Example: Making an Angel Food Cake
For using up extra egg whites
Created by Irma Rombauer, 1931
Updated by Jaime Taylor, March 2022
Necessary tools: measuring cups & spoons, flour sifter, electric mixer, large mixing bowl & a couple medium bowls, large silicone spatula, 9” two-part tube pan, oven. If you do not have permission to use the oven, please contact mom@parents.edu or dad@parents.org.
Ingredients: 1 cup sifted cake or pastry flour, 1 ½ cups sugar, a dozen egg whites (about 1 ¼ cups), ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract.
Related workflows: Whipping Egg Whites; Cocoa Angel Food Cake; Grandma’s Pound Cake.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sift 1 ½ cups sugar twice. This will break up any lumps & make the sugar a little finer & smoother.
3. Separately from the sugar, sift cake or pastry flour. Only AFTER sifting, measure out 1 cup of flour. **
4. Then sift together three times: the cup of sifted flour, ½ cup of sifted sugar, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Set this mixture aside.
a. You will need a couple bowls for this, as the ingredients are sifted from one bowl to the other.
b. Repeated sifting will mix these ingredients together ahead of time, since you will not be stirring the cake batter much later.
4. In your largest mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to whip 12 egg whites (aprox. 1 ¼ cup) until foamy. ****
5. Add 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar to the foamy egg whites, then beat them with the electric mixer until they form stiff peaks, but not so long that they look dry.
a. Cream of tartar helps egg whites whip & stay whipped. If you don’t have it, it will take a little more work.
b. You can do this with a hand-cranked mixer or a whisk, but it will take longer.
c. Stiff peaks? Stop the mixer, then lift it out of the egg white. It should leave a peak behind that stands up straight as you lift the mixer out & then doesn’t fall over.
6. Continue to whip the egg whites, slowly adding in the 1 cup of sifted sugar that has not been combined with flour.
7. Whip in the 1 teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract, as well.
8. Once the sugar and extract have been incorporated into the whipped egg whites, set aside the mixer. With a large silicone spatula, gently fold a quarter of the flour & sugar mixture into the whipped egg white. Continue with further portions of the flour & sugar mix.
a. To “fold” a batter, slide the spatula along the inside bottom of the bowl, then use it to gently lift the batter from below and turn it over on itself.
b. DO NOT mix this batter briskly, or fold it any more than absolutely necessary. By treating it gently, you avoid activating the gluten in the flour.
9. Gently pour the batter into an ungreased tube pan. ******
10. Bake for 45 minutes. Position the oven rack so that the cake will have space to rise above the rim of the pan.
11. Remove from oven. To cool, invert the pan. Leave it this way for at least a half an hour, so the cake sets.
a. If the pan does not have feet to hold the cake off the surface it is on, stand it on a funnel or bottle.
12. Once cooled, slide a knife around the inside edge of the tube pan, then separate the two pieces of the pan. Slide a knife around the bottom and center edges, then lift the cake off the pan.
13. To cut a fresh angel food cake, use a cake divider, pry it apart with two forks, or use a serrated knife.
14. Store uneaten cake (if any) in a cake box or cake tote. If storing, do not add frosting, jelly or fruit, etc.
Notes:
**Notes on flour:
If using cake flour, be sure that it is not “self-rising” flour, which contains baking powder and salt.
Cake or pastry flour has a lower gluten content than bread or all-purpose flour, which will make your cake lighter. If you do not have and cannot get cake or pastry flour, all-purpose flour will do, but the cake may not be as tall and fluffy. Bread flour, which is high in gluten, should be avoided if at all possible. Unlike bread, this cake rises when the air trapped in the egg whites expands while baking, NOT by gluten molecules in the flour. A glutinous cake will be tough and will not rise.
While modern flour usually comes pre-sifted (unlike in Irma Rombauer’s time), it is still wise to sift the flour for a very light cake such as this. Measuring AFTER sifting will assure you have the correct amount for this recipe.
****Notes on egg whites:
You may use powdered egg whites, but be sure they are completely rehydrated and without lumps before you begin whipping them.
Another option is to save egg white in a container in the freezer as you make recipes that only call for egg yolks (yellow cakes or challah, for example); then when you have enough, gently defrost and use as you would fresh ones.
******Make very sure that no butter, oil, or other lipids make their way into this cake – it will fail if they do. Do not grease the pan, and make sure all tools are clean.