Angel Food Cake

Well this was a new one. A friend requested if I could make her an angel food cake for her fathers birthday tomorrow. I said yes. Then I went and Googled it. Then I freaked out. Then I facebooked my dilemma. Then I calmed down. Ahhh the power of the internet. I love it!

The reason I freaked out was because you need a special baking tin, called obviously, an angel food cake tin. I don't have one, and neither does my mum or mother in law who I would usually call on in cases of panic. But thanks to the power of facebook my lovely friend Abbie managed to produce one from her household! Hooray!

The reason for the special deep tin is because this is a very high rising cake, due to having 12 egg whites...that's right, 12. It also needs a removable base because it is so very high. As you can see below.


Anyway, the cake turned out wonderfully for my first time. It looks like a kind of cakey pavlova without the meringue crust. Apparently it's very popular in the USA, not so well known here, but I don't know why; apart from a dozen egg whites (I used free range organic eggs as I was using so many, so the price was higher than my usual brand) the ingredients are very simple and very minimal and the cake itself is so low in fat and calories its the perfect cake! You just need an electric mixer and a huge bowl to mix all those egg whites in!

My friend Dallas wanted it plain so she could add whipped cream and raspberries to it. Sounds divine, so once I get my own tin, you might see it again on here!
I'll print the recipe below.

It would also look good with just a light sifting of icing sugar.



Angel Food Cake - I used this recipe from Alton Brown, Good Eats.

1 3/4 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup high grade flour, sifted
12 egg white, room temperature
1/3 cup warm water
1 teaspoon almond extract (or any flavour you would like)
1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
In a food processor spin sugar for 2 mins until it is superfine. Sift half of the sugar with the flour and salt. Set the rest aside.
In a large bowl (make sure its large!) mix the egg whites, warm water, almond extract and cream of tartar together until combined. Crank up the pace after about 2 mins mixing continously at a medium speed until soft peaks form. Slowly add in the remaining sugar while mixing. Once you have achieved medium peaks, sift enough of the flour mixture in to dust the top of the foam. Using a spatula fold in gently. Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.

Carefully spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan. Bake for 35 minutes before checking for doneness with a wooden skewer. (When inserted halfway between the inner and outer wall, the skewer should come out dry).

Cool upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour before removing from pan.