Orange Sponge Cake

I have not baked for more than a week, my hands started to feel itch and my mind could not concentrate on what I was doing. I am addicted to baking! So, I told myself "Let's bake something low fat and low sugar." I know, it is a stupid excuse. Even though this is a sugar-reduced sponge cake but it is not suitable for ones who is on diet. Feeling a little guilty now but not when I was eating it.

Hmm... are you sure you want the recipe after reading my post? No guilty feeling? hehe... Let's start baking then. Btw, if you are wondering why my cake is flat, I baked half of the recipe and used loaf pan instead of tube pan.

Ingredients (9" tube pan):

• 6 large eggs, separated
• ½ cup castor sugar, divided
• 1 cup sifted cake flour (100g)
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp orange essence
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• Zest of 1 orange
• ¾ tsp cream of tartar
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Combine egg yolks and ¼ cup of sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat until foamy and the colour turned pale. Stir in vanilla extract, orange essence, orange juice and zest.
3. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites until foamy add in cream of tartar. Continue beating until soft peaks form then add in ¼ cup of sugar in batches. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.
4. Sift flour into mixing bowl with egg yolks. Fold in the flour genlty with a little of beaten egg whites. Then, fold in the rest of egg whites until just mixed.
5. Pour batter into baking pan and tap the bottom of the baking pan against kitchen bench lightly to release any air bubbles trapped inside the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and invert immediately. Cool completely on rack.