Chiffon Cake With Orange Frosting

This is a diet cake. Well, diet-ish, anyway. But it's really good! I found the recipe in that 1990-something version of Fannie Farmer, and decided to try it. My dearly beloved loves sponge cake, after all, and chiffon cake is somewhat like that. This was a very high, moist cake; I think you'll like it!

CHIFFON CAKE

8 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup salad oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup cold water
5 egg yolks

Beat the egg whites until foamy; add the cream of tartar and beat until stiff; set aside.

Into another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Beat in the oil, vanilla and water until just combined. Add the egg yolks and beat until shiny. Beat in 1/4 of the egg whites, then fold in the remainder. (Truth in cookery: I just beat mine all in, a little at a time, at the lowest speed on my mixer. I don't have time for this fancy folding stuff.)

Cut a circle of waxed paper to fit the bottom of a 10" tube pan. Grease the pan, insert the waxed paper, then grease the paper. Pour the cake batter into the pan, and bake in a preheated 325F oven for 50 to 60 minutes. Let the cake cool before frosting with....

7 Minute Orange Frosting

1-1/2 cups sugar
2 egg whites
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt

In the bottom of a double boiler or in a sauce pan, heat some water to boiling. In the top of the double boiler, or in a bowl that will fit the pan, beat the egg whites until somewhat foamy with the cream of tartar and salt. In your blender, whirl the sugar to make "superfine" crystals (Marjie's trick, not Fannie's; it works). Place the egg whites over the boiling water, and beat in the sugar, salt and cream of tartar slowly. Continue beating at medium speed until the whites are softly beaten, then beat in the orange juice. Beat over high speed with the bowl over the boiling water until the frosting forms into soft peaks, about 5 to 7 minutes total, then remove from the heat. If desired, add some food coloring to make the frosting look orange (my dearly beloved insists that food doesn't taste right unless it's the appropriate color). Let the frosting cool, the frost the cooled cake.

The cake was good, and the frosting was very fluffy. If you don't whirl the sugar, the frosting will have a grainy feel to it (I've made "7 minute frostings" before). I promise you this is diet-ish frosting, at least by comparison to my normal buttercream frosting, because it contains no butter, no cream, and half as much sugar as buttercream. There, don't you feel better about indulging?