visitors! We left almost immediately after the wedding for our honeymoon, and returned home at the beginning of this week. Now, here comes the crazy part. Next Saturday I leave for a week in Germany for a conference. I fly back the following Saturday and my special gentleman and I will drive directly from the airport to my parents' place in Wisconsin. We will be there for a week, during which time my parents are throwing a small, "Yay marriage!" party for us, and we are also attending Melanie and Daniel's wedding (and many awesome pre-wedding activities!). We will drive back just in time for me to move apartments (long story -- I wish I didn't have to move!). We have three or four days at home to deal with the moving, then we are headed to Ohio to my special gentleman's parents' house. They are throwing us a reception to celebrate our marriage and then we are spending the week with them. We fly straight from Ohio to England, where my special gentleman will be working with a friend in his research area. After a week in England we are flying to Norway, where I am speaking at a conference. Then we fly home, where we will be for three days before we fly to California for a reunion with the swim crew (and to meet it's newest addition: baby Cate!). By the time we get back from that, my special gentleman is supposed to be in East Lansing. Our house still hasn't come through, and because we have been waiting for it, we haven't yet found him a place to live there. So who knows how that will go!

Basically this summer is CRAZY! Luckily it is crazy in a super fun way! All of these trips should be great, and for the vast majority of it my special gentleman and I will be together (which is a nice way to spend the summer we got married!).

I would say, "Well, things will probably calm down in the fall!" But they probably won't. I am teaching 350 students in the fall and my special gentleman and I will be living apart again. So I think it will be more than a little hectic! It is times like these that I think, "Thanks goodness we don't have kids yet!" I can't even imagine!