Angel Food Cake

I love Angel Food Cake.  It’s light, fluffy, not too sweet, a wonderful blank canvas and it’s fairly simple to-boot!  Despite all of these pros for the feather light cake I don’t often I make it.  Why?  It takes TWELVE egg whites.  I don’t know about you but I have a hard time coming up with a use for a dozen yolks.  I like custards, ice creams and lemon curd as much as the next person, but they’re heavy and tend toward the fattening end of the spectrum.  Well I recently came into a free carton of 100% Egg Whites Egg Beaters.  WIN!

The recipe below is essentially the Betty Crocker recipe with a few tweaks.  If you’d like to leave the chocolate chips out or substitute grated chocolate instead feel free.  I felt like going a little crazy here!

Ingredients

1 ½ c. powdered sugar

1 c. cake flour, or soft flour (I use White Lily all purpose)

1 ½ c. egg whites

1 ½ tsp cream of tarter

1 c. sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

1 c. mini chocolate chips tossed in 1 tbsp of flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and rustle up a tube pan DO NOT grease it. 

Sift the powdered sugar and flour together.  In a large bowl (I mean really large) whip the egg whites and cream of tarter until soft peaks form.  If you have a stand mixer this is the time to use it.  When the egg whites form soft peaks start adding the sugar slowly, a few tablespoons at a time.  Whip the whites until they form stiff, glossy peaks; add in the vanilla and salt.

Slowly, and by hand, fold in the flour mixture into the whites with a spatula.  Fold it in ¼ cup at a time until it is all incorporated.  Don’t over mix it!  If you deflate those puppies there’s no going back!

You’re almost there.  Fold in the floured chips (the flour is to keep them from sinking).

Spoon the batter into the tube pan and spread it evenly.  Once is it’s in there take a knife and run it through the cake—just in case there’s an air pocket in there.

Bake for 35 minutes, until the top is crusty, cracked and brown.  Once it’s done CAREFULLY turn it upside down on a heat proof surface to cool (cookie sheet, marble, granite etc).  Completely cool the cake before running a knife around the cake and gently removing it.

My favorite way to enjoy is with whipped cream and berries.