Cherry Blush Nut Cake

3 c. sifted cake flour               1 c. milk
3 tsp. baking powder              1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. salt                           4 egg whites
2/3 c. shortening                    1/4 c. maraschino cherries, finely chopped
1-1/2 c. sugar                        2 tbsp. finely chopped walnuts
                                            Red cake coloring

Cream sugar and shortening. Combine milk and vanilla. Add alternately with dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold in.

To 2/3 of the batter. add cherries and enough coloring to tint batter pink. Pour into two greased 8" layer pans. Add finely chopped nuts to rest of batter. Pour into 3^rd greased 8" layer pan. Bake 30 minutes at 350 deg.

Make Seven Minute Icing (Volume 2, section 10).  Tint 1/3 of icing pink.  When cake is cold, frost the top thickly with swirls of white icing. Swirl pink icing onto sides of cake. Decorate top of cake with chopped nuts and cherries.

NOTE: This recipe makes a very good large sheet cake (12x17" cookie sheet orjelly roll pan). Use two-layer recipe for smaller cookie sheet. Omit  cherries, nuts and coloring, if desired.

Makes 6 cups of batter - use a little (about 1/4 cup) more than half for colored part if making checkerboard cake - about 3-1/4 c. total.)