Food history math: Fannie Farmer plus a rotary beater equals angel food cake for everyone.
Some call angel food cake a sponge cake, but it’s classed as a foam cake, meaning it has a high ratio of egg whites to flour. Like its close cousin, meringue, it’s fat-free and leavened by the air beaten into the whites.
It’s been an American favorite for well over a century. Fannie Merritt Farmer popularized and gave this white, fluffy cake its name in 1896, but it appeared in cookbooks for many years before that under names including silver cake and angel cake. It’s thought the cake came about as a way to use leftover whites after making noodles and it’s possible America’s first angel food cakes were baked by slaves because of the enormous work involved to whip all those egg whites.
Not long after the Civil War, the first patents were filed for rotary beaters, labor-savers that made angel food an easier cake. We still use them today; as recently as 1964 a patent was filed for one under the name “aerator beater.” It looks familiar in the drawing but the applicant claimed improved performance and the patent was granted.
We’ve come a long way from hand-held whisks and rotary beaters but one thing hasn’t changed: many people are afraid of making an angel food cake from scratch or have tried, failed and given up. The food science behind a sucessful angel food cake requires a soft (low-protein) flour, such as cake flour, and the full amount of sugar — not sucralose! — specified.
Of course, it also requires good technique when beating egg whites. In my recipe for macaroons, I offered these tips:
Whites whip better and faster at room temp, and eggs separate better at room temp. And I’ve always got a can of Deb-El Just Whites powder in the pantry, which works really well. While the whites came to room temperature, I wiped the wire whip and the inside of the bowl with a bit of white vinegar. They have to be scrupulously clean or the whites won’t whip well. You never taste the vinegar, but it ensures any possible trace of grease is gone.
As you might have guessed, I made an angel food cake recently — that’s it in the photo — and used a 20th century version of the Fannie Farmer recipe. That will be is the next post.
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What a lovely entry with its photos and history.
Delightful. Look forward to the next entry; though I’m ambivalent about eggs for many reasons, I can look and salivate if nothing else.
You’ve already got me going with that nice brown crust in the pan up above.
Thank you, Word. I enjoy writing these sorts of posts and I’m always tickled if someone enjoys reading them. Thanks so much for your kind comment.
As for eggs, I used Just Whites to make the cake. The mere thought of separating a dozen eggs and having a dozen yolks left makes my hair hurt. I’m a firm believer in taking the path of least resistence.
Ah yes, the egg foam method. I’m very glad that you point out the similarity between meringue and angel food cake. That comparison alone goes a long way towards making this an accessible recipe. Seems like many people are afraid to tackle angel food cake because it’s “mysterious” and it cools upside down. I’m glad you tackled it. Can’t wait to read your post about it. I do love a cake that has to be cut with a serrated blade. Plus, I like to drizzle chocolate syrup on it
Jenni’s last blog post..An Ode to German Restraint: The Apfelkuchen
Hi, Jenni. I hadn’t thought about angel food cake having a mystique, but I think you’re on to something. It really comes down to having the patience to do it right, doesn’t it? It’s just fussy enough for me.
Somewhere, I have one of those old angel food cake “cutters” with the prongs. I’ve looked high and low so I could photograph it for the post, but no luck. Chocolate syrup, eh? I put crushed fruit on it but unfortunately, it looked better to the eye than the lens. Oh, well. It tasted great!