| 1 | ** the orange/almond sponge sheet ** preparing the pan. |
| 2 | Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. |
| 3 | Line the jelly-roll pan with buttered wax paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang at each end. |
| 4 | Roll flour in the pan and shake out excess. |
| 5 | The cake batter. |
| 6 | Using a wire whisk or hand-held electric mixer, beat the 3 egg yolks in a 3-quart bowl, gradually sprinkling in the ?cup of sugar. |
| 7 | When the mixture is thick and pale yellow, beat in the grated orange rind and juice, the almonds, and the almond extract. |
| 8 | Slowly sift in the flour, while blending with the whisk. |
| 9 | In a very clean separate bowl with clean beaters, beat the egg whites to soft peaks; sprinkle in the 3 tbsp of sugar and continue beating to form stiff, shining peaks. |
| 10 | Stir a quarter of the egg whites into the batter; delicately fold in the rest. |
| 11 | Baking the jelly roll. |
| 12 | Immediately turn the batter into the prepared pan; bang it lightly but firmly on your work surface to settle it, and place it at once in the middle level of the preheated 375 degree oven. |
| 13 | Bake about 10 minutes, until it has very lightly colored and the top is springy-do not overbake or the cake will crack when you roll it up. |
| 14 | Cooling and storing. |
| 15 | Sprinkle the top of the cake with a 1/16 inch layer of confectioner"s sugar; cover with a sheet of wax paper and a lightly dampened towel. |
| 16 | Reverse onto a tray or baking sheet. |
| 17 | Then whlle the cake is still warm, holding an end of the wax paper, lift off the jelly-roll pan. |
| 18 | Carefully peel the wax paper off the cake. |
| 19 | Sift another 1/16-inch layer of sugar over the cake and roll it up in the damp towel; place in a plashc bag to keep it from drying out, and refrigerate. |
| 20 | (the cake must be cold before you fill and frost it). |
| 21 | ** ahead-of-time note: the sponge sheet will keep nicely 2 or 3 days in the refrigerator or you may freeze it for several weeks -- but to prevent its breaking, be sure to let it defrost completely before unrolling it. |
| 22 | ** the meringue base-italian meringue ** beat the egg whites in the electric mixer until foaming through out; add the salt and cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks are formed. |
| 23 | Turn mixer speed to slow. |
| 24 | In a small saucepan bring the sugar and ?cup water to the simmer, remove from heat, and swirl the pan until the sugar has dissolved completely and the liquid is perfectly clear. |
| 25 | Cover the pan tightly and boil to the soft-ball stage (238 degrees). |
| 26 | Using moderately slow speed, gradually whip the hot syrup into the egg whites; increase speed to fast and continue at high speed for 5 rninutes, until egg whites form stiff shining peaks and have completely cooled. |
| 27 | Plan to use the meringue promptly. |
| 28 | ** meringue mushrooms ** preheat the oven to 200 degrees. |
| 29 | Scoop a quarter of the me ringue into the pastry bag and squeeze out 8 to 10 half-inch domes on the pastry sheet, to serve as mushroom caps. |
| 30 | Hold the l/8-inch tube over the end of the pastry bag and squeeze out 8 to 10 conical shapes ?inch high, for the stems. |
| 31 | Bake about 1 hour in the middle level of the oven, until the meringues push easily off the pastry sheet-they should color no more than a darkish cream. |
| 32 | Return unused meringue to the main mixture. |
| 33 | ** ahead-of-time note: meringues may be made in advance and frozen. |
| 34 | ** the directions will continue in part #3 * |
