April 20, 2015

Angel Food Cake

The SEA SALT Desserts, Recipes almond, Angel Food Cake, Recipe, southern california food blog, The Sea Salt 4 Comments

This semester I’ve been taking a baking class, and one of the things that I’ve learned about myself is that I love whipping egg whites.

It is so satisfying. And that’s one of the reasons I really love to make this cake.

There’s no fat in this cake, but it isn’t missed. Trust.

The texture is so light, and there’s a beautiful sugary crust on the outside with a hint of almond flavor. I love to make whipped cream as well (shocker, more whipping), and that plus a strawberry syrup on top of this cake is the perfect dessert for any Spring dinner. Or any meal. Or as the meal.

If you’ve never had Angel Food Cake from scratch, then now is the time. I promise it’s worth it!

Here are a few tips:

• Don’t grease pan. Why? the batter needs a surface to “climb up,” and if it is greased the cake won’t rise. (Disappointing).
• Make sure bowl that you’re using to whip egg whites is totally clean. Why? the egg whites won’t whip if there’s any fat present. (Boring).
• Use a 2 bowl method to add egg whites. Crack an egg white into a small bowl before you make the addition to the large bowl, instead of just cracking them one after the next into the big bowl. What if you mess up and you get some yolk all up in those beautiful egg whites? You’ll have to start over. (Waste of time).
• Use a long, serrated knife to cut the cake. (Don’t squish that lovely lady cake).

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Angel Food Cake

(A recipe from my baking class)

*makes one cake

Ingredients:

• 16 oz egg whites (which is about 16 eggs, give or take a few)
• 1/8 oz cream of tartar
• 16 oz sugar (divided into 2, 8 oz portions for separate additions)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 6 oz cake flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip egg whites until foamy.
3. Add 8 oz of sugar and cream of tartar, and continue to whisk at medium high speed until becomes glossy and peaks form when you lift out the whisk. (see picture)
4. Add in extracts and give just a turn or two with the whisk attachment, but again, don’t overmix.
5. Remove from mixer (using a bigger bowl if necessary) and using a spatula, fold in flour, salt and second addition of sugar until combined in with egg whites, making sure to not overmix.
6. Using a spatula, add batter to an ungreased angel food cake pan.
7. Run a butter knife through the batter a few times to get rid of any big bubbles that might be in the batter so that you don’t have any huge holes in the cake when it finishes baking.
8. Bake this beauty for 35-40 minutes, or until a clean butter knife or toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
9. Cool inverted so that cake keeps that beautiful rise that you just worked so hard on.

10. When totally cool, run a knife around the outside of the cake and around the center part and push up out of the pan. Run a knife around the bottom of the cake and then lift off and place on a serving platter, cracked side down.

 

 

 

 
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