Boys of Cooking

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a Bundt or 10-inch tube pan.

Separate

• 6 eggs

Reserve egg yolks. With electric mixer beat egg whites with

• ¼ cup sugar

until soft peaks form. In an electric mixer, cream together

• ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter
• ½ cup almond paste
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently. Add all six egg yolks to butter-sugar mixture and blend well. In another bowl, sift together

• 1½ cups cake flour (or 1½ cups less 3 tablespoons of sifted all-purpose flour)
• ¾ cup coarse cornmeal (I prefer the consistency of Quaker cornmeal)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Add to the butter-sugar mixture. Add

• 1 cup heavy cream

Mix until well blended and set aside.

Fold half the egg whites into the butter mixture and incorporate well. Gently fold in remaining whites and pour mixture into prepared pan.

Bake 65 minutes. Cake will be done with the top is golden and is firm to the touch. A toothpick inserted in the cake will come out clean when cake is completely baked.

Let the cake cool on the rack for ♦ATTN 15 minutes before turning out.

The original recipe calls for one 9-inch pan. When Bob mixed the batter, he knew he had a problem: it couldn’t all fit in one pan. He called the Coyote Cafe restaurant in Santa Fe, asked for the pastry chef, and told her his dilemma. She said, “Oh, the old pastry chef contributed most of the dessert recipes, and many of them have problems.” She even went as far as naming one recipe that should be completely avoided. Her suggestion was a bigger pan and longer baking. This is now one of our favorite recipes.