Angel Food Cake

I was eyeing the William Sonoma's angel food cake recipe for months, and I seriously wanted to test this recipe. At that time, I was intimidating by the process of whipping egg whites. After making so many meringues, whipping egg white is like... well, you know. If you are a novice to the egg whipping technique, check out my tips and tricks to whipping up the perfect egg whites.

After I baked the angel food cake, I wondered why I waited so long to bake such an easy dessert. Brek and I luv the cake's texture. It was rather fluffy and light like clouds. Wait, I never tasted clouds before. Hmm... you just have to bake one and find out if it tastes like clouds.

Last year, I baked... oh maybe... 3 angel food cakes. This cake only needs egg whites, so I was having that dilemma, "what am I going to do with the egg yolks?" Planning is everything. It is the only way to not waste any food. I usually made pudding, pastry cream, ice cream, or saved them for breakfast scrambled eggs. Keep an egg yolk to make egg wash. Another thing to keep in mind is to make sure that I have enough time to spend in the kitchen as I am most likely to commit to 2 to 3 recipes.

Angel Food Cake
adapted from William Sonoma and America's Test Kitchen
makes 2 mini tube cakes

3 egg white

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup (2.3 oz) granulated sugar
4 Tablespoons (1.2 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325F degrees. If the mini tube pans don't have a removable bottom, place a parchment paper at the bottom of the pans.
   TIP: Cut the white cupcake liner to fit the bottom of the tube pans. Since most of the cupcake liners are dusted with corn starch, use parchment paper if you are sensitive to corn.
2. In a cleaned and dried large bowl, place the egg whites with cream of tartar.
3. Using a hand mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. NOTE: If using Cuisinart hand mixer, use speed 7 (the highest speed).
4. Sprinkle half of the sugar on the side of the bowl.
5. Beat the sugar into egg whites for 10 seconds. Repeat with the rest of the sugar.
6. Add lemon juice and vanilla extract.
7. Beat the egg whites until firm peaks form.
8. Gently fold in half of the flour into the whipped egg white. Repeat with the rest of the flour.
9. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared mini tube pans.
10. Tap the pans on the counter top about 10 times to get rid of air bubbles.
11. Bake in the preheated oven for exactly 30 minutes.
12. Let cool in the cooling rack for at least an hour. NOTE: This cooling stage is optional. When I removed the cake while it was still warm, the cake didn't hold the tube shape and had several finger indentations. Still tasty!!!
13. Run a thin knife around the edge of the tube pan. Run a toothpick in the center of the tube pan.
14. Gently twist the top of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Then invert the cake onto a plate. Enjoy the angel foods cake with fresh fruits, pastry cream, ice cream, or melted chocolate. Brek luvs them plain, and I do too.

STORING: Keep the angel food cakes in an air tight container at a room temperature for up to 3 days. (I bet the cakes will disappear into somebody's tummy as soon as they come out of the oven.)

Allergy Info: This angel food cake is free from or can be made without dairy, corn, legumes (soy), nuts, and fish.