My current obsession is over angel food cake. I didn’t realise you could make an entirely fatless sponge but you sure can, and it is so soft and lightly and pillowy. I adore it. My first go was bland and just sweet with no flavour, so I returned to the drawing board and made this floral, fluffy, tangy romantic bake.
One thing with angel food cake is you need a LOT of egg whites, so for ease I use the cartons rather than whole eggs. You also, annoyingly need a special tin with a hole in the middle, to ensure an even bake. It might work as cupcakes though if you don’t. I believe the most important thing is that you can turn your bakes upside down after they come out of the oven to prevent any sinking. So, if you do make cupcakes then use robust cases and don’t over-fill! The special tin I use has feet on it so it works perfectly.
Ingredients for the cake:
- 12 egg whites
- 115g plain flour
- 1/4 tspn salt
- 1 tspn cream of tartar
- 280g caster sugar
- 1 tspn almond essence
Ingredients for icing:
- 300g royal icing sugar
- 3 tbspns strawberry jam (I use low sugar jam)
- 1 tspn rosewater (optional)
- 1/2 tspn at a time of water until it has reached the right consistency
Strawberry slices:
- strawberries
- fennel salt
Method
First, the strawbs:
For this recipe, you want to make the dehydrated strawberry slices in advance, really to give them time to dry out. Cut your slices, making a nice rounded V shape in their tops to give you a cute heart shape. They dehydrate beautifully in an air fryer, or on a baking sheet in the oven. They need between 60-90 minutes. I then sieved some fennel salt onto both sides before storing them to use the next day.
For the cake:
1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees
2. In a large bowl/food mixer, whisk your egg whites until foamy. At this stage, add the cream of tartar
3. After a few minutes, when they have started to form soft peaks, begin to add in your caster sugar one spoonful at a time, whilst still whisking until the sugar has gone and you’ve got big, white stiff peaks forming
4. Add your almond extract and whisk for a few more seconds.
5. Now for the bit that requires a gentle hand and patience! Sift and fold your flour in bit by bit, being very careful to not knock the air out of your egg whites
6. Once fully incorporated, all to your ungreased (important) tin/cases, gently smoothing to avoid air bubbles
7. Pop in the oven for around 35-40 minutes.
8. Once out of the oven, turn it upside down in it’s tin/the cases and leave to cool completely
For the icing;
Simply mix your sugar, jam, rosewater and water until it is a nice rosy-strawberry flavour (though rose is optional as some people hate it, I think it goes nicely with the sweet nutty almond and earthy sweet fennel, and contrasts nicely with the tart salty strawberries).
I use Royal Icing sugar over regular as it sets nicely without staying super goopy. You can buy it on Amazon, it used to be available in supermarkets but I haven't been able to buy it for months in our local ones.
Once I've gently manipulated the icing around the top and down the sides of the cake, I laid and pressed the strawberry slices on. The little white dots are Parlsocker - a Swedish coarse pearl sugar used for decoating. It is totally for visual prettiness, as it adds no flavour being just sugar (on sugar) but I like it! You can buy it on Ocado, I think.
I then put the whole cake in the fridge just for 20-30 minutes to help the icing set a bit. It can be then stored at room temperature for a few days. It is best consumed within 4 or 5 days.
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The very best thing about this cake is that it's just a fluffy, soft, pillowy vehicle for whatever flavour you want to add to it. This was my second go at angel food cake, but I can't stop thinking about others. It tolerated nuts being folded in. A zesty orange sponge with a rosemary-salted orange syrup might be nice. So. Many. Possibilities! It was mum's birthday at the weekend so I did a coffee and walnut version which is going to take some beating, though.
If you make this, or give the method a go and come up with your own flavour combos then let us know what you think about it.
Kate x