Angel Food Cake
By Joe
Source: Serious Eats — Stella Parks, Effortless Angel Food Cake.
A effortless angel food cake recipe for 16 servings, written from a single tested source, with times and temperatures kept as the source set them.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Bake. Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat to 175°C (180°C). Sieve cake flour and keep to one side. Mix egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract in a mixer with the whisk. Mix on low to loosen, around 1 minute, next increase to medium-low (4 on a KitchenAid) plus whip 3 minutes; the whites will be dense plus dark. Add lemon juice and salt with the mixer still running. Promptly increase to mid-sized (6 on a KitchenAid) plus whip 3 minutes extra; the meringue will be thin but bubbly. Increase to medium-high (8 on a KitchenAid) plus keep whipping till the meringue is shiny white plus thick enough that you can see this pattern left by the wire beat. It should be soft enough in order to run off the wires when the beat attachment is taken out, but dense enough to heap up like a soft scoop in the bowl when meringue is ready. Scatter cake flour on top and mix with a flexible spatula to roughly mix. Switch to a folding motion, scraping off the bottom up plus folding through the center, till no pockets of flour remain. Scrape the batter in a 25 cm aluminum tube pan with removable bottom (don't grease or grease pan); if you notice any little pockets of unincorporated flour, simply pause to blend them in. Cook till the cake is risen, amber blond, plus firm to the touch, around 45 minutes, or in order to an internal temperature of 95°C (97°C). Invert pan onto its stilts or onto one trio of cans (see note) plus cool upside down till absolutely no trace of warmth remains, no less than 2 hours. Slide an offset spatula round the sides of cake to loosen, take out the insert, plus slide spatula under this bottom as well. Flip onto a serving plate, pulling lightly on the sides of the cake in order to release it off the center tube. To offer, cut using a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion plus only the slightest downward pressure. Garnish using figs plus berries tossed in fresh lemon syrup plus finish using lemon chantilly if you like. Covered firmly in plastic, leftovers will hold up to 1 week at room temperature.
Storage
Keep covered and eat within a few days; freeze leftovers if the dish allows it.
EU nutrition claims
- Low fat: 0.4 g fat per 100 g (limit ≤ 3 g)
- Low saturated fat: 0 g saturated fat per 100 g, 0% of energy (limits ≤ 1.5 g and ≤ 10%)
Per 100 g of the finished dish, worked out from the nutrition per serving and the lowest likely cooked weight (about 45 g a serving), so the true values are, if anything, lower. Thresholds from the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
Free sugars
26.7 g per serving
53.4 % of the 50 g daily maximum · 106.8 % of the ideal 25 g
Free sugars under 50 g a day, ideally about 25 g, based on WHO free-sugar guidance (not endorsed by WHO). The share shown is the share of one serving. WHO
Equipment
- mixing bowl
- scales
- baking tin or tray
- stand mixer or electric whisk
Nutrition per serving Calculated from USDA FoodData Central
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 155 kcal |
| Protein | 3.9 g |
| Carbohydrate | 34.8 g |
| of which sugars | 27.2 g |
| of which free sugars | 26.7 g |
| Fat | 0.2 g |
| of which saturates | 0 g |
| Fibre | 0.6 g |
| Salt | 0.17 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
2.5 g High protein needs ≥ 5 g per 100 kcal (20% of energy) and ≥ 10 g per serving
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
