VANILLA GENOISE

"A classic sponge cake named after the city of Genoa where it was developed, genoise is the "little black dress" of the cake world -- dress it up with a variety of frostings, use it as a basis for anything from petit fours to Baked Alaska, or simply eat "as is" and enjoy."

6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 10-inch round cake pan. Dust the bottom and sides of pan with sugar, tapping out any excess.

Place eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a mixing bowl on top of a double boiler. Heat over simmering water until mixture is warm to touch, about 110 degrees F. (Make sure the bowl does not touch the water.) Remove bowl from heat. Beat mixture with an electric beater on medium speed until cool. Batter will triple in volume and be thick and fluffy.

Carefully fold sifted flour into egg mixture in three additions until flour is just combined. (Do not overfold or the mixture will lose its volume.) Pour batter into prepared cake pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until springy to touch. Allow cake to cool completely. Run a knife around edges of pan to loosen cake. Cover with a serving plate and invert both pan and plate. Gently remove pan.

Serve cake as is or frosted or use as a base for other dessert recipes.

Makes 1 (10-inch, single-layer) cake, 8-10 servings
Source: From the Cooking School at La Campagne by John Byrne