Hi Everyone,
My friend Diane is coming into town and I thought I would make her an Angel Food Cake. I wanted to make the most perfect Food Cake ever. I searched high and low, just looking for perfection and a little bit of cake knowledge, so who did I turn too? My good old friend, Alton Brown. Ok, he’s not my friend and he doesn’t even have a clue that I exist, but over the years I have learned a lot from him from his Food Network Show, Good Eats.
Alton has a video on Food Network where he goes through each step to perfecting Angel Food Cake. I must have watched the video, like 10 times. This is what I learned from Alton:
- Make sure eggs are at room temperature
- Do not let a single trace of egg yolk in the egg whites
- Do not add any fat to the cake (including in extracts)
- Use fine sugar (such as Baker’s Sugar)
- Lightly beat the eggs until foamy before whipping the batter
- Spoon the batter into tube pan
- Jiggle pan to get air bubbles out
- Bake for 35 minutes, until center comes out clean with toothpick.
So how did the cake turn out? It’s full of vanilla flavor, has the perfect height, super moist, and light. However, after sitting out for a few hours it got sticky. I think that is because of the temperatures outside. It’s 90 degrees out and my house is pretty toasty, considering I made a batch of cookies before I made the cake.
All in all I am pretty happy with my cake. I am looking forward to baking it again, when it’s a little cooler out. Too hot for baking right now. If you’re looking to make the perfect angel food cake, you should watch Alton’s video and read the comments.
- 1¾ cups Bakers Sugar (fine sugar)
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 cup cake flour, sifted
- 12 egg whites (the closer to room temperature the better)
- ⅓ cup warm water
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp. cream of tartar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a bowl, add half the sugar, salt and cake flour; set aside.
- In a large bowl, use whisk to thoroughly combine egg whites, water, extract, and cream of tartar. The batter will be slightly foamy.
- After 2 minutes, switch to a hand mixer. Slowly sift the reserved sugar, beating continuously at medium speed. Once you have achieved medium peaks (about 7 minutes).
- Sift enough of the flour mixture in to dust the top of the foam. Using a spatula fold in gently. Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.
- Carefully spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes before checking for doneness with a wooden skewer. The skewer should come out dry and the top of the cake should be cracked.
- Cool the cake upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour before removing from pan. Use a butter knife around the edges of the pan to removed the cake.
- Serve with berries and whip cream if desired.
Angel Food Cake is by far my favorite cake of all time. I love how light it is and I feel you do not need to add anything to it. It’s the perfect summertime cake, as long as it’s not 90 degrees out. I recommend adding some fresh fruit while serving it.
I really enjoy sharing new things that I learn with you. They may not always come out top-notch, but after all we are not perfect and I am certainly not a chef, but we are all here to learn something new and to have fun! I do hope my friend likes the cake!
Get out there and do some baking!
Toodles,
Jennifer
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Alton Brown’s angel food cake recipe is the only one I will use. It turns out perfectly every time.
I agree! I love his angel food cake recipe!
Love Alton and looove this perfect light and beautiful angel food cake!
Glad to know I’m not the only one!
I made this cake after watching Alton’s show on it. I thought I did everything right. It smelled so good, tastes great and the texture amazing, but… it got sooo sticky & wet….. It was over °90 out & super humid. Thank you for reassuring me I’m not a failure. I’m really going to enjoy your site, recipes and definitely the commentary and baking comraderie!!