Every Day In April

I love Angel Food Cake! It’s one of my all time favorites and you can’t beat the light, fluffy, yet sweet, cake! This is just one version of my Angel Food Cake, you can make any type of sauce for it, this one, I used Cherries that I had left over in my fridge. Now that my Strawberries are ripening in my garden, I think I might use those for a sauce next! Enjoy!

Cake Ingredients:

• 1¼ Cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ Cups sugar, divided
• 1 ½ Cups egg whites (usually about a dozen eggs)
• 1 ½ Teaspoons cream of tarter (sooo important, if you don’t have it, don’t make it!)
• ¼ Teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ Teaspoons vanilla (if you are using imitation, use 2 teaspoons) or ½ teaspoon almond extract

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1lb or about 20 cherries cut in half
• ½ – ¾ cup of sugar (to sweetness taste)
• 1½ cups of red wine (I used a Pinot Noir that I had left over, but any red wine that you prefer will do)
• 2  Tablespoons corn starch
• 2 – 2½ Teaspoons of cumin (or less, to taste)
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla

Cake:

Mix flour and only ½ cup of sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Place egg whites in mixing bowl.

NOTE:  make sure that there are NO traces of egg yolks. If there is egg yolk in the mix, it will not work! My secret to separating eggs is cracking the egg and then pouring it gently into my hands. I transfer the egg gently back and forth between my hands letting the whites slip through my fingers while still holding the yolk, over a bowl, making sure that the yolk does not crack. I place the yolk in a separate bowl to save for later {you can make a pudding with the left over egg yolks}. If you are just beginning to learn how to separate eggs, be careful to not get egg shells into the mix by separating the eggs one at a time in a different bowl, once successful with one, transfer into your mixing bowl. Do this for all 12 eggs until you have mastered cracking and separating the eggs.

Whisk, beat your egg whites until you feel like your arm will fall off or that your mixer will burn up! Ha! Unless you are using a KitchenAid mixer, in that case keep your mixer on speed 6 and whip for about 30-60 seconds or until frothy.

Add cream of tarter, salt and vanilla. Turn to speed 8 or high on hand-held mixer and whip until whites are almost at a “stiff peak” but not dry.

Example of a “stiff peak”

Turn the speed down to low or level 2 and gradually add remaining 1 cup of sugar and mix for another minute.

Add sugar slowly, 1/4 cup at a time

Once sugar is mixed in, stop and scrape bowl.

Remove bowl from mixer and spoon flour-sugar mixture, one-fourth at a time, over egg whites, FOLDING gently with a spatula, until just blended.

spooning flour/sugar mixture by fourths at a time

NOTE: Do not mix, folding is the key! When you fold the mixture you allow the air to stay into the mixture which creates the light, fluffy aspect of the cake. If you mix, your cake will not turn out right!

Folding the mixture is the key!

Once it is just blended, pour batter into ungreased tube pan {typically a normal angel food cake pan}. With a knife, gently cut through the batter to remove any large air bubbles. Not too much though!

Gently cutting through mixture to get rid of large air bubbles

Bake cake at 375° for about 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cracks are very dry. I tend to like my cake a bit more brown on top, so I watch mine after the 35 minutes until It’s ready. Up to you!

Golden brown and dry cracks!

Once done, IMMEDIATELY invert cake onto funnel or whatever else you can find. Some newer pans have metal pegs that stick out just for this reason. Check your pan! Mine does not, so I just inverted it on a cooking rack. I’ve seen some people invert their pans on wine bottles or a soft drink bottle!

Inverting immediately on a cooling rack

Once cooled completely, remove from pan.

TIP: I place a plate over my cake pan and flip it upside down. So the top of the cake is facing down on the plate. I then take the plate I want to serve it on and flip it over again, so that the top of the cake faces up! 

Cherry Sauce:

Add your sugar and cut cherries in a sauce pan on the stove on medium heat. Stirring often, let sugar melt and cherries well coated.

While your sugar is melting, take about ¼ cup of your red wine and pour into a separate bowl and whisk in your corn starch and set aside.

Pour the remaining red wine into Cherry/sugar mixture on stove and bring to boil. Stirring often! Once to boil, turn heat down. Stir in your cumin and vanilla and simmer for 10 minutes. Red wine should reduce {thus, calling it a reduction sauce}.

Stir in your corn starch and red wine mixture you set aside before.

Simmer again for another 5-10 minutes. STIRRING OFTEN! We don’t want to burn the sauce! Sauce should be bubbling and thickening. Remove from heat and allow to cool to serving temperature. OR… once cooled enough place in an airtight container and refrigerate it until it’s time to serve. You can serve it cool, or warm it up again for a nice warm sauce.

I melted some white chocolate and poured in over the cake before I smothered it with the cherry sauce!

Enjoy!

Happy Baking!

Have any questions or comments?! Email me!

Tags: angel cake, Angel food cake, angel food cake recipe, baking fun, cake recipe, cakes, cherry sauce, every day in april, hawaii cakes, homemade, parenting, party, red wine, red wine cherry sauce, sauce for cake