Makes a cake of about 180g (6 oz)
2 free-range eggs,
60 g (2 oz) caster sugar
50 g (1 3/4 oz) Italian 00 flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) mark 4.
Butter a 600 ml (1 pint) loaf tin generously, dust with flour all over and shake off the excess.
Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale yellow and forming soft peaks. Use an electric hand beater if you have one, but not a food processor, which does not work for this recipe. Sieve the flour with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt at least twice, letting the flour drop from a height to aerate it.
Put the egg whites and the rest of the salt in a very clean bowl and whisk until stiff but not dry.
Scoop out a couple of tablespoons of the egg white and drop them over the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the flour and delicately fold into the yolk mixture with a metal spoon. Repeat, adding a little of each at a time and folding them in until all the egg white and flour have been incorporated. Use a light movement, raising the spoon high so as to aerate the mixture. Stop folding as soon as the mixture becomes homogeneous.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 30 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and has shrunk from the sides of the tin.
Loosen the cake from the sides of the tin with a palette knife and turn on to a wire rack.
Leave to cool completely and then wrap with foil or store in a cake tin.
preparation
This cake is best used within 1 day of making, although it can be made well in advance and frozen, wrapped in foil. Allow to defrost completely before using.