Italian Walnut Cake

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a 9" (22.5 cm) springform pan with nonstickcooking spray, and line the bottom with a circle of baking parchment, or areusable Teflon pan liner.

Put the walnuts in your food processor with the S-blade in place. Pulse tillnuts are chopped medium-fine. Add 2 tablespoons (25 g) of the polyol sweetener,and pulse until nuts are finely ground but not oily. (Don't overprocess. Youdon't want nut butter!)

Separate your eggs. Since even the tiniest speck of egg yolk will cause thewhites to stubbornly refuse to whip, do yourself a big favor and separate eachone into a small dish or cup before adding the white to the bowl you plan towhip them in!

Then, if you break one yolk, you’ve only messed up that white.(Give that one to the dog, or save it for scrambled eggs for breakfast.) Put thewhites in a deep, narrow mixing bowl and put the yolks in a larger mixing bowl.

Add the pinch of cream of tartar to the whites and, using your electric mixer(not a blender or food processor!), whip egg whites until they stand in stiffpeaks. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, beat the yolks with the rest of the polyol sweetener and allof the Splenda, until the mixture is pale yellow and very creamy—at least 3 to 4minutes. Beat in the lemon zest and the salt.

Stir the ground walnuts into the yolk mixture—you can use the electric mixer,but the mixture will be so thick, I think a spoon is easier. When that's wellcombined, gently fold in the egg whites, using a rubber scraper, a third at atime, incorporating each third well before adding the next.

When all the eggwhites are folded in, gently pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 45 minutes. Sprinkle top with the 2 additional tablespoons Splendawhile cake is hot, then let cool before serving. Cut in thin wedges to serve.

Each serving with: 194 calories; 18 g fat; 9 g protein; 4 g carbohydrate; 1 gdietary fiber; 3 g usable carb. Carb count does not include polyol