Angel Food Cake

  • Angel Food Cake

    Holy sh*#.

    (Oops, maybe I shouldn’t swear, given that this is a post about angels and all.)

    But seriously- holy crap.

    Imagine a cake that’s pretty and springy and fluffy and fragrant and tasty and fat free.  No, you’re not dreaming.
    That’s the thing about angel food cake- it’s all of the above, and almost miraculously void of fat.  Yes, there’s sugar, but it’s free from fat, folks.  Usually cake is sugary and fatty (and therefore spectacular, like, for example the Classic Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting or the Chocolate Mocha Cake with Fudgy Frosting, which are specimens of dessert beauty, but not exactly warmly embraced in the world of Weight Watchers).  It’s not often that you come across a cake that’s only half-bad for you.  (Exception: the Guilt-Free Mandarin Orange Cake.  Killer good, and strangely not full of fat.)

    Well.  The angel food cake itself is innocent, in the way that only angels can be… but I happen to have a burning need inside of me to take what’s perfectly wholesome and sin it up.  (I made myself sound like a psychopath there.  Please know that my deviant behavior is limited to the kitchen.  I don’t hurt small animals or children or men in leather.  Just angel food cake and other fat-free desserts.)  My version of sin in this particular batch was dousing a hunk of virgin-pure angel food cake with tart and buttery Lemon Curd, and then plopping a scoop of lightly sweetened fresh whipped cream on top of the lemon avalanche.  Oh, and then sprinkling lemon sugar on top of the whole mess.  I’d like to say that The Husband made me do it, fatten a perfectly good piece of pseudo-healthy cake up- because he does love lemon, after all.  But no.  It’s all me.  Guilty as charged.

    Adapted from the foodnetwork.com recipe…

    1 3/4 cups superfine sugar (or regular granulated sugar, see Tips below)

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    1 cup cake flour, sifted

    12 egg whites (room temperature)

    1/3 cup warm water

    1 teaspoon lemon extract (or other extract of your choice)

    1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

    1/2 cup whipping cream + 2 teaspoons confectioners’ sugar + fruit (optional for garnish)

    1. Preheat oven to 350° and pull a 10″ tube pan out of the cupboard… do NOT grease it.
    2. In a medium bowl, sift half of the superfine sugar with the salt and the cake flour.  Set the remaining sugar aside.
    3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg whites, water, lemon extract, and cream of tartar for about 2 minutes (until frothy).  Then use a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beating on medium speed while slowly sifting in the reserved sugar.  Continue beating until the mixture reaches medium peaks.
    4. Sift enough of the flour mixture on top of the mixture to dust the top of the foam.  Using a spatula, gently fold flour in.  Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated- this should take about 5 sets of sifting and gently folding.
    5. Carefully spoon mixture into the ungreased tube pan.  Bake for 30 minutes, checking with a wooden skewer to see if it’s done (skewer should come out clean after inserted halfway into cake).
    6. Cool upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour.  Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake from the sides to help remove cake.

    Tips:

    • No superfine sugar? Yeah, you probably don’t if you aren’t a big bar person.  Just throw “normal” sugar in your food processor for about 2 minutes and you will have officially made superfine sugar, supereasy.
    • You really do need to use cake flour.  I used a fancy flour from King Arthur Flour called “Queen Guinevere Flour” which is meant for fine-textured cakes.  Promise me you won’t use all-purpose flour, okay?  Promise?  Cake flour, all the way!
    • Egg whites really need to be room temperature or they won’t beat up all fluffy.  (And they are best if really fresh…)  Separate the whites from the yolks while they are cold, though, so the yolks don’t bleed into the whites.  (Even a bit of yolk will ruin this recipe… the whites don’t beat as well with fat going on.)
    • Extract choices are up to you.  I used lemon because I knew I was serving it with lemon curd, but you could use orange, vanilla, or almond… your choice.
    • Fold the flour in gently or else you’ll deflate your puffy fluffy egg white mixture.  The flour just needs to be basically folded in- no need to mix the crap out of it.  (It can look a little bit “shaggy”.)
    • A tube pan with a removable bottom is the easiest to use.   (Ahem.  See how a cake can go wrong when you aren’t careful with the whole “knife around the edge” routine.)  You don’t want to grease the pan because you need the batter the literally climb up the sides of the pan as it bakes- if you can picture that.
    • Garnish: sifted confectioners’ sugar and fruit, of course.  And whipped cream (just beat 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream with 2 teaspoons of confectioners’ sugar until peaks form).  And as for the lemon curd, check out this recipe..
    • The cake will stay fresh for a few days if tightly wrapped or covered.  Enjoy!

     

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    March 23rd, 2013 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: ,

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