Sponge cake recipie

1. Twelve eggs.
2. Ten ounces of sifted flour, dried near the fire.
3. A pound of loaf sugar, powdered and sifted.
4. Twelve drops of essence of lemon.
5. A grated nutmeg.
6. A tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and mace, mixed.

Beat the eggs as light as possible. Eggs for sponge or
almond cakes require more beating than for any other
purpose. Beat the sugar, by degrees, into the eggs. Beat
very hard, and continue to beat some time after the sugar is
all in.
No sort of sugar but loaf will make light sponge-cake. Stir
in, gradually, the spice and essence of lemon. Then, by
degrees, put in the flour, a little at a time, stirring round the
mixture very slowly with a knife. If the flour is stirred in too
hard, the cake will be tough. It must be done lightly and
gently, so that the top of the mixture will be covered with
bubbles. As soon as the flour is all in, begin to bake it, as
setting will injure it.
Put it in small tins, well buttered, or in one large tin pan.
The thinner the pans, the better for sponge-cake. Fill the
small tins about half full. Grate loaf-sugar over the top of
each, before you set them in the oven.Sponge-cake requires a very quick oven, particularly at
the bottom. It should be baked as fast as possible, or it will
be tough and heavy, however light it may have been before
it went into the oven. It is of all cakes the most liable to be
spoiled in baking. When taken out of the tins, the cakes
should be spread on a sieve to cool. If baked in one large
cake, it should be iced.
A large cake of twelve eggs, should be baked at least an
hour in a quick oven.
For small cakes, ten minutes is generally sufficient. If they
get very much out of shape in baking, it is a sign that the
oven is too slow.
Some think that sponge-cakes and almond cakes are
lighter, when the yolks and whites of the eggs are beaten in
separate pans, and mixed gently together before the sugar
is beaten into them.
If done separately from the yolks, the whites should be
beaten till they stand alone.