A Good Sponge Cake

Instructions

1. Rasp on some lumps of well-refined sugar the rind of a fine sound lemon, and scrape off the part which has imbibed the essence, or crush the lumps to powder.
2. Add them to as much more sugar as will make up the weight of eight or ten fresh eggs in the shell.
3. Break these one by one, and separate the whites from the yolks.
4. Beat the yolks in a large bowl for ten minutes, then strew in the sugar gradually, and beat them well together.
5. In the mean time let the whites be whisked to a quite solid froth; add them to the yolks, and when they are well blended sift and stir the flour gently to them, but do not beat it into the mixture.
6. Pour the cake into a well-buttered mould, and bake it an hour and a quarter in a moderate oven.
7. Proportions: rasped rind, 1 large lemon; fresh eggs, 8 or 10; their weight of dry, sifted sugar; and half their weight of flour: baked, 1-1/4 hour, moderate oven.