Angel Food Cake

Aug 11

Yield: 12

Author: Sarah Truesdell

My favorite angel food cake is adapted from a recipe by Sherry Yard. It has some butter in it, so not exactly a classic angel food cake.

2 cups cake flour (240g)
2 cups sugar (400g)
1 tsp baking powder (slightly less)
16 large egg whites (18 oz)
1⁄2 tsp cream of tartar
1 vanilla bean, seed scraped, or 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste or 2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup butter, melted and kept hot (8 oz)

Set oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350F.
Prepare pan by cutting a ring of parchment to line only the bottom of a 10 or 9-inch tube pan.
Sift together flour,1 cup of sugar, and baking powder. Sift a second time, set aside.
Fit stand mixer with whisk attachment or use a large bowl and a hand mixer. Clean bowl very well, and wipe down with lemon juice or vinegar to make sure no traces of grease are in the bowl.
Place egg whites in bowl and beat on low until foamy. Add cream of tartar and 2 tablespoons of sugar to whites. Beat on medium and very slowly add remaining 1 cup of sugar, one teaspoon at a time.
Increase spread to medium high and beat until you read firm, but not stiff peaks. The meringue will fold over slightly when you lift the beater up. Beat in vanilla and stream in hot butter while beating. Once butter is completely incorporated, turn off mixer.
Fold in dry ingredients until no dry remains. Be gentle, but don’t under-mix. There should be no streaks of flour or unmixed egg mixture.
Spoon batter evenly into pan.
Bake for 30 minutes, rotate pan, bake for a further 30 minutes, until cake tester comes out clean, or an instant read probe thermometer reads 210F.
Flip upside town onto a cake rack and let sit for one hour. Then flip back over and loosen sides from pan with a thin knife. Invert onto serving platter and carefully peel off parchment.