ISO Angel Food Cake Recipe and Tips

[anna]

Hello - I want to make an angel food cake and wondered if anyone has a good recipe (don't like almond flavoring) and tips for baking them? I am trying my first one for Valentines Day and I've heard they can be tricky. Thanks!

[sneezles]

anna
don't have a recipe handy (most of my books are in storage) but one tip I do have is when you cool the cake, invert it on a soda bottle. We use to use the 32oz glass bottles but you could probably use a 1 ltr plastic if it was full. Both my mother and grandmother inverted their cakes and they always came out perfect-so I've never messed with success.
Good luck!

[Meg O'C]

I always use the box mix. I feel lazy when I am buying it but it always comes out well.

Last year I got creative and mixed up a berry sauce (1pkg frozen rasperries, 1 pkg frozen strawberries and a bottle of Polaner fruit topping (not the preserves, it's actual syrup), I don't remember what berry flavor I chose- maybe blueberry?). Anyway, I just heated it all over low heat, stirring frequently, and then let it cool to room temperature. As people served themselves they could spoon some "berry sauce" on or skip it. It was a big hit!

[Shirley Panek]

Anna -

I have a recipe for an orange chiffon cake that is very similar to an angel food cake. Let me know if you need the recipe.

As far as tips go, make sure all your utensils and equipment are completely oil-free. This is an absolute must. Also, my Moosewood Book of Desserts says, "the egg whites must not contain even a speck of yolk. Eggs separate more easily when cold, so keep them refrigerated until you are ready to use them. The whites, however, beat better at room temperature, so place the bowl of whites in a pan of warm water while you prepare the other ingredients."

Hope this helps.

http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif
Shirley

[Tiger]

Anna
This is one of my favorite recipes. It's a good thing it's low-fat because I could eat the whole cake myself!

Citrus Angel Cake

1 1/2 cups egg whites (10 to 12 lg)
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 cup sifted cake flour or all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp finely shredded orange or lemon peel
Citrus Glaze

Let egg whites stand at room temp. for 30 min in lg bowl.
Sift powdered sugar and flour together.
beat egg whites and cream of tatar with electric mixer med to high speed to form soft peaks. Gradually add gr. sugar until form stiff peaks.
Fold flour mixture into egg whites a little at a time. Fold orange or lemon peel.
Spoon batter into ungreased tube pan.Gently cut through batter with knife or narrow metal spatula. Bake on the lowest oven rack in 350 degree oven for 40 to 45 min. ( I start checking around 35 min) It's done when top springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert cake in pan. Cool completely. Remove cake from pan. Drizzle with Citrus Glaze. 16 servings

Citrus Glaze Mix 1 cup sifted powered sugar and 1 tsp finely shredded orange or lemon peel. stir in 5 tsp. of orange juice until drizzling consistency. Don't make too thin.

I always make the orange version. I want to try the lemon, but I love the orange so much I'm afraid to not make it orange. I use the McCormick orange peel which is sold in a spice jar. I always have the ingre. on hand.

[Gail]

Tiger,

That sounds REALLY good! And I'm sucker for orange cakes, muffins etc...

Anna,

I know I recently posted a recipe for angel food cake from the American Egg Board (which I have NOT tried.) It was on a post having to do with freezing egg whites. If you're interested, you might run a search. Also, I've got my aunt's recipe for chocolate angel food cake here somewhere, if you're interested...

[Tiger]

Gail
I would love your Choc. Angle food cake recipe! I never heard of that before and I love angle food cake and choc. Sounds right up my ally! thanks

[Lynn B]

Another fun thing to do w/ angel food cake is to slice it and use it instead of ladyfingers (which I can never find in my rural area!) for tiramisu! (Sliced pound cake also works well.) Mmmmmmmmm!

[Gail]

Hokey dokey... Though I haven't personally made this, I have eaten it and remember it as being tasty.

CHOCOLATE ANGEL FOOD CAKE

3/4 cup sifted cake flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/4 cup egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup sifted sugar

Preheat oven to 275º. Separate eggs. Let the whites stand at room temperature for at least one hour. This is very important so that whites will be beaten later to maximum volume. Sift pre-sifted cake flour together with cocoa 4 times. Then beat egg whites with vanilla and cream of tartar on highest speed of electric mixer until stiff, but not dry. They should stand in soft peaks which will bend slightly when beaters are lifted. Fold in the sifted sugar gradually, 2 tablespoons at a time, scraping bowl gently toward beaters with a rubber spatula. Use medium speed on mixer. Turn to lowest speed. Sprinkle in sifted flour-cocoa mixture evenly and quickly. Scrape up and over with folding motion, using rubber spatula, only until blended. Remove from mixer. Cut through batter, folding over and over with rubber spatula a few times. Carefully push batter into ungreased 10" tube pan. Cut through batter with rubber spatula going around in widening circles 6 times without lifting spatula. Push batter to touch edge of pan all around. Bake in preheated 275º oven for 30 minutes, then increase heat to 300º. Bake 30 minutes more. Remove from oven. Invert pan at once. Let cake cool upside down until completely cold. Loosen cake from pan with metal spatula. Invert on plate, loosen bottom and lift off.

(Gail note: This version seems a bit clearer than the recipe I posted last night.)

Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Gail (edited 01-30-2001).]

[Tiger]

Gail
thanks! I'm going to make this Fri. I do have a question. What does it mean when it says "sifted"? Sifted flour? Sifted sugar? I hear this about flour all the time and I don't do anything to my all purpose flour. I'm I wrong?

[Tiger]

Another question I have about angle food cake. What exactly do they mean when they say invert pan??

[Lynn B]

"Invert pan" means to turn it upside down (so the cake "falls" out -- do it over a plate!) and then remove the pan!

[Gail]

Sifted flour infers that you sift the flour before measuring. In this case, my aunt sifts again repeatedly after measuring as well. (same with sugar.) Unless your recipe specifically says sifted flour or obviously if it mentions it later in instructions, there's no need to sift.

Insofar as inverting goes, that seems to be the time-honored way of cooling angel food cakes, I'd assume to keep cake light and airy, as much as possible. As Sneezles says, you hang the pan upside-down on the neck of a bottle like a cake bat, or if you have a tube pan with little "legs" that swing out, you can rest it on that.

I'm attaching yet another recipe, more for baking tips than anything else. In perusing Epicurious's site, I thought the explanation in this one was pretty good. I also like the method used to prepare the egg whites, rather than the more dubious method of leaving the whites at room temperature for an hour or so, as in the chocolate recipe.



ANGEL FOOD CAKE


This classic spongecake is thought to have originated with German settlers—a thrifty use of the many egg whites left over after making noodles. Apocryphal perhaps ... delicious nonetheless.
Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 hr

1 1/2 cups large egg whites (10 to 11)
1 tablespoon warm water
1 cup sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
1 1/4 cups superfine granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger (optional)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Special equipment: a 10- by 4-inch tube pan with removable bottom and a standing electric mixer

Accompaniment: sweetened whipped cream and fresh berries

Preheat oven to 375°°F.

Put whites and water in a very clean large metal bowl and swirl over simmering water or a gas flame until barely warm. Sift together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and ginger 4 times onto a sheet of wax paper.

Beat whites in standing electric mixer on medium speed until frothy. Add vanilla, cream of tartar, and salt. Increase speed to medium-high and beat just until soft peaks begin to form. Gradually beat in remaining cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, occasionally scraping down side of bowl. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. (Do not overbeat.) Sift one third of flour mixture over whites. Beat on low speed just until blended. Sift and beat in remaining flour in 2 more batches.

Gently pour batter into ungreased tube pan and smooth top. Run a rubber spatula or long knife through batter to eliminate any large air bubbles.

Bake cake in lower third of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Remove cake from oven and immediately invert pan. (If pan has "legs," stand it on those. Otherwise, place pan over neck of a bottle.) Cool cake completely, upside down. Turn pan right side up. Run a long, thin knife around outer edge of pan with a smooth (not sawing) motion. Do the same around center tube. Remove outer rim of pan and run knife under bottom of cake to release. Invert to release cake from tube, and invert again onto a serving plate.

Serve cake with whipped cream and berries.

Cooks' notes:
• Angel food cake was traditionally torn apart using 2 forks or a many-pronged cake breaker to preserve its prized texture; however, gently sawing with a modern serrated knife also works well.
• Cake may be made 1 day ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.

Serves 8


Gourmet
February 2000



Good luck!