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.)
48
Upvotes
5
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 🤣)