Archive for: angel food
Angel food cakes are a bit unique in that they always come in the same size and shape. Recipes call for a specific pan and, while it’s possible to make smaller versions of angel food cakes in loaf pans or cupcake pans, a 9- or 10-inch tube pan with a removable bottom is standard. Lots of people who have never made an angel food cake at home ask if it is required to make a good angel food cake.
The answer is yes. Angel food cakes are foam cakes and, although there is some flour in the batter to add softness and help hold the cake together, they get most of their body from beaten egg whites. Air pockets in the egg whites expand as the cake heats up in the oven, lifting the cake. The pan is designed to ensure that the cake bakes evenly and rises as high as possible. The tube design – with the hollow core at the center of the cake – lets heat evenly reach the entire cake, so that the outside edge is not done long before the cake’s center. This is especially important with an angel food cake (although pans like the Baker’s Edge use a similar principle) because the cake is very delicate during baking and it needs all the help it can get to rise up. The other factors that helps the cake rise are the material and shape of the pan. The sides of the pan must be straight and should not be made of a nonstick material. This ensures that the cake can “grip” the pan and “pull” itself up. Since the delicate cake must be cooled upside down to prevent it from collapsing, a non-nonstick surface will also ensure that the cake remains firmly in the pan during this time.
When I make angel food cake, I usually opt to make a plain cake rather than a flavored one. The standard flavoring for an angel food cake is vanilla, sometimes spiked with a little bit of almond (this is also how a classic white cake is flavored) and it’s a combination I really enjoy. The plain cake is flavorful, moist and tasty both on its own and when paired with fruits, sauces, etc.
But because it is a relatively plain cake, it is easy to come up with flavor variations for it. A little variety is a good thing and so I’ll occasionally make a flavored angel food cake. The easiest ways to change up the flavors are by adding citrus zest or by substituting the vanilla extract in the basic cake for another flavor. This particular cake is a coconut angel food cake and I opted to use fresh, shredded coconut for flavoring instead.
Even though I started with shredded coconut, I pulsed it in my food processor before I began to construct the cake to ensure that it was very, very finely chopped. Angel food cakes should be delicate, with a fine and even texture. I didn’t want strands of coconut interrupting that or – even worse – adversely affecting the rise of the cake in some way. The cake’s lightness comes from beaten egg whites, as well as from the use of low protein cake flour and superfine sugar. The cake flour keeps everything tender and the superfine sugar, since it dissolves more quickly than regular sugar, ensures the cake will not be grainy.
+Continue Reading
Angel food is one of my favorite types of cake (and cupcakes). Its light sweetness and cloud-like texture make it the perfect end to many meals because it pairs well with coffee and doesn’t feel heavy after even a large meal. But the texture is not without its drawbacks. For example, it doesn’t go particularly well with heavy, buttercream-type frostings and it is prone to being squished during slicing if not handled with a light touch.
There are ways to cut an angel food cake without squishing, however. The Baker’s Catalogue is currently stocking an angel food cutter, which is a many-pronged fork that allows you to perforate your cake (much like using a fork to split an english muffin) and easily pull off pieces. If you prefer your cake slices to have clean edges, rather than being “gently torn” by the Baker’s Catalogue cutter, all you need is a long, sharp serrated knife. A gentle sawing motion will have your cake sliced evenly, and without squishing, in no time.
Subtly lemony, with a drizzle of lemon icing on top, these angel food cupcakes have just the right balance of flavor and lightness to make them sweetly satisfying without weighing you down, as a heavier dessert might do. And, as an added bonus, they’ll put a smile on your face if you can track down some cute cupcake wrappers to use when you bake them (note the little cow print).
The cupcakes are essentially made with a half-batch of angel food cake batter and spiked with lemon zest. Like the full-sized cake, they are leavened with beaten egg whites and develop the same moist, light texture, but there are some differences between this and traditional angel food cake. For one thing, the size and shape of the pan is different. The larger cake is prone to collapse if the cake is not turned upside down to cool, but the cupcakes don’t have that problem and do not need to be turned upside down. Additionally, since they are baked in wrappers and don’t cling to the sides of a pan as the large cake does, they shrink slightly when they cool as some of the larger air bubbles in the batter deflate a bit. The best thing about them (aside from their taste!) is that they bake up much quicker than any full-sized angel food cake.
I wouldn’t frost these with anything more than a light drizzle of confectioners’ sugar icing. You don’t typically frost angel food cakes with anything more than that. For my batch, I just mixed the sugar with lemon juice to a pourable consistency and drizzled it off the tines of a fork to decorate. The other serving option is to put these cupcakes out with a bowl of lightly sweetened whipped cream and a plate of berries and invite people to make their own individual shortcakes with them.
+Continue Reading
It was pointed out in this article, that when Cooks Illustrated standards diverge from your own, you can end up being a bit disappointed with their recipes. I have found this to be a true assessment on several occasions, though the recipes themselves are excellent. There are some types of food where the likelihood of this happening is very low. Cakes are a good example as I have yet to meet someone who wants a dry, non-tender cake. Flavors can easily be altered, but the foundation of the cake is very important and I have found The Best Recipe to be a great resource.
This angel food cake recipe is a great example of a “best recipe”. It is moist, tender, not overly sweet and ethereally light. I could have eaten the entire thing in one sitting – which was a shock and all the store bought angelfood cakes I’ve had taste like sweet styrofoam and even ones I have made before have not turned out this well, though I do like the individual spiced angel food.
I slightly differed from the recipe by using superfine sugar, also known as castor sugar, instead of granulated because I fine it produces smoother meringues. I also did not use lemon juice/extract in the cake. I used vanilla paste – you can spot the beans in the photo if you look very closely – and almond extract to flavor the cake and served it with orange and lemon curds. Lemon curd is always a nice, tart contrast with angel food cake. The orange curd was made by substituting orange for lemon in the same recipe. It tasted marvelously sweet and smooth, rather like a creamsicle. It paired with this angel food even better than the lemon curd did.
I like to make it the night before and take it out of the pan the next day, so this can be prepared a day in advance. Use a serrated knife to slice it. This cake will be making appearances at my table more than once this summer. I’m already thinking about pairing it with balsamic strawberries.
+Continue Reading
