Chocolate Glaze for Angel Food Cake

May 2013

Angel Food Cake

If there’s a dessert that’s suitable for occasions as different as a Mother’s Day brunch, a wedding Tea, a graduation barbecue or Fourth of July pool party, it’s this one: Angel Food Cake. A cake as American as Apple Pie, that’s either a plain-Jane or a fancy tour de force. A cake so unique and beloved that it has endured for over a century and is especially appreciated these days because the classic version is fat-free, cholesterol-free and dairy-free.

People have always liked Angel Food Cake because it is as light and ethereal as angel’s wings, the raison d'être of its name. You can eat a slice without feeling stuffed, even after big meal.

There aren’t many ingredients in the recipe either, and it’s likely you already have them all, so you can decide to bake one of these confections on a moment’s notice.

And yet, as with most simple recipes, there’s an art to making it. In bygone days a home cook knew the pitfalls and took great care in the preparation, knowing that one’s reputation as a good (or not) cook depended on whether her Angel Food Cake was properly tender.

Thanks to modern kitchen tools, particularly electric stand and hand mixers, the task these days is easier, but there are still some fine points to consider.

Angel Food Cake contains a large quantity of egg whites: 1-1/2 cups, which amounts to about 10 or 12 large eggs. The whites are the cake’s only leavening, so the trick is to beat them to the perfect volume and structure. The tip here is to separate the whites from the yolks when the egg is cold, when it is easiest to do and less risky that yolk particles will invade the whites (which, in turn, creates poor volume for the beaten whites).

On the other hand, whites beat to greatest volume when they are at room temperature. Plan ahead; it takes about 30-40 minutes for a cold egg to warm up.

If the whites are not beaten well enough there won’t be enough air in the batter to make the cake tall and stately. If you over beat the batter the cake will be low and dry.

How do you know when it’s perfect? When the beaten whites stand in stiff peaks, and the foamy mass is about 8 times the original egg white volume. It helps to add a stabilizing ingredient such as cream of tartar, lemon juice or vinegar, and to beat the whites with some of the recipe’s sugar, which makes the whites glossy just at the point they are ready: lift the beater, the tips should also flop over slightly. If you turn the bowl completely upside down the beaten whites won’t fall out!

The next fault line is when you add the flour. The trick here is to do it slowly, gradually, because if you add it all at once you’ll have to mix the batter more vigorously and that will deflate it. Use a large, flexible rubber spatula to help you.

For the actual baking, there are special angel food cake pans that have “legs.” The legs allow you to cool the cake upside down, as it must (or it will collapse). But you can use a regular bundt pan and place the baked cake, fresh from the oven, upside down on the neck of a large, filled glass bottle. The cake will not fall out because the pan has not been greased.

Angel Food Cake is a light, refreshing dessert; a perfect choice on a summer’s day or any time after a filling meal. It’s lovely when served with fresh, cut up fruit. But you can dress this simple confection up in many ways including serving it with sauce, ice cream or sorbet and the like. Or you can give it a glaze.

It’s also easy to change the basic cake to chocolate (substitute some cocoa powder for flour) or spice (mix in freshly grated nutmeg or ground cinnamon) or citrus (add some freshly grated orange or lemon peel) and so on. Adding a small amount of applesauce or ground toasted nuts will give the cake more body, making it less delicate, but delightfully dense and moist.

The last trick has to do with serving Angel Food Cake. Be sure to use a sharp serrated knife so the slices won’t squash down like a wet sponge.