The Genoise That Wasn't

I decided it was time to expand my cake knowledge. Content to leave behind box mixes, I set my sights on creating a genoise - a delicious, airy, spongecake where eggs are the sole leavening agent. Like a good student, I read the recipe twice, three times for good measure. I tried out the entire recipe in my mind. I made the cake. And then I realized I hadn't preheated the oven. By the time I put the pan in the oven, 10 minutes had elapsed. The cake was truly a pancake. A centimeter thick, chewy, eggy, and sitting heavily in the sad little pan.

Oven now preheated, all ingredients pre-measured, I worked faster. And faster yet. Cake # 2 showed faint signs of rising. Cake # 3 may have risen to a fantastic 1.5 cm. But it was cake # 4 that was finally a leavened success. Good thing too, since I had just run out of eggs. I've not messed with genoise since.