I love sugar and desserts and baked goods more than almost any other food. Every season has their specialties and I am not opposed to having Summer specific sweets in Winter or a Fall treat on a hot, sweaty day. However there is something particularly exciting about pushing a fork through the layers of fruit and decadence that you find in a Summer dessert. Personally, I love a crumble, with fresh seasonal berries, an abundance of oats, and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. One baked good that is still particularly light and fluffy is an angel food cake and it blends so well with a tart berry and sweet whipped cream.
While I am a fan of the traditional angel food cake, with nice base vanilla notes and a hint of extra sweet almond it is like a giant, spongy nilla wafer, and who wouldn't immediately love that?! Adding fresh fruit, usually strawberries, only enhances the experience and turns a simply treat into a flavorful adventure. I tend to go above and beyond when it comes to baking and cooking and have explained that often I can do fancy better than basic. When I try to stay simple and classic with foods, they come out less than ideal and I am not proud to serve them. So, how do I take a simple angel food cake and make it less simple... let's make it chocolate!
With a few tweaks to a normal angel food cake recipe, I was ready to make my very first, and make it my own. Swapping some of the flour out for cocoa powder and maintaining only vanilla extract, no almond, were really the only two changes that need to be made. Now that I am thinking about it though, I want to try making a Mexican hot chocolate inspired angel food cake, or a lavender lemon angel food cake. Some of these may be coming soon. (Also, please stay with me on my food photography journey... one day I will take some more appealing pictures.)
Here was my process:
Separate your eggs! Having these prepared and set aside will make your life so much easier. 12 egg whites is certainly a lot, and it feels like a lot of left out egg yolks but those can be used in a custard, a curd, an ice cream base, pasta, there are so many options. Once you have your eggs separated and you are positive there is no cross contamination, start whisking your egg whites and cream of tartar in a stand mixer. This should take 7-10 minutes or really as long as it takes to form stiff peaks. Be careful not to over mix and get a chunky consistency.
Sift your dry ingredients. Sift them. Then sift the sifted mixture. Then sift again. We are looking to aerate the mixture to contribute to a light, fluffy cake. Flour, cocoa powder, and sugar should be loosening up and combining together. Sift them 3-5 times until you are pleased with the combination. This can be a messy task, so try hard not to spill all your ingredients all over the counter. You will need at least two medium sized bowls and a mesh strainer or sifter.
Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients. This should be fairly simple but is actually the hardest task and the easiest to mess up. You want to fold the dry ingredients into the wet. Pour the dry over the top, and using a rubber spatula, scoop under the bottom and turn over the top, pressing into the dry ingredients. Rotate the bowl and gently repeat until there are no longer streaks in the mixture. DO NOT OVERMIX! This is not a stir or a whisk, but a fold (only look up "fold it in" if you would like to watch a hilarious Schitt's Creek moment.)
Place in pan and bake. Take an ungreased angel food cake pan and pour/spoon the batter in. Your oven should be preheated to 375 and be ready to accept the cake. Place the cake pan with batter into the oven and back for approximately 35 minutes. Every oven is different, so check your cake with a tester before taking it out. I needed to go a bit longer on mine so I added 5 extra minutes (though I probably could have done 10.) If the top starts to brown too much, cover it with tin foil.
Cool and enjoy! Allow it to fully cool, upside down on a cooling rack so gravity and play it's role and deliver the cake to us. Add your favorite toppings and accompaniments. Devour this treat!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour (cake or AP)
1/4 cup cocoa powder (preferably dutch processed or other high quality cocoa)
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
12 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla
Optional additions:
fresh fruit (berries, peaches, bananas, etc.)
powdered sugar for dusting
whipped cream
mint leaves
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 and set aside ungreased angel food cake pan.
Separate egg whites from egg yolks. Take two bowls and after cracking, transfer the yolk between both shell halves until only the whites make it into one bowl. Place the yolk in another bowl and reserve for another recipe.
Put the egg whites into a stand mixer with the cream of tartar and mix on medium-high speed for approximately 7-10 minutes or until stiff peaks have formed. Halfway through the process, add the vanilla extract.
While the eggs are mixing, sift the flour, cocoa powder, and sugar together. Sift once, then into a separate bowl, sift again. Repeat the sifting process 3-5 times until you have happy with the product.
Once the egg whites have stiff peaks, remove the bowl from the stand mixer and gently fold in the sifted ingredients. Do not overmix, just until there are no longer streaks in the batter.
Carefully spoon the batter into the cake pan and place onto the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes depending on your oven. The top should rise and a tester or toothpick should come out clean. (Check in a few places, because mine came out clean but still had a few undercooked spots and could have used another 5-10 minutes.)
Allow the rest in pan for 15 minutes before turning upside down on a wire cooling rack and resting until completely cool.
Slice, serve, and add your favorite toppings!
Thank you for reading! If you make this, add a comment and let me know!!
コメント