Cake "Angel Food": a step by step recipe with a photo

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The recipe for the Angel's Food cake was carefully hidden by the creators for a long time, until one day it was published by Letitia Bryan in her cookbook in 1839, although it was simply called "White Biscuit". Another well-known cook at that time, Isabella Stewart, called him angel cake forty years later in her book. The pastry had an almost white crumb, incredibly light with a delicate texture, which cannot be compared with a regular biscuit. Since then, this dessert has been recognized as the most delicious among all available.

Key Features

In fact, this is more of a biscuit than a cake, since the cream is not included in the main recipe, and the whole cooking process comes down to the correct preparation of the dough and its baking.

The first and main difference between the Angel Food cake and other biscuits is the complete absence of fat, therefore, despite the high sugar content, this dessert is considered dietary (258 kcal per hundredgrams). What's the secret? The dough for the "angel" cake is made only from proteins, while in a regular biscuit the whole egg is used. It is this fact that makes the cake so special.

List of required ingredients

Cake "Angel's Food" with a diameter of 23-25 cm is prepared on the basis of the following proportions:

• ten egg whites;
• three hundred grams of finely ground sugar;
• two hundred grams of premium wheat flour;
• 1 tsp each without the top s alt and citric acid (which in the original recipe replaces cream of tartar).

Potassium hydrotartrate (plain tartar) is rarely used in the post-Soviet space, although it has an advantage over citric acid: it stabilizes the lush foam of proteins much better and prevents it from settling. Crystals of this substance are of organic origin: they appear on the walls of vessels in the process of making wine from grapes, if it is stored at temperatures below 10 degrees. If it is not possible to purchase this ingredient, then ordinary citric acid is used (not to be confused with lemon juice!).

How to cook dough?

The step-by-step recipe for making Angel Food cake is elementary: using a mixer at medium speed, beat the whites until the first foam appears, add citric acid and s alt to them and continue the process. Every 10-16 seconds add 1 tbsp. l. sugar without stopping the mixer until 1/2 of the total amount of sand required by the recipe has been used. The egg mass shouldincrease in volume by at least four times and turn into a lush air cloud.

Next, the rest of the sugar must be combined with flour and lightly mixed with a blender. Divide the resulting dry mixture into two parts and add alternately to the protein mass, mixing it thoroughly with a wooden or silicone spoon. It is important not to delay the process so that the proteins do not settle.

How to bake an "angelic" biscuit?

The original Angel Food cake recipe strictly states that the baking dish should never be lubricated with any type of fat, otherwise the dough will not rise. In this case, you need to use the usual metal form. Traditionally, the cake is baked in a mold with a hole in the middle (like for Christmas cupcakes), then the dough rises more evenly and bakes well inside.

If there is no hole in the middle, then the biscuit dough will rise higher along the edges, and the middle will have a dip and a denser texture. It is also necessary to cut out a circle from paper equal to the diameter of the bottom of the form, and place it there. Next, you need to put the dough into a mold and place it in an already heated oven. The temperature regime of baking is 160-170 degrees, the approximate time is 50 minutes. In no case should you open the oven door, otherwise the dough will settle and the biscuit will be irretrievably damaged. You can open the oven for the first time when the top of the cake becomes rich golden, then hold for a few more minutes, andthen take out the mold.

Next step

The second feature of the preparation: the Angel Food cake is not immediately removed from the mold, as it can still settle and lose its airy structure. It should cool completely in it, while it is advisable to turn the form upside down and put the sides on a hill so that there is free space under it.

No need to worry that the biscuit will fall out: during the baking process, it sticks to the walls of the mold and holds tightly. When at least three hours have passed, you can take out the cake. To do this, you need to draw a sharp knife along the edge between the biscuit and the mold, and then, gently tapping on the bottom, put the baked blank on a dish and remove the circle of paper. Decorate to your liking and serve.

To help beginner confectioners

Sometimes it is difficult to correctly calculate the proportions of the products needed to prepare a smaller or larger portion of a dish. This scheme will allow novice cooks to fearlessly use these calculations to prepare a small Angel Food cake:

• for a small cake (serves 4): three proteins, one hundred grams of sugar, 1/3 tsp each. citric acid and s alt, 70 grams of flour.
• medium size (6 servings): 5 proteins, one hundred grams of flour, 150 grams of sugar, 0.5 tsp each. s alt and citric acid.

The proportions shown in the main recipe are for a large 12-piece cake.

A few recommendations from the masters

Mostlystep-by-step recipes for the Angel Food cake in cookbooks and website pages do not indicate the intricacies of working with such a delicate biscuit, so it often happens that part of the process goes well, and then a small miss - and all the work goes down the drain. Tips from professionals will help you avoid mistakes and bring all the stages of making a cake to perfection:

• All dishes should be perfectly clean and dry, even a drop of fat can ruin everything.
• Proteins should be at room temperature.
• When the biscuit in the mold cools, there should be no drafts in the room.
• The finished Angel Food cake is cut with a bread knife (with a serrated blade), as a regular knife will crumple and tear the biscuit crumb that is too soft. Also, professionals use waxed thread to cut the cake into pieces.
• Silicone molds and with Teflon (non-stick) coating are categorically not suitable for this type of biscuit, the dough does not rise in them as it should.

Does this cake need cream?

Initially, according to the recipe, the "angel" cake was poured with sweet sauce or icing, sometimes just sprinkled with powdered sugar, but in modern cuisine it is often cut into layers and smeared with creams and decorated with fruits. This is not entirely good, as the essence of the Angel Food cake is lost - air weightlessness, for which the dessert was so named.

Some easy topping ideas to decorate an already stunning cake.

1. Berry coolie: chop 250 grams of any berriesblender, mix with 60-70 grams of sugar and boil over low heat until thickened. Next, you can add a little instant gelatin (about 8 grams), or 15 grams of cornstarch. Be sure to constantly stir the mass, avoiding knocked down lumps or sticking to the bottom of the dish. Cool to room temperature and pour over the finished cake.
2. Chocolate frosting: mix three tbsp. tablespoons of cocoa powder and sugar, add 4 tbsp. spoons of milk and carefully grind the mass. Then send 60 grams of melted butter there and mix well again. Heat in a water bath until completely dissolved, stirring constantly. Pour the still warm frosting over the cake, smoothing with a knife.
3. "Royal icing" is ideally combined with this type of biscuit, as it emphasizes its lightness, and does not weigh it down, unlike the usual coating. Its peculiarity: this type of icing does not freeze, but remains soft and airy due to the addition of glycerin. To prepare, you need to beat one protein with 250 grams of powdered sugar into a stable foam and add 1/2 tsp at the end of the process. lemon juice and glycerin, beat for another 30 seconds and apply to the cake.

All these additives are good, but the Angel Food cake in the photo looks great without them, moreover, the taste is completely independent of their presence, because the main focus of the dessert is precisely the fluffy biscuit.