EATS: Angel Food Cake
Angel food cake is an intensive and rewarding cake to bake. I decided that since many of us find ourselves at home with a little more time to spare than usual, I would give you the perfect weekend baking activity to master, the angel food cake. The secret to making angel food cake that tastes beyond anything you might find at the bakery, is adding a little bit of rose water. I have to give full credit to my buddy and colleague Chef Todd for sharing this tip with me. Use a brand like Cortas. It’s from Lebanon so you might find it at a Middle Eastern Market. In NYC I go to Kalyustan’s Market. There’s an American brand that tastes like perfume and it is just too strong and will not taste good. So choose wisely. The sweet and floral taste of a hint of rose combined with the light spongy cake just takes this classic angel food cake to the next level. You could try other flavor accents too like orange blossom water.
As you’ll see I photographed the angel food cake with some of my favorite toppings, passionfruit and whip cream. It tastes wonderful served as such. However, it’s a nice idea to have a whip cream and fruit bar set up so that when you serve this dessert each person can add a few little touches to their slice of angel food cake to make it sing. Some go to toppings are strawberries and whip cream, shaved chocolate and whip cream, pineapple and cream, peaches and cream, let your imagination run wild.
Angel Food Cake Ingredients
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
2/3 Cup Powdered Sugar
Sift flour and powdered sugar together, 4 times
1 1/2 cup egg whites (approximately a dozen eggs)
1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon rose water
1 cup granulated sugar blended together with beans of 1 vanilla bean pod in food processor for 1/2 minute
Angel Food Cake Instructions
Place egg whites in a large bowl. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until foamy. Mixture should be firm with a little bit of gloss. The key is to keep the bowl clean. Make sure there is no egg yolk or fat in the bowl or else the egg whites will not whip light and fluffy.
Add the granulated sugar 2 Tablespoons at a time to the egg whites. Adding slowly will ensure the ingredients incorporate well.
Next, add the vanilla, and rose water
Continue beating until you achieve stiff peaks. Note, do not over beat.
A little at a time, fold in the flour mixture.
Spoon the batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan (10x4 inches)
Cut through batter, draw a thin spatula or knife around the pan in a circular motion 3 times. This helps to reduce any air pockets and to gently smooth the top.
Bake at 350 F for 45-50 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched.
Immediately invert cake in pan, turn upside down onto a glass bottle or metal funnel. Let it hang 2 hours until the cake is completely cool.
Using a narrow metal spatula, loosen the sides of the cake from the pan. Remove cake from pan, cut, top and serve!
