Pesach "cake"

Passover.  When we Jews pass over anything leaven.  No bread, cereal, cakes, cookies, etc.  It's pretty surprising where leaven is hiding.  In all sorts of weird places.  (My hand sanitizer from Whole Foods was chometz, leaven.  It has oat flour in it!)

We are so limited in what we can eat.  Matza (which constipates like crazy), potatoes, eggs, and chicken.  Lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, but who wants to cut them up when you can just grab and eat, right?

Which leads me to my pesach cake.  Every recipe seems to start with "XX eggs, separate whites, whip up, add a whole bag of sugar".  Yeah, so not happening.  Enter, a no-separate, not a ton of eggs or sugar, yet tastes good, pesach cake.

Start with 4 eggs.  I use large, not extra large.  They MUST be room temperature.  Put them in your mixer, and set it to high.

Then, you are going to beat them for about 15 minutes.  They are going to change from a bright yellow to a fluffy, almost double in size, pale yellow.  They need to reach "ribbon stage". Basically, it means when you put the spatula in them, they fall in like a ribbon, not a stream that is quickly absorbed.

Once you reach this fluffy stage, add sugar, and lower the speed to low, or mix by hand.  I usually add the oil and vanilla before I remember to lower it.  Last up is tapioca starch.  (I don't use potato starch; I can't get any that is not organic.)  I will also give you some alternatives.  

Sponge cake that is not overly sweet, good plain, or with some "ice cream".  Here is your full recipe:

Vanilla Passover Cake

4 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1-2 tsp vanilla*

2 TBSP oil

1/2 cup tapioca starch 

(*if you don't use vanilla, use lemon juice or orange juice, but it won't be vanilla cake)

If you want chocolate cake, cut back the amount of tapioca starch by 2-3 TBSP, and use cocoa in its place.  I personally up the amount of oil to another table spoon, because I think that the chocolate version is a little drier.  I've used the lemon juice to make lemon cake as well.  Serve that with some lemon custard, YUM!

Lastly, my very last pesach cake of the year, and I wanted to make a marble cake.  I used 6 eggs, and after the eggs were whipped up, I pulled off what I guessed to be about the 2 extra eggs worth.  I proceeded above making vanilla cake.  Once it was done, I got it into the pan.  I then put the extra eggs back into the mixing bowl.  I proceeded as above for chocolate cake (using half the amount of sugar/tapioca starch/cocoa).  Voila!  (I neglected to make sure that the pan was level. Who cares.  One side is thick; one thin.  In a few more days I can make a real cake.)

Wishing anyone who reads this a very happy last 2 days of Pesach!  See ya' on the other side!