Pull a chair and come sit with me. There’s cake and there’s coffee. I made mamon [mah-mon], the dearly loved sponge cake from Goldilocks, the dearly loved bakery back home. So stay.

It’s been a while since my last post, I know. The demands of the days have been a bit overwhelming. If only the days were longer. More hours to do more, to write more. But all is good. I shouldn’t really complain. Life has been good. There’s so much to be thankful for.

I’ve been spending a lot of my quiet time with my mom lately. On the road and at home. With Dennis and the corgis. Without the usual distractions. It’s actually refreshing to lose myself while tending to the garden and working around the yard, while cooking and baking. Without tweets and without posts. Without photographs. I feel completely engaged but relaxed, completely lost in a book, in a meal, in a conversation.

Bear with me if you don’t hear from me often. I trust our friendship is such that we can and we will always, easily pick up where we left off, as if time’s never lost.

Mamon Recipe
Recipe adapted from Goldilock’s Bakebook, makes six 5-inch cakes

1/4 cup salted butter, melted, plus more for brushing molds and cakes
1 cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup and 1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling on cakes
6 eggs, yolks and whites separated
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Generously brush paper molds with butter and set aside. I make mamon in paper molds but metal ones and ramekins can be used instead.

Sift cake flour, baking powder, and 1/3 cup sugar together into a bowl and set aside. Combine egg yolks, water, and butter in the bowl of a standard mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix at low speed until well blended. With the mixer running, slowly add the dry ingredients and continue mixing for three minutes or until well blended. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Set aside.

Combine egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a standard mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat at high speed until egg whites double in volume. With the mixer running, slowly and steadily add 1/2 cup sugar. Continue beating until medium peaks form. Medium peaks hold their shape fairly well but the tip of the peak curls back onto itself when the whisk is lifted.

Gently and swiftly fold in the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites. Divide the batter evenly among the molds. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the molds on a cooling rack for ten minutes. Remove from the molds and allow cakes to cool completely on the rack. Brush cakes with butter and sprinkle with sugar and grated cheese.