Angel Food Cake

Light and delicious angel food cake with berries

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City/Region: United States of America

Time Period: 1896

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In 1870, Turner Williams invented the two whisk hand crank egg beater, which made cakes like this much more popular. Before this, it could take thirty or forty minutes and a lot of effort to get egg whites to the stiff peaks required for angel food cakes. Custards were also very popular at the time, and angel food cake was a great way to use up leftover egg whites.

This recipe comes from the 1918 edition of Fannie Farmer’s cookbook that was originally published in 1896. Fannie, among many other culinary achievements, helped shape the more standardized way that modern recipes are written, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

This angel food cake is perfect. It’s light and fluffy with that slightly chewy texture that’s so great in angel food cake. You get a lovely hint of vanilla, and it pairs wonderfully with the raspberry puree that I had leftover from making Peach Melba.

“Angel Cake.
Whites 8 eggs
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Beat whites of eggs until frothy; add cream of tartar, and continue beating until eggs are stiff; then add sugar gradually. Fold in flour mixed with salt and sifted four times, and add vanilla. Bake forty-five to fifty minutes in an unbuttered angel-cake pan. After cake has risen and begins to brown, cover with a buttered paper. ”

— The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, 1918

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Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (85 g) cake flour, all purpose flour will work
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup (200 g) castor sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set a rack in the lower third of the oven.
2. Mix the flour and salt together and sift them 4 times.
3. Beat the egg whites on low until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed and beat until you get medium peaks that hold their shape. Beat the sugar in a little at a time.
4. After all the sugar has been incorporated, gently fold in the flour. Be careful not to knock out all the air from the egg whites or the cake will be flat and dense.
5. Gently fold in the vanilla.
6. Gently spoon the batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan. It’s important here that the pan is ungreased. If the pan is greased, the batter won’t be able to climb up the sides of the pan and rise.
7. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Start checking if the cake is done at about 40 minutes. Insert a wooden skewer or toothpick into the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. If the top of the cake is browning too quickly, place a piece of buttered parchment paper (butter side down) on top of the cake. This probably won’t be an issue in a modern oven.
8. Take the cake out of the oven and turn it upside down to cool completely, about 3 hours.
9. If the cake hasn’t released from the tin on its own, run a sharp knife around the edges and it should come out.
10. Garnish with berries, powdered sugar, or whatever you like, and serve it forth.

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