Angel Food Cake

After my homemade pasta post, you may have been thinking, "But Landen, how on earth am I going to use up all those egg whites?"  Good question!

After some research I have come to two conclusions.  First, most egg white dishes are desserts, and second, any healthy dish with egg whites in it typically sounds yucky (egg white omelets, anyone?).  So guess what I opted for?  Ding!Ding!Ding!  Yep, I made dessert.  Angel food cake.

Perhaps this should be listed as another culinary adventure, but I have made it before, so I don't think it counts.  Regardless, it is much easier than I thought it would be.  If you have cake flour (worth purchasing for this, in my opinion), beaters or a stand mixer, you can make angel food cake.  And you probably should, because it is super tasty, and satisfying to boot.  Seriously,  seeing a gorgeous fluffy, golden-brown cake in the oven brings joy to my heart (and my anticipating stomach)!

My favorite way to eat it is by itself so you can enjoy all the wonderful sweetness and flavor in its light cloudy texture.

Angel Food Cake:
slightly adapted from David Leibovitz

1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup plus 1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups egg whites, at room temperature (or you can just take your bowl of egg whites and place it is a sink with 1 or 2 inches of warm water in it, and let it sit for 5 or so minutes until your egg whites are at room temperature.)
1 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp lemon juice
1- 2 tsp vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350°.  Take a 9" springform pan or a bunt cake pan and grease it well with non-stick spray.  In a small bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar and salt.
In a stand mixer, whip the egg whites until they start to foam.  Add cream of tartar and lemon juice.  On high speed, whip eggs until they form soft peaks, then slowly add the 1 cup of sugar.  Egg whites should be soft with smooth peaks.  Mix in the vanilla.
With a rubber spatula fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture a 1/4 cup at a time.
Carefully scoop batter into greased pan and cook for 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool for about 30 minutes.  Once cool, remove from pan and enjoy by itself or with berries and cream.  I have even tried it with strawberry jam and it was delicious.