Angel food cake

A lot of people see an angel food cake recipe and keep going. I understand. They can be tricky. I had a few flops till I learned why and I’m glad I did. I love angel food cake and there’s nothing like a good, fluffy one made from scratch. All too often, those sold in supermarket bakeries are bad. They’re as soft and pack-down squishy as industrial white bread and just as prone to stick to the roof of the mouth. Since nearly all are made from mixes, it’s no wonder they’re no better in texture or taste than angel food cakes made from a box.

I made one from a mix once. I could taste the chemicals, just like a supermarket cake, and  I could smell them. I smelled them in the batter, I smelled them while the cake baked. The only thing it had going for it was that it didn’t collapse. That might be the most common problem with homemade angel food cakes and it happened to me more than once. I served them anyway and called them “fallen angel cakes,” which led to good-natured ribbing at the table about the similarity between the hostess and the cake.

While I never mind being called a fallen angel, I minded very much that I couldn’t make a cake my mother made without blinking. So I did the sensible thing and called her. After reminding me that if I weren’t so stubborn (”I want to do it myself” was my mantra from the time I could say the words.) I’d have called her after the first flop, she proceeded to tell me what I was doing wrong.

I was using cake flour as required but I was sloppy about measuring it, pouring it from the box’s inner bag into a measuring cup, smooshing it around and calling it good enough for night baseball. I separated all the eggs without getting any yolk in the whites but I erroneously took the “more is more” approach when whipping them. I went too far in the soft-peak stage and as I learned from experience, if that step goes wrong, so does the cake.

At least I got the pan right. They have to be squeaky clean for the batter to have something to cling to when it rises. That means no spray and certainly no nonstick pan. The kind with legs are best for cooling the cake upside-down but they can be hard to find sometimes (Martha’s line at Kmart has one), so a legless pan can be hung over the narrow neck of a bottle. As I recall, my mother said fallen angels usually have a bottle of wine around and that works really well.

I also got serious about measuring. I’ve weighed ingredients for baking for many years, but back then my change was to take the trouble to lightly spoon the flour into the cup and gently level it off with the flat edge of a butter knife. I can’t stress enough the importance of accurate flour measuring in baking, especially when using cake flour.

The egg whites had to wait until the next time I saw my mother and she could show me. She’d shown me before but that time I paid attention. This is what they’re supposed to look like: glossy and slightly droopy. Although I used to overbeat it’s just as easy — and equally troublesome — to underbeat. There has to be enough body and definition to them that they can stand tall before they droop.

If you’re new to the game, please see the last few paragraphs of my post, About Angel Food Cake, for more tips. You’ll see in that post’s photo, taken right after it came out of the oven, that the center part is much higher than the outer edges. Once the cake is completely cool it should be level. As I mentioned in that post, Fanny Farmer played a significant role in popularizing angel food cakes, so it’s only fitting that I made one from a 1980’s version of the cookbook that still bears her name.

Angel Food Cake

Adapted from Fanny Farmer

12  large egg whites
– OR –
1/2 cup Deb-El Just Whites and 1 1/2 cups warm water*
1/4  tsp salt
1 1/2  tsps cream of tartar
1 tsp almond extract, optional **
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4  cups/250g sugar
1 cup/114g cake flour, lightly spooned into cup and leveled off

* This cake was made with Just Whites, my alteration. I use these powdered whites often.  There’s a link to information about it on the Useful Links page.
**I like lemon extract instead.

Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325F/165C/Gas 3.

Put the egg whites or the Just Whites and warm water into a large bowl and beat until foamy. Add the salt and cream of tartar and whip to the soft peak stage.

Add the extract(s) and gradually beat in the sugar, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, and whip until stiff peaks form.

Sift the cake flour onto the batter and gently fold it in until no streaks or visible flour remain.

Transfer to an ungreased angel food cake pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Invert the pan onto its legs or over a bottle neck and let cool completely before removing from the pan. [I always run a thin knife around the edge first, being careful to press the knife against the pan, not the cake. A boning knife is ideal because it's long, thin and flexible. ~ ella]

To cut: Use a serrated knife or use two forks to pull apart the portions. There is an old-fashioned tool called an angel food cake “cutter” that looks like a big F but with many prongs to portion the cake gently. If I ever find mine, I’ll photograph it and post it.

Ella’s note: Cream of tartar has an indefinite shelf life and is great for cleaning the inside glass of the oven. I wrote about that last year.

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Tagged as: healthy recipes