Basic Jelly Roll Cake

Ingredients:

4 large eggs, separated, room temperature
10 tbls. granulated sugar, divided
½ cup sifted caked flour
¼ cup sifted corn starch
pinch of salt
¾ tsp. vanilla or lemon extract (or 1 tbl. lemon juice plus grated zest of one lemon or orange

¼ cup powdered sugar, sifted, for unmolding cake

Directions
Prepare 10x15 jelly roll pan by spreading butter or margarine or shortening on bottom of pan. Line pan with wax paper, spread with butter or shortening and dust evenly with flour. Preheat oven to 350º.

Add pinch of salt to egg whites and with electric mixer, whip the whites until they are frothy, then gradually add 6 tbls. sugar. Whip until the whites are stiff but not dry. They should be glossy and smooth and you should be able to invert the bowl without having the mass of whites move or slide.

Remove bowl from mixer and without washing the beaters, beat the bowl of egg yolks with 4 tbls. sugar until thick and light-colored. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl twice. Add the vanilla extract or other flavoring. Whip until the yolks form a flat ribbon falling back upon itself when the beater is lifted. This takes about 3 minutes with a heavy-duty mixer, such as KitchenAid. Smaller mixers can take 6-7 minutes.

Blend the cornstarch and flour together. Fold about one third of the whites into the yolks. Then sprinkle about 3 tbls. of the flour mixture into the yolk batter and fold gently. Continue to fold in remaining in small additions. Batter should remain light and airy. Turn into prepared pan, smoothing the top and spreading it to the edges with a rubber spatula. Place cake in preheated oven 11-13 minutes or until top is golden and feels springy to the touch and the edges begin to draw away from the sides of the pan. Do not over bake.

While the cake bakes, spread the dish towel on a flat surface and sift the ¼ cup of powdered sugar in a rectangle 10x15 inches. As soon as cake is bake invert the pan over the sugared area of the towel. Lift off the pan and peel off the
paper. You can trim a scant 1/8 inch off the edge with serrated knife so cake will roll more easily. Fold the short end of towel over short end of cake, then roll together. Set the roll, seam side down, on wire rack to cool. When cake is cold, unroll it, spread with preserves or other filling and reroll, using the towel lift and push the cake as it rolls up. Set seam side down and sprinkle with powdered sugar or glaze and frost as desired.