NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State
University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
May 28, 1998
June 4 was my dad's birthday. For most of his life, one of his passions was making angel food cakes for other people's birthdays. By the 1980s, he figured he'd made more than 1,000 of these sinfully guiltless cakes. And then he made some more.
My memories as a kid include a lot of images of Dad making those cakes. He never used a recipe and he never used an electric mixer. The ingredients and the procedure were permanently etched in his memory. I always knew when one of Dad's cakes would be upcoming because a bowl covered with waxed paper would be sitting on the counter. Inside were more than a dozen egg whites. Dad was a stickler for letting the egg whites warm some before beginning because he wanted to incorporate as much air as possible into his cakes.
The first signal that a cake was underway would be the sound of Dad sifting. Then, his wire whip would begin brushing against the side of his mixing bowl, creating a sweet, agreeable rhythm. All the while he produced his melody, Dad would be cradling his mixing bowl in his left arm. And the eggs would foam and grow, to a point at which he'd add the cream of tartar and the extracts: vanilla, coconut and almond. At times, the blended aroma these essences produced could please my sense of smell so completely that the roots of my canines often seemed to tingle with joy.
After he'd added the dry ingredients he'd painstakingly sifted, he'd whip everything some more, and the frothy combination would take on a sheen that reminded me of liquid silk. Dad always let me take a spoon and scoop up the remnants of what batter didn't make it into the pan. Sometimes there was more batter in the bowl, an unacknowledged treat, I think.
Many people scoff at the idea that cooking is an art form, but not me. I'm convinced my dad's angel food cakes brought joy to a lot of people besides Mom and me. Some might even say they were uplifted by Dad's creations. For me, the experience of making Dad's angel food cake involves a type of transformation—sort of like being able to go home again. All I need to do is stop and smell the extracts ... and then lick some batter off the spoon.
Dad's Angel Food Cake
Yield: 16 servings
Ingredients:
1 cup plus 2 heaping tablespoons cake flour
1½ cups sugar, divided
1¾ cups egg whites, warmed (14 to 16 eggs)
2 tablespoons water
pinch of salt
2½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon coconut extract
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, preferably white
1 teaspoon almond extract
Procedure:
Sift a larger amount of flour, and from it measure 1 cup plus 2
heaping tablespoons. Blend flour with ½ cup of sugar, and sift
combination four times. Set aside. Beat egg whites, water and
salt until foamy. Add cream of tartar and extracts; continue
beating until egg mixture is light and thick. Add remaining sugar
gradually while incorporating with a wire whip. Sift flour
mixture into batter in four intervals, and use wire whip to
incorporate. Continue incorporating until batter is well blended.
Pour into UNGREASED angel food cake pan, and bake 50 minutes at
350 F. When done, invert cake pan and position pegs onto three
sturdy supports, such as coffee cups. Allow cake to cool
completely, upside down, before removing from pan.
What's Your Take on This, Julie?
Making cakes from scratch is becoming a lost art. Even the packaged mixes for angel food cakes have gone from two or three steps to one step. Sometimes a little extra effort is worth your time—certainly in this case.
Most cakes fit at the top of the Food Guide Pyramid because they are generally high in sugar, fat and calories. While there are no "good" or "bad" foods, moderation is something to keep in mind with most desserts. A slice of devil's food cake (1/12 of a packaged mix) with icing contains about 320 calories and 15 grams of fat, depending on the brand used. A slice of cheesecake (1/8 of a 9-inch round pan) contains about 280 calories and 12 grams of fat, without any added topping.
Angel food cake is an exception to the rule. It's guilt free. A serving of this recipe for angel food cake contains about 120 calories and is virtually fat free (0.1 grams of fat). When topped with fresh berries and light whipped topping, this dessert is a nutritional bargain. So you can have your cake and eat it too.
Unlike cooking, where you can get away with less accuracy, baking cakes is a science. Making a perfect cake requires precise measurement of ingredients because the recipe is actually a chemical formula. Angel food cakes are "unshortened" cakes. In other words, they contain no fat. They get their unique texture from the combination of the egg whites, whipping and the added acid: in this case, cream of tartar. Be careful when separating your eggs in homemade angel food cakes, though, because even a touch of egg yolk or any other fat can ruin the foaming properties of the egg whites.
Egg safety has been a topic in the news recently. Regardless of the product you make, eggs should be cooked thoroughly. Salmonella bacteria can be present in either the yolk or white. While it's tempting to taste cake batter, remember just one lick could make you sick. After baking, cakes containing eggs are no longer potentially hazardous foods.
Cakes have been around since the earliest civilizations. The Egyptians made cakes in the shapes of animals and birds for their gods. Regardless of who is the recipient of your cake, try making a cake the old-fashioned way. It can be a memorable experience.
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Sources: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136 Julie Garden-Robinson (701) 231-7187
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