Making the pastry cream for the Chai Spice Trifle in Baked Occasions requires 12 egg yolks. So I decided to put the leftover egg whites to use by making the "Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake with Milk Chocolate Glaze" from the same cookbook.
To make the batter you beat room temperature egg whites (the recipe calls for 1.75 cups of whites, which happened to require exactly the 12 whites I had on hand) with some water, cream of tartar, and salt until soft peaks form; add granulated sugar and beat until medium peaks form; add vanilla paste (I didn't have any and so I used the scraped seeds from one vanilla pod instead); and gently fold in a sifted mixture of powdered sugar, cake flour, and all-purpose flour. You pour the batter into an ungreased tube pan with a removable bottom, run an offset spatula through the batter to pop air bubbles, and bake.
When I took the cake out of the oven, I hung it upside down over the neck of an empty wine bottle to cool. After I unmolded the cake I drizzled on a glaze of milk chocolate, heavy cream, and corn syrup. I didn't use all of the glaze because the glaze didn't look like it was going to set and I wanted to avoid having the entire cake be wet and messy.
I brought the cake over to a dinner hosted by our friends Jim and Colleen. I loved this fluffy cake and it was a huge hit. I am always afraid that angel food cake will be too sweet, but this one wasn't and the mild milk chocolate glaze was a perfect complement. I used to avoid milk chocolate at all costs but recently I have come around.
What was truly remarkable about this dessert is that Jim and Colleen's middle daughter Stella ate an entire piece. While Stella always gets excited about the idea of dessert when she sees it, she usually just takes a bite of whatever cake or cookies I've brought over and abandons the remainder. I think this is the first dessert of mine that she's ever finished.
And that wasn't the only surprising thing about this cake. I've always thought of Jim as a chocolate cake-loving guy (there's a reason I always bake him a chocolate cake for his birthday), so I wasn't sure if he would like this cake. But he devoured it and exclaimed, "You know how I love angel food cake!" What?! I've known Jim for more than 15 years, baked him more desserts that I can count, and I had no idea whatsoever that he liked angel food cake. His only constructive criticism was that he thought the cake could have used more chocolate glaze. I agree. While it would be messy to pour all of the glaze over the cake, leftover glaze would be terrific served on the side or poured over slices after they are cut and plated.
I usually think of layer cakes as the star performers of all of the Baked cookbooks. But now that I think about it, the gentlemen bakers have hit it out of the park with all of their cakes baked in tube pans -- not just this angel food cake, but also their Lime Angel Food Cake and the Lady Praline Chiffon Cake. And they're no slouches when it comes to Bundt cakes, either. I have really enjoyed their St. Patrick's Drunk Bundt Cake, Black Cocoa Bundt with Butter Whiskey Glaze, Vanilla Bean Malt Cake, Poppy Seed Pound Cake with Brown Butter Glaze, Lemon Bundt Cake, Triple Rum Black Pepper Cake, and Burnt Sugar Bundt Cake with Caramel Rum Frosting. Try any of these cakes and you can't go wrong.
Recipe: "Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake with Milk Chocolate Glaze" from Baked Occasions by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
Previous Posts:
To make the batter you beat room temperature egg whites (the recipe calls for 1.75 cups of whites, which happened to require exactly the 12 whites I had on hand) with some water, cream of tartar, and salt until soft peaks form; add granulated sugar and beat until medium peaks form; add vanilla paste (I didn't have any and so I used the scraped seeds from one vanilla pod instead); and gently fold in a sifted mixture of powdered sugar, cake flour, and all-purpose flour. You pour the batter into an ungreased tube pan with a removable bottom, run an offset spatula through the batter to pop air bubbles, and bake.
I brought the cake over to a dinner hosted by our friends Jim and Colleen. I loved this fluffy cake and it was a huge hit. I am always afraid that angel food cake will be too sweet, but this one wasn't and the mild milk chocolate glaze was a perfect complement. I used to avoid milk chocolate at all costs but recently I have come around.
What was truly remarkable about this dessert is that Jim and Colleen's middle daughter Stella ate an entire piece. While Stella always gets excited about the idea of dessert when she sees it, she usually just takes a bite of whatever cake or cookies I've brought over and abandons the remainder. I think this is the first dessert of mine that she's ever finished.
And that wasn't the only surprising thing about this cake. I've always thought of Jim as a chocolate cake-loving guy (there's a reason I always bake him a chocolate cake for his birthday), so I wasn't sure if he would like this cake. But he devoured it and exclaimed, "You know how I love angel food cake!" What?! I've known Jim for more than 15 years, baked him more desserts that I can count, and I had no idea whatsoever that he liked angel food cake. His only constructive criticism was that he thought the cake could have used more chocolate glaze. I agree. While it would be messy to pour all of the glaze over the cake, leftover glaze would be terrific served on the side or poured over slices after they are cut and plated.
I usually think of layer cakes as the star performers of all of the Baked cookbooks. But now that I think about it, the gentlemen bakers have hit it out of the park with all of their cakes baked in tube pans -- not just this angel food cake, but also their Lime Angel Food Cake and the Lady Praline Chiffon Cake. And they're no slouches when it comes to Bundt cakes, either. I have really enjoyed their St. Patrick's Drunk Bundt Cake, Black Cocoa Bundt with Butter Whiskey Glaze, Vanilla Bean Malt Cake, Poppy Seed Pound Cake with Brown Butter Glaze, Lemon Bundt Cake, Triple Rum Black Pepper Cake, and Burnt Sugar Bundt Cake with Caramel Rum Frosting. Try any of these cakes and you can't go wrong.
Recipe: "Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake with Milk Chocolate Glaze" from Baked Occasions by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
Previous Posts:
- "Light and Lovely: Chocolate Lover's Angel Food Cake," February 10, 2016.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Lime Angel Food Cake with Lime Glaze," February 16, 2014.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Lady Praline Chiffon Cake," September 9, 2012.
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