Michel Stroot’s Little Round Pound Cakes

Quatre-Quarts or Four Quarters is the French name for this recipe. It
refers to the proportion of ingredients (one-quarter each butter, sugar,
eggs and flour). In France, the cake is served with afternoon tea but
rarely as dessert.

Source: CLASSIC HOME DESSERTS by Richard Sax Recipe by Michel Stroot,
pioneering spa chef at “The Golden Door in California” who is from Belgium

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 8 small ramekins, custard cups
or tiny loaf pans; sprinkle with sugar, shaking out the excess sugar to
leave a very fine coating. Place the pans on a baking sheet; set aside.
Sift the flour onto a sheet of wax paper; set aside.

2. Beat the butter with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until very
creamy. Add the sugar and beat until very light, about 6 minutes. Beat in
the lemon zest and vanilla; add the egg yolks and beat for about 2 minutes
longer. Lower the speed to slow, add the flour and beat just until nearly
blended, about 15 seconds, no longer. The mixture will be stiff and
slightly hard to blend at this point; don’t OVERMIX.

3. In a bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt at high speed until nearly
stiff, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir a large spoonful of the whites into the batter;
fold in the remaining whites until blended. Again, you’ll have to work and
chop the somewhat stiff mixture slightly in order to blend in the whites,
but don’t overblend. Gently spoon the mixture into the prepared remekins or
pans, filling each about 2/3 full.

4. Bake until the cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the
centers emerges clean, usually about 45 minutes (the timing can vary with
the molds being used).

5. Transfer to a wire rack and cool briefly. Run the tip of a knife around
the sides of the cakes to loosen them from the ramekins; unmold and cool
completely on the rack. You can either wrap the cakes in plastic wrap, or
return them to their ramekins and seal the tops with plastic wrap.