Angel Food Cake
As a kid growing up, my mom always made angel food cake for our birthdays. And, because my brother's birthday is just one week before mine, my mom would often make just one cake so we could celebrate our birthdays on the same day. My brother loved the seven-minute marshmallow-like frosting in blue of course, and I loved chocolate. So, bless my mom's heart, she made sure to make the celebration special and memorable for both of us and frosted one half of the cake blue and the other half chocolate. I still love angel food cake with whipped chocolate frosting, but most of the time in the summer months, I like to serve slices of this cake with whipped cream and fresh berries.
Equipment
- Angel food tube cake pan
- Stand mixer with whip attachment
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour you can use pastry flour if you have it
- 1½ cups confectioners' sugar
- 12 large egg whites about 1½ cups
- 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Optional whipped cream topping:
- 1½ cups whipping cream
- 4 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional fruit topping:
- 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries, raspberries or blueberries
Instructions
Sift the flour and powdered sugar:
- Sift the flour and powdered sugar, three times. This ensures a light and fluffy angel food cake with no lumps of flour or sugar.
Make the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- It is important to whip the egg whites until they are very shiny and hold a stiff peak. The best appliance for this is a stand mixer, but with a large bowl and patience you can achieve these results with a hand mixer too.It is also important that the bowl used is clean and dry. Small impurities or grease of any sort will negatively effect the creation of stiff peaks with the egg whites.
- Place the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt in the large clean bowl of the stand mixer. Add the whip attachment and whip on high speed until frothy.
- Once frothy, start adding the granulated sugar slowly, about one tablespoon at a time. Adding the sugar slowly ensures that the sugar is incorporated evenly and dissolves into the whipped egg whites. It is really important to add the sugar slowly to achieve the proper texture and shape.
- Continue to whip the eggs until the egg whites are very shiny and hold a stiff peak.
- Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
- Transfer the egg whites to a very large bowl. You want room to fold the flour mixture into the egg whites.
- Add the flour mixture in thirds to the egg whites. Gently fold in the flour with a rubber spatula.
- Pour the batter into an ungreased angel food tube pan. Bake at 350°F for one hour or until the cake in the centre springs back when lightly touched.
- Invert the cake pan and let the cake cool completely in the pan. To remove, run a knife around the bottom and sides of the pan to release the cake.
- Serve slices with whipped cream and fresh fruit.
Nutrition
Serving: 1-slice of cakeCalories: 182kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 5gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 104mgPotassium: 129mgFiber: 1gSugar: 32gCalcium: 4mgIron: 1mg
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