Angel Food Cake
Thu, Aug 18, 2011
Around the World, Cakes, Cupcakes & Brownies, Desserts, Foodgawker, Itsy Bitsy Foodies Sightings, North America, Photograzing, Search by Course, United States
(+4 rating, 2 votes)
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Angel food cake is a type of sponge cake that originated in North America in the late 19th century. It is made with egg whites and baked in a tube pan to allow the cake to rise more than other cakes. It is light and airy and will melt in your mouth, especially when served with fluffy whipped cream frosting. Its sweet, rich almond flavor goes well with fruits and berries and paired with its overall light texture makes it the perfect cake for summer.
I have always loved angel food cake so I’m not sure why I haven’t tried making it until recently. I discovered that it is surprisingly simple to make as long as you have lots of egg whites. Beating the egg whites into stiff peaks, using cake flour and ultimately not over beating the batter are important steps to keep the batter light and airy. You can top the cake with many things but whipped cream and fruit complement the light cake perfectly in my opinion. The cake is thick so I like to slice it in half and spread fluffy frosting in the center to create a creamy whipped cream filling.
- 1¼ cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1½ cups egg whites (roughly 10-12 egg whites), at room temperature
- 1½ tsp cream of tartar
- 1½ tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
- Stir the powdered sugar and cake flour together in a bowl and set it aside.
- Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla, salt and almond extract at high speed until well mixed.
- Continue beating the mixture and add the sugar, 2 Tbsp at a time, just until the sugar dissolves and the egg whites form stiff peaks.
- Do not scrape the bowl while you beat the batter.
- Fold in the cake flour mixture, ¼ a time, using a rubber spatula, just until the flour disappears.
- Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan.
- Cut through the batter with the spatula to break any air bubbles.
- Bake the cake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees or until the top of the cake springs back to the touch. Any cracks on the surface should look dry.
- Invert the cake pan onto a funnel and let it cool completely.
- Loosen the cake from the pan with a spatula and place it on a plate.
- Beat the cream, sugar and salt at medium speed until stiff peaks form.
- Fold in the vanilla or almond extract.
- If a creamy whipped cream filling is desired, slice the cake in half using a serrated knife.
- Spread a thin layer of whipped cream frosting in between the layers.
- Then frost the outside of the angel food cake and using the spatula pull the frosting into attractive peaks.
- Keep the frosting and the frosted desserts in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them.
- Slice the cake with a serrated knife so that the cake doesn't compress while being cut.
{Check out itsy bitsy foodies’ flan to help you use up the leftover egg yolks.}
Recipe source: Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook
Tags: angel cake, angel food cake, cake, egg whites, sponge cake
I have been wanting to make an Angel Food Cake to serve for dessert with fresh berries and this is perfect! Looking forward to trying this.
I made this cake for my mother’s birthday, and it turned out lovely!
http://www.elledeephotographie.com/images/cuisine/DSC_8628a.jpg
Is there anyway you can get away with using a lighter cream verses a heavy cream for the whipped frosting?
Or will that compromise the outcome of the cake?
Thank you!!
Jessica, it might still work… I’d love to know how it turns out for you!