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Monday, February 10, 2014

Cake #17: Angel Food Cake

It was my dad's 60th birthday so I skipped way ahead in the book to make a homemade angel food cake. March 2013. I was surprised at how easy it was to make, and that angel food cakes don't have any butter or oil! That being said, this cake was a lot different than the other cakes I have made. You just add stuff to the kitchen aid and beat until the egg whites are forming peaks. Not overbeating is important.
I used 8 egg whites, which were a little less than 1 cup. There were 8 egg yolks left over, so my male companion made a double batch of custard with them.

You need to line the angel food pan (different from a bundt pan in that it comes apart) with parchment paper. I didn't know how to do that, so I just lined the bottom with a hole cut out. 
Then you pour the batter into the parchment paper-lined, ungreased tube pan and bake it. 
Then you let it cool for a few minutes and then you find out what that hole in the middle is for- to fit on a wine bottle!

You stick the wine bottle in there and flip the thing upside down so that it doesn't collapse on itself. This is also why the pan was not greased- so that it won't fall out while cooling upside down.

When it's fully cooled, it can go right side up on a plate. You have to remove it very carefully with a knife and/or a spatula. Now you can see that parchment paper with the hole cut out (above)
After removing the parchment paper, the top looks like this (above).
And the sides look like the photo above- all nice and fluffy.
The funny thing is, most people buy angel food cake mix and make it from that. But the mixing of the ingredients is the easy part. The cooling and removing is what takes the most effort here. I, for one, will make angel food cakes from scratch from now on! And plus, when you make it from scratch, you know it doesn't have too many calories, so you can make up for that fact with the frosting.
The trick with angel food cake frosting is to put a round piece of cardboard over the top and frost over it to give it a smooth look. Then the birthday boy gets to lick the cardboard. Six-pack beer boxes work best. Or maybe that's what's always available in my house.
Then serve with homemade vanilla ice cream.

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