Bake This Angel Food Cake Recipe For National Angel Food Cake Day
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October 10th is National Angel Food Cake Day. Bake one from scratch, or pick up a ready-made cake and serve it with this delicious strawberry glaze. Angel food cake is a white sponge cake: a light, flourless cake made with sugar, cream of tartar, salt, vanilla or almond extract, and a dozen or so egg whites, depending on the recipe. There is no leavening. Chocolate angel food cakes were developed much later, adding cocoa powder. The cake is popularly served with berries and whipped cream, although it can be served plain or with a dessert sauce (caramel, chocolate, custard, fruit, etc.). Angel food cake originated in the U.S. and first became popular in the late 19th century. See the history of angel food cake below, along with Fanny Farmer’s 1884 recipe, the first time the recipe appeared in a cook book. Angel food cakes are generally made in a tube pan (photo #4). If you’re going to purchase one, get one with a removable bottom. BONUS: Check below for a third recipe, the original Fanny Farmer Angel Food Cake recipe from 1884, plus the history of angel food cake. Ingredient For The Strawberry Glaze 1. STIR orange juice into cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Add strawberries, sugar and marmalade. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. 2. REDUCE heat to low; cook 2 minutes, stirring, or until sauce thickens. Cool or chill. 3. CUT cake into 12 slices. Spoon sauce over each slice. Garnish with optional whipped cream. Ingredients 1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F, with rack in the lowest position. 2. MIX the powdered sugar and flour in medium bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer on medium speed until foamy. Both the bowl and the whisk attachment must be clean, dry, and free of grease in order to get the maximum volume from the egg whites. Similarly, angel food cake pans are not greased so that the batter can cling to the sides of the pan as it bakes, and reach its full volume. 3. BEAT in the granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, on high speed, adding the vanilla, almond extract and salt with the last addition of sugar. Continue beating until stiff and glossy. Do not over-beat. 4. SPRINKLE the powdered sugar-flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, over egg white mixture, folding in with a rubber spatula just until the sugar-flour mixture disappears. Use the spatula to cut down vertically through the center of egg whites, across the bottom of the bowl and up the side, turning the egg whites over. Rotate the bowl one-fourth turn and repeat. Continue folding this way until the ingredients are just blended (do not over-blend). Use the spatula to break large air pockets, pushing the batter gently against the side of the pan and the tube. This folding technique is used so that the batter will not lose its volume. At each step, take care not to over-mix, over-blend, or over-combine the cake batter; this will deflate the meringue, creating a dense cake. 5. PUSH the batter into an ungreased 10 x 4 inch angel food cake pan (tube pan). Cut gently through the batter with a metal spatula or knife to break the air pockets. 6. BAKE 30 to 35 minutes or until the cracks feel dry and the top springs back when touched lightly. Immediately turn the pan upside down onto a heat-proof funnel or an empty wine bottle. This is so the baked cake will maintain its volume and not shrink as it cools. 7. KEEP the cake inverted about 2 hours or until it’s completely cool. Loosen the side of the cake with a knife or long metal spatula; remove it from the pan. Fannie Farmer’s 1884 angel food-like cake was published in The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Although it wasn’t yet called angel food cake, you can see that her recipe was nearly identical to today’s cakes. Some earlier recipes used cornstarch flour. Cornstarch, a starch, is a thickening agent. It is not a substitute for cream of tartar, which is an acid used for helping to stabilize the egg whites when whipped (leading to a better rise in cakes and meringues), leavening, and preventing crystallization. This cake was sometimes called snow-drift cake or white sponge cake before angel food cake became the official name in later edition in the 1886 edition of the cook book. > See the history of angel food cake below. Ingredients Editor’s Note: For ease in reading, we have numbered the steps and given them modern formatting. 1. PREPARE the oven and pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Use an unbuttered tube pan (the batter needs to climb the sides). 2. SIFT the dry ingredients. Sift the flour and salt together four to five times to ensure a light texture. 3. WHIP the egg whites. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. 4. FOLD in dry ingredients. Gently fold the sifted flour mixture into the egg whites, a little at a time, using a spatula. Add vanilla extract and fold gently to maintain the airiness. 5. BAKE the cake. Pour the batter into the unbuttered tube pan and smooth the top. Bake for 40–50 minutes, or until the top is golden and springs back when touched. 6. COOL upside down. Immediately invert the pan over a bottle or on its feet (if it has feet). Let cool completely before removing the cake. [Source: ChatGPT 2025-01-24] |
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THE HISTORY OF ANGEL FOOD CAKE Angel food cake likely originated in the early 19th century. The first angel food cakes were probably baked in the South by enslaved African-American, due to the strength required to whip the air into the whites. They evolved from sponge cakes (the history of sponge cake). Other names for sponge and foam cakes included Hot Water Sponge Cake, “”Sunshine Cake,” and “Moonshine Cake.” These cakes relied on beaten eggs for leavening, resulting in their characteristic lightness—although unlike Angel Food Cake, they recipes used the egg yolk as well as the white (Angel Food Cake is whites-only, thus the white color). By the late 1800s, with the invention of the egg beater, it had become a widely recognized and beloved American dessert. The earliest known recipes for angel food cake appeared in the late 19th century, specifically in the 1870s and 1880s. Here are some key milestones in its recorded history: > The Different Types Of Cake—A Photo Glossary
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