Angel Food Cake Recipe

This dessert is the stuff of dreams. The recipe yields a cake light and pillowy enough to don the name "angel food" but robust enough to hold a heap of fresh berries, strawberry sauce, or whipped cream piled as high as the heavens.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. In a large bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar on medium-low speed until foamy, using a hand or stand mixer.
2. Increase mixer speed to medium. Gradually add granulated sugar in four batches, beating constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is glossy and stands in soft peaks. If meringue isn't stiffening up quickly enough, increase speed to medium-high or high for the third and fourth additions of sugar.
3. With the mixer on low speed, add vanilla extract until evenly blended into the meringue.
4. In a large bowl, sift together flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Sprinkle a third of the flour mixture over the meringue's surface. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the flour mixture into the meringue just until the flour is no longer visible.
5. Repeat folding in the remaining flour mixture in two additional batches. Your goal is to fully mix in the flour without pockets of dry ingredients in your batter and to keep as much air in the batter as possible to produce a light and fluffy cake.
6. Pour the batter into an ungreased 10" x 4" tube pan. Using a dinner knife, gently cut through the batter to help it spread and settle evenly in the pan.
7. Bake the cake for 25-35 minutes, until the top springs back when touched lightly with a finger (if the top gets too dark, gently tent the pan with foil to prevent further browning).
8. When ready, remove the cake from the oven and invert it on a funnel or bottle neck while still in the pan. Let it cool completely upside-down on the bottle for about 90 minutes.
9. Once cool, flip the cake upright and use a narrow spatula or knife to loosen it from the pan. Turn the pan back over and gently shake the cake onto a serving plate.
10. Top with fresh fruit, strawberry sauce, whipped cream, or all of the above and enjoy!

Farm Team Tips

The meringue in this recipe requires fresh egg whites. Because of the effects of the pasteurization process on the protein structure, our organic liquid egg whites will not whip to soft or stiff peaks, so we do not recommend using them for meringue-style recipes.