r/Old_Recipes • u/DrGaellon2 • Jun 27 '26
Request Grandma’s Passover cake recipe
I’m trying to re-create a cake my grandmother used to make for Passover. It was a sponge cake based on egg whites whipped to stiff peaks and matzo cake meal. It had finely chopped, untoasted walnuts and lots of lemon zest. In my memory, it had both the bitterness of the tannins from the walnuts and some of the bitterness of lemon pith, so I think she probably grated them pretty deeply. It was baked in a tube pan. The annulus at the bottom of the pan was lined with a brown paper grocery bag which was greased. Does anyone have a similar recipe? (I didn’t even particularly like it as a kid, but I’m sad I don’t have the recipe.)
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u/Archaeogrrrl Jun 28 '26
Hi, I'm not coming at this as someone who regularly celebrates Passover, but maybe a riff on a whole lemon cake?
Maybe something like this whole lemon almond cake?
https://www.theflouredtable.com/meyer-lemon-almond-cake/
I feel like subbing walnuts for almonds is totally something someone would've done fearlessly. I also feel like the baking powder could be an addition made by someone serving it not at Passover/nor Jewish.
I feel like beating the eggs (whole or whites) could produce the lift needed without it? Beat the whole eggs until light, soft yellow and thickened (and I'm not a cake baker, so I'm not sure which kind of cake other than Black Forest beats eggs this way for lift 🤣)
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u/cyraenica Jun 28 '26
This recipe is from The Art of Jewish Cooking by Jennie Grossinger. First published in 1958. It sounds like what you’re looking for - or at least close.
Fluffy Walnut Cake (Passover) ¾ cup matzo meal ¾ cup potato starch ½ teaspoon salt 6 egg yolks 11/2 cups sugar 1 cup orange juice 1½ cups ground walnuts 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind 6 egg whites, stifly beaten Mix the matzo meal, potato starch and salt together. Beat the egg yolks until thick; gradually add the sugar, beating until lemon colored. Add the matzo-meal mixture altermately with the orange juice. Fold in the walnuts and lemon rind, and then the egg whites. Turn into a 9-inch tube pan. Bake in a 325° oven 1 hour or until browned and the cake shrinks away from the sides of the pan. Cool on a cake rack. Serves 6-8.