Angel Spice Cake

First, I just wanted to say thanks for all of your lovely comments on our kitchen pictures. It’s somewhat gratifying to know that our efforts weren’t just to our own tastes, but other people like the look of the changes. 🙂

This week’s selection with the Heavenly Cake Bakers group is angel food cake “any way you like it”. Rose provides a recipe for a single egg white, telling you that it will scale up to 1 egg white per cup of pan capacity. Since I always seem to have a stash of egg whites in the freezer, I decided to base the size of my cake on how many egg whites I needed to use up. I had about 300 grams worth, so I multiplied the base by 10. For my version, I decided to add a few spices and see how it tasted as a spice cake.

I started by mixing about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of ginger, 1/4 tsp of allspice, and a few gratings of nutmeg (I’d say I used < 1/4 of a nutmeg ‘nut’) in with the flour, sugar and salt. The rest of the mise en place was basically the rest of the recipe scaled up. I did also add a tiny splash of almond extract (in with the vanilla), but you couldn’t really detect it.

Angel food cakes are pretty standard — beat the egg whites, add the sugar, beat in the vanilla, then fold in the flour. Rose’s recipe includes cream of tartar and lemon juice, which are added when the eggs are foamy, then you beat until the soft peak stage.

Once the eggs reach that point, gradually add the sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Next, fold in the flour mixture.

Does anyone else cringe the whole time they’re folding in the flour, listening to all those tiny bubbles popping?

Anyway… spread the batter in the pan, and smooth it out.

After cooling upside-down on a rack (I don’t have any bottles small enough to fit the tube of my pan over), I flipped it back right-side up to unmold. For some reason, it had collapse on one side.

It looked alright after flipping it back around on the plate, and it certainly didn’t harm the taste or texture.

Personally, I liked the addition of the spices. I think if I do this again, I’d probably bump up the spice level a bit with a little more cinnamon and ginger, to give it some kick. The spices cut the sweetness a tiny bit. Jay didn’t seem to really care for the spices, but he’s not a pumpkin pie fan either, so I guess this combination just isn’t up his alley. Oh well, more for me. Speaking of which, excuse me while I go fetch myself a piece.