Currently I am struggling with somewhat of a thyroid problem and when the medicine dosage is off my energy takes a nose dive. I am looking forward to getting all that business leveled out, and as soon as I do I will be posting about it so hopefully it might help someone else who didn't even know they might be struggling with a thyroid problem as well.
ANYWAYS!
On to cake!
Today we are making a beautiful, glorious, classic, Angel Food cake!
First things first get yourself a very clean mixing bowl
Then you will grab yourself some fresh eggs
Separate your eggs into egg whites and yolks.
As an example, and purely for learning purposes, not at all because I made a mistake.... In the event some yolk (enemy to a great meringue) gets into your whites. Like this ...
Don't Panic! Don't yell, don't scream, don't throw it away and start over, don't cry, and certainly don't chase the yolk all around the bowl spreading it all around.
Grab an egg shell with a clean break and scoop the yolk out!
Easy peasy!
For some reason the shell doesn't chase the yolk around, it simply grabs it up and makes your day easier
BOOM!
Moving on!
Make sure you save the yolks and make something delicious with these jewels, perhaps creme brulee or creme anglaise.
On to the egg whites! The recipe says you can throw all the first ingredients in at one time but I like to whip up the egg whites just a bit to make sure they fluff up really well before I start adding other ingredients.
Add in your sugar, slowly, then your cream of tartar and warm water.
Next you'll add in which ever extract you choose, coconut sounds good to me, and so does orange blossom but today we are going to make plain old yummy vanilla.
Did I mention it's the BEST vanilla?? I truly think Vanilla is such an underrated flavor, I add it to anything I can. I always get good vanilla extract for stocking stuffer at Christmas and small birthday gifts. You can find this delicious stuff at William's Sonoma, Sur La Table or on-line.
I'm still working on this whole left handed pouring while right handed picture taking....
Also to up the Vanilla essence i add in a dollop of Vanilla bean paste. This stuff is RIGHTEOUS in pancakes, cake, waffles, whipped cream, buttercream, macaroons, pretty much anything you can get your hands on.
(One of my favorite things is to put in some light maple syrup and put it over vanilla or bacon waffles that have been spread with triple cream brie cheese....... I'm literally drooling right now...)
Basically what it is: The pulp-y gold from inside the vanilla bean pods that are combined with vanilla extract.
Once you get everything all nice and fluffy you want the meringue to achieve a medium to stiff peak. I probably let this one go just a minute too long trying to get some good action shots, but this will work.
To check if your meringue to medium you pull up your whisk turn it over and see if you get a DQ swirl. For a stiff peak you turn your whisk over and your peak stands strait up.
So pull up.
Turn it over and viola! This one is right in between the two.
I just love meringue
Next the dry ingredients!
Add together in a sifter salt...
More granulated sugar
Some recipes tell you to sift three times.... I mean come on... once is good people, don't get crazy.
Cake flour, now this stuff REALLY needs to be sifted, since it is ground up so fine it is especially susceptible to clumping. Our insane Houston humidity doesn't help much either. Once again you really only need to sift one time, unless you want to do it again, sift all day if you wish.
This is such a lie.... first of all you can never really get this tab open, then it doesn't stay open, and then EVERYTHING flies out. Avoid this all together.
Interestingly enough this doesn't work either.... your best bet is to pour ALL of this out into a bigger container or into a gallon Ziploc bag, then measure from there.
Sift and mix into the sugar and salt
Sprinkle the combined flour mixture over the top of the meringue IN THIRDS. I didn't want you to miss the "in thirds" part and accidentally mix it all in at once. I've totally never done that before.....
Our little winter wonderland
Now fold the flour into the meringue, it's not so fragile that it'll just break apart so incorporate the flour evenly. I do recommend "folding" rather than stirring, which is more or a scooping method rather than "stirring a soup pot".
You prep you pan by making sure it is clean and dry. No pan spray here, you want the cake to climb up the sides. Hopefully by this point you have turned on the oven to 375 degrees.
After you have worked in all your flour, dollop your cake batter into the pan. I find it easiest to keep it even by doing four base dollops. North, South, East and West. Then do the four opposite corners and go from there. About halfway up you want to smooth out the cake batter and try to work out any large bubbles.
Once your cake pan has been filled level off the top and put her in the hot oven. Let it bake for about 35 minutes and check to see if it needs more time. You're looking for a beautiful golden brown color.
In the mean time you can prep some berries for topping the finished masterpiece.
I'm doing blackberries and strawberries
Wash all your fruit off.
Cut the tops off all your strawberries
Set it on it's end
Slice from top to bottom
Repeat!
For the black berries I just cut these in half
Pour about a half a cup of sugar over the berries and just let them sit and do their thing in the fridge. Boom Macerated fruit!
About 40-ish minutes later your pull this beauty out of the oven
Looks pretty good huh?
So immediately turn the cake over and allow it to cool completely over a coke bottle or a wine bottle.
Once cooled slice off a chunk.
Take out those berries that you have so skillfully macerated.
Top your slice with berries, juice, and a heaping scoop of whipped cream!
Mrs Weber's Angel Food Cake Recipe
1 cup Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Cake Flour
12 Egg Whites
1/3 cup Warm water
1 teaspoon Extract
1 1/2 teaspoons Cream of tartar
3/4 cup Sugar
ENJOY!
