Angel food cake gets devilish treatment

Since childhood, I've been fascinated with angel food cake with its heavenly flavor and billowy texture.

While most cake recipes offer variations limited to flavors and frostings, angel food charts a delightfully different dessert course and provides a superb example of baking art at its finest. Tall and light, the angel food cake I remember boasts soft texture with just a hint of sweetness. No frosting or whipped cream required.

I wish the same could be said for the store box mix version of angel food cake. In a moment of weakness I tossed a box into my grocery cart.

As promised in the directions, the mix came together quickly and the batter baked high and golden in color. Yet the sweet aroma wafting up from the dry mix overwhelmed me. This didn't bode well for taste.

Admittedly I am not a fan of ultra sweet recipes. Most commercially prepared desserts (box mixes included) rely heavily upon sugar to deliver consistent taste and texture. As a result, we, collectively, forget how an authentic dessert should taste or feel.

The boxed angel food cake baked into everything I expected. The excessively sugary taste and sticky feel reminded me of cotton candy. Yes, the cake stood tall on a plate with a brilliantly white hue. But it didn't come close to authentic angel food cake taste.

It's easy to see the allure of box cake mixes. Manufacturers tout significant time and cost savings over home baked desserts, and I admit box mixes often demand less prep time. But scratch baking can stretch your food dollar and provide a quality dessert, as demonstrated by today's recipe for angel food cake.

The secret to cost savings lies in planning ahead and purchasing ingredients when they're on sale, like the eggs. While angel food cake calls for only egg whites, don't toss those yolks. Freeze the yolks for a future dessert or savory recipe. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt to each 1/2 cup yolk and gently stir with fork before pouring into freezer bags.

Don't be intimidated by the meringue. After years of cracking eggs I've learned some tried-and-true techniques. First, don't use packaged egg whites. Fresh eggs are less expensive and whip into a higher meringue.

Second, but just as important, use a safe and sane method to separate whites from the yolks. Start with clean glass or stainless steel bowls. Crack each egg separately into a small bowl. With very clean hands, carefully pick up the egg yolk allowing any white to seep through your fingers. Transfer the yolk and white to separate bowls.

Once your meringue reaches stiff peaks, it's all about carefully folding in the flour. Use a hand scraper and avoid cutting through the batter. Turn the bowl counter clockwise while you run the scraper along the sides, under the batter and over the top. Resist the temptation to over mix.

To keep the sweetness in check, I reduced the amount of sugar in today's recipe. A touch of baking powder adds a gentle lift to the texture without compromising the soft texture.

With a few other secrets tossed in, I've created a devilish dessert. Give it a try.

• Annie Overboe, a Culinary Institute of America graduate, lives in Villa Park. Send questions to Baking Secrets, Daily Herald Food section, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006, or e-mail food@dailyherald.com. Questions will not be responded to personally.

Delightful Angelfood Cake

1 cup cake flour, unsifted

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

1 tablespoon red sanding sugar (see note)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

10 large eggs or 8 extra large eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Set aside a two-piece, 10-inch tube pan, ungreased. Do not grease, spray or coat pan with flour.

In small bowl, sift or run through sieve cake flour, cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon sugar, red sanding sugar and baking powder. Set aside.

Separate whites from yolks, carefully keeping yolks from breaking. Reserve yolks for another recipe or freeze. Pour whites into a large, grease-free glass or stainless steel bowl and beat whites with mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add cream of tartar and beat 1 minute until soft peaks form.

Slowly add stream of sugar while continuing to beat whites on medium high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2 to 3 minutes. Using hand scraper, carefully transfer meringue to larger bowl.

Sprinkle one-third of the dry ingredients over the meringue. Gently fold into meringue using a small hand scraper. Repeat twice with remaining dry ingredients. Carefully scrape bottom of bowl to ensure all flour has been incorporated. Do not stir or cut through the batter.

Carefully spoon into ungreased tube pan. With back of spoon, smooth top of batter. Bake 35-40 minutes until cake top springs back when touched. Immediately invert pan on baking sheet. Cool cake upside down for 1 hour.

To unmold, run thin knife or spatula around sides and along inside tube. Pull inside pan piece up to remove outer piece. Run thin knife along bottom to loosen. Place plate on top of tube piece centered and quickly invert to release. Store at room temperature, lightly covered.

Serves 12.

Baker's hint: Red sprinkles or sanding sugar bake into color bursts. For a confetti look, use rainbow colored sprinkles.

@Recipe nutrition:Nutrition values per serving: 122 calories, trace amount fat (trace amount saturated), 27 g carbohydrates, trace amount fiber, 4 g protein, 0 cholesterol, 67 mg sodium.