Angel Food Cake
It’s strawberry season, and I can't think of a better cake to top with fresh berries than Angel Food Cake. It's light, airy, sweet, and soft!! No wonder it's called "Angel" Food Cake in the wide world of cakes. I have made MANY different types of cakes, but never this one for some reason. So research I did, and I found out that this cake calls for 12 egg whites and a tube pan-WAIT what?? I don't own a tube pan and I didn't want to go through a dozen eggs for just 1 cake. My heart was set on trying to make an Angel Food Cake, so I improvised my plan. I took a jab at making this cake with Egg Beaters egg whites that come in a carton and my trusty Wilton Bundt pan. This was a "fingers crossed, let's hope it works" baking project AND it did!!
I decided to use this Alton Brown recipe, but I had to pump the brakes again because I did not have cream of tartar or cake flour. Being a baker, I have a pretty well stocked pantry, but I don't keep cake flour or cream of tartar at home. At this point, I considered making another dessert that pairs well with strawberries, but I was determined to try making an Angel Food Cake from scratch.
Bring on the substitutions!! For the cream of tartar sub, I used equal parts of lemon juice (Alton's recipe called for 1.5 tsp of cream of tartar, so I used 1.5 tsp of lemon juice instead). For the cake flour substitution, you measure out your all purpose flour and remove 2 Tbsp of flour per cup of AP flour and replace with 2 Tbsp of corn starch (his recipe called for 1.5 Cups of flour so I removed 3 Tbsp of flour and replaced it with 3 Tbsp of corn starch). Once you replace your flour with corn starch, whisk the two ingredients together, and VOILA, you have cake flour. You can also use your extract of choice-mine was pound cake.
If you use this Alton Brown recipe, it calls to use multiple tools: a food processor, sifters, a balloon whisk, a hand mixer, spoons or spatulas, and the list goes on... This is a "we're running the dishwasher as soon as the cake goes in the oven" recipe, BUT, it's worth it. Instead of a hand mixer , I used my KitchenAid stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Instead of a tube pan, I used my 10 Cup Wilton Bundt pan. With a little bit of extra batter to spare, I made some mini bundtlets too. His instructions say DO NOT spray or grease your tube pan. I did lightly spray my Bundt with Baker's Joy.
While the cake was baking (fingers crossed and dishwasher running), I moved on to topping world.Let's talk toppings: STRAWBERRIES!! The whole purpose of this baking endeavor was to create a vehicle for my berries. And of course, I can't leave out whipped cream. I love making my own whipped cream, but I was "whipped" at this point and just decided to go store bought. I slice my strawberries into rounds and coat them LIBERALLY in granulated sugar. Then, I store them in an airtight container in the fridge. While the berries are chilling, the most delicious strawberry syrup forms in the container on it's own, it's a hands-off situation. When the cake is done, it must cool completely in the pan before it can be turned out. Be sure to cool this cake upside down on a wire rack so it does not lose it's shape. Once the cake cooled, I used a small offset spatula to loosen the edges of the cake before shimmying it out of the pan. Aaah, that satisfying feeling of successfully turning out a cake is delightful.
Light, airy, sweet, and soft are words that can be used to describe this cake. I topped my Angel Food Cake (chocked full of substitutions) with a little bit of confectioner's sugar using a small hand held sifter. Slices can be topped as you wish'. I'll have mine with strawberries, strawberry syrup, and whipped cream!! And, I will definitely be making this angelic cake again!
-XOXO-
Sally