Cottage Cheese Pound Cake

3 cups sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup cottage cheese, sieved
2 cups sugar
6 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar

Heat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch Bundt pan.

Sift flour and baking soda onto wax paper. Using an electric mixer, beat butter or margarine and cottage cheese until smooth and creamy. Slowly beat in 2 cups sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Beat in orange rind, vanilla extract and flour mixture until well blended.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gently fold the beaten whites into cake batter.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, smoothing top evenly. Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until top springs back when pressed lightly. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Serves 16.

Per serving: 318 calories, 7 grams protein, 14 grams fat, 8 grams saturated fat, 43 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram fiber, 111 milligrams cholesterol, 105 milligrams sodium