Recipe for Michel Stroots Little Round Pound Cakes

Instructions: 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.

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; dont 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, youll have to work and chop the somewhat stiff mixture slightly in order to blend in the whites, but dont 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.