Does anyone make an angel food cake from scratch?
The only homemade scratch angel food cake I've eaten was back in the 50's. My Aunt, who lived on a farm complete with chickens, gathered fresh eggs & on a special occasion would bake one, then drizzle on the most amazing glaze. When cut, somehow it sliced perfectly...never tearing or mashing down. To me, this had to be the ultimate delicate mouth-feel food! Times are a changin'....does anyone even make angel food cakes from scratch anyone? If you do, how it is served...with fruit?
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25 Comments:
I've made a few, using the recipe from (you guessed it) the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cook Book.
It's fairly simple, but the real trick is that the cake pan must be CLEAN! I mean surgically clean. Even oil from your hands can ruin the cake. (I wipe mine out with vinegar on a paper towel, followed by a wet paper towel)
It's best served simply with fresh fruit and whipped cream.
(You can use the 12 leftover egg yolks to make a Whole Wheat Golden Angel Food Cake from a recipe in the same book)
SB (does NOT work for KAF) (I can only wish)
srhcb at 8:50PM on 02/06/08
I used to beg my mother NOT to make it. I have never liked it She would often have it with strawberries and whipped cream. I preferred just about any other cake - sponge, shortbread, pound, etc. I actually skipped dessert when that was the base, unless she'd let me just have the fruit and cream. Now, devil's food cake is a whole different matter! ;-o
Ina Garten has several angel food cake recipes. One, called Black and White AF Cake, was covered with chocolate ganache.
PerkyMac at 9:17PM on 02/06/08
I've made it from scratch and used a cake-mix. It all depends on how many egg whites I have hanging around that need using up. Personally I like angel cake with fresh berries in some type of fruit sauce (no whipped cream!). When I was growing up this was the "go-to" recipe for our birthday cakes. My mother would frost it with seven minute icing and then drizzle unsweetened Baker's chocolate over the top. The unsweetened chocolate cut the sticky sweetness of the icing but I'll never forget the first time I stuck my finger in it when she wasn't looking and discovered what it tasted like on its own!
smallblondemom at 9:27PM on 02/06/08
I've tried a few times. It didn't go well.
I'm gearing up for it again . . . .
KarynMC at 9:34PM on 02/06/08
i've always made my own, except for once when i bought one to serve with some strawberries, and i was amazed at how awful it was, like eating a sponge dipped in sugar water.
cybercita at 9:51PM on 02/06/08
I saw Alton Brown make one on TV once. It looked good. I just got a kitchen aid mixer, so I will definitely have to try it out!
ag3208 at 10:29PM on 02/06/08
This was my birthday cake growing up and was always served with the first strawberries of the season. I have made my own a few times but it sure does take a lot of eggs. I guess it frees up a lot of yolks for creme brulee.
One of my great mess en place moments involved realizing I didn't have any vanilla, ten egg separations too late. There was no turning back, so I used the only extract on hand, which happened to be mint, and some cocoa. As much as I love mint chocolate, this is a downgrade from the real deal. I strongly recommend double checking everything (and there are only five or six ingredients) before you start.
drastic at 10:32PM on 02/06/08
I used to make this often when I was little--in fact, when my family lived in western NY for a while, this was my recipe of choice for a 4H competition--and its always come out as it should, but I always followed the recipe precisely. I wish I could remember which cook book my mother had (it's been a very long time since I've made this), as I have a feeling that the recipe used makes all the difference when making this cake. If your cake didn't work out, try another recipe (and calibrate your oven!).
There is one thing I figured out after making it once or twice: Made with the usually recommended vanilla extract, angel food can be insipid or cloying; try almond extract instead, and it is much more interesting.
drastic, mint doesn't seem as if it WOULD quite work, but I'm impressed that the added cacao didn't make for any problems... I think in a pinch flavouring could be skipped, and then the cake soaked in eau de vie or something of that sort.
mongoose at 2:56AM on 02/07/08
A couple of times a year I make one with chopped maraschino cherries and the cake comes pink. It is a good snack.
JerzeeTomato at 5:01AM on 02/07/08
WOW--I am really impressed with all of you! To me, making a successsful AFC put a baker high on a pedestal:) When Spring brings fresh strawberries, one of these would make for a gorgeous dessert!
What are your successful ways to slice one?
JEP at 5:25AM on 02/07/08
Use a bread knife and saw it carefully!
smallblondemom at 6:23AM on 02/07/08
i make AFC for each of my daughter's birthdays..one with whipped cream and strawberries..and one with heavy cream, carmel sauce and heath bar bits. The cake itself is very light, I follow the Cook's Illustrated recipe. Not difficult but you must folow the directions exactly. All in all, a big hit each year.
reds at 10:08AM on 02/07/08
The KAF recipe suggests using two forks to gently pull the cake apart rather than slicing.
srhcb at 10:14AM on 02/07/08
I only make mine from scratch, they really are not difficult, just a lot of work. It's worth it, there is not comparison for the taste!
Lilartist at 11:07AM on 02/07/08
I remember I made one once when I was about 11. My mother was so shocked because she had tried and tried in 4H as a child to get one to come out right and I did it the first time on my own.....I miss baking...sometimes.
jcrisco at 12:07PM on 02/07/08
Never made one from scratch but always had one with the little sprinkles in it for my birthday. We had a wedding celebration for my daughter a few years ago and she wanted AFC w/strawberries rather than a wedding cake. I made the cakes in the large loaf pans, wrapped them in foil and put them in the freezer. I think I made about a dozen and we used 9. An electric knife worked well for cutting into slices.
Has anyone read "One Upon a Town" by Bob Greene? It's about North Platte, Nebraska and the canteen they had during WWII. It tells about a woman who made AFC from turkey egg whites since regular eggs were rationed. Great book.
dutchgal at 12:32PM on 02/07/08
I use the recipe for chocolate angel food cake from Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Cake Bible", and fold the flour in with the wire whip of my KitchenAid, a tip from Marion Cunningham's "Fannie Farmer Book of Baking". People go wild. It's a sort of cup-of-cocoa taste.
Angel food was my mother's trademark cake, with a seafoam frosting, and I didn't appreciate it then. But it always brought the most money at any bake sales she contributed it to.
As to using it for shortcake - try toasting or grilling it gently. Even MORE divine.
lemons at 3:14PM on 02/07/08
My MIL make a mean angel food cake and with the yolks, a butter sponge cake.
Maureen at 3:41PM on 02/07/08
Always make them from scratch. The boxed AFCs have weird ingredients in them, I did that once and was severely disappointed. Easy to make. Never had one fail. Have used the recipe in the KAF book and Joy of Cooking. My mom uses the Betty Crocker recipe. They are all pretty much the same.
waterreflecting at 4:20PM on 02/07/08
If life (or baking) gives you 12 egg yolks .... make KAF's Golden Angel Food Cake!
12 Eggs Yolks
.75 C Boiling Water
1 T Grated Orange or Lemon Rind
1.25 C Sugar
1.75 C Whole Wheat Flour
2 t Baking Powder
.75 t Salt
Beat Yolks until thick and lemon colored
SLOWLY add Boiling Water and beat for a few min
Fold in Rind and Sugar, continue beating
Combine Dry Ingredients, add slowly to Yolk Mixture
Pour in tube pan with greased bottom only
Bake 45 min at 325
Cool upside down 1.5 hrs before removing from pan
One of these cakes, served along with a regular Angel Food Cake, makes a nice presentation.
SB (actually likes this cake better)
srhcb at 4:22PM on 02/07/08
One of the only things I never used to make from scratch (that and brownies of all things, still looking for a foolproof recipe there) I finally gave it a try and realized it really isn't a big deal. The thought of using a dozen eggs for one cake seemed excessive but I then realized the money I would spend without a thought on chocolate and cream for some desserts far, far surpasses the money for a dozen eggs. The taste of a homemade angel cake is so much better than the boxed kind, so much less "chemically".
I was always a berries and cream person with angel cake but my husband grew up having it as a birthday cake with chocolate frosting - turned upside down to frost more easily. I will do it this way for him but I still don't really get it or like it.
I remember eating it by just pulling it apart as it sat cooling on the rack, my poor mother would be left with a sorry looking mess after a dozen or so "little pieces".
mrsmoosie at 10:13PM on 02/07/08
Hubby adores angel food cake, so I've promised to try making one in the near future. I'm not a fan, but it does make a pretty tasty trifle, so it's fine with me.
My impression is that as long as you do every step just so, and use the proper pan, it's not that hard. We'll see if I'm overestimating myself!
LoCo at 12:19PM on 02/08/08
I slice them with an electric knife. It works like a charm.
JerzeeTomato at 8:13AM on 02/09/08
Any serrated knife works as long as the blade is long enough. And eggs are very reasonable compared to some of the other ingredients we love. The yolks make cat food at our house, preferably gently poached.
lemons at 10:29AM on 02/09/08
isn't there a special tool to cut angel food cake? it has a row of long, skinny metal spikes that you insert gently into the cake. which splits it apart.
cybercita at 10:56AM on 02/09/08