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Discuss Recipes, Cooking Techniques and Cookbooks

1. How - see below.
   
   Why - because it's a light, relatively easy-to-make dessert that can be paired with all sorts of fruit or toppings and not weigh you down after a dinner. Most times less caloric as well, if kept simple with just cake and a fruit topping.

   Link: http://www.google.com/search?as_q=rec...

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   Linda W. Mar 09, 2005 02:58PM

2. Alton Brown on Good Eats did a really interesting show on angel food cake. There's quite a lot of science behind why it can actually exist. You're basically eating doughy egg foam, and you always have to be careful of the foam not collapsing in on itself. That is why you must use a tube pan, and cannot use non-stick (the foam needs a column it can climb up, or else the foam would collapse under its own weight). Similarly, that is why you must cool angel food cake upside down. Until the foam sets, the cake can collapse under its own weight.
   
   Mr. Taster

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   Mr. Taster Mar 09, 2005 04:43PM

   1. re: Mr. Taster

      Which answers the how, but leaves the why uncertain. "Doughy egg foam" indeed.
      
      I've never known anyone who actually really liked angel food cake, though I am sure by saying this I will find some. I've known people who have made angel food cake because it was low-fat and a relatively low-guilt dessert, but none that really loved it. Like many low-fat desserts, it's very, very sweet.

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      curiousbaker Mar 09, 2005 04:50PM

      1. re: curiousbaker

         I really like angel food cake. Something about texture that is perfect.
         
         But I like the chocolate one best, made with cocoa powder:).
         
         Most commercial ones are too sweet, but the homemade ones - are great.

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         summertime Mar 09, 2005 05:21PM
      2. re: curiousbaker

         From childhood, angel food cake has been one of my favorite desserts. I had an aunt - a terrific baker - who made one every week and I'd always find a reason to "drop by" whenever I could. At boarding school - where we had a truly skilled cooking staff - angel food cake for dessert was always a cause for celebration. Sometimes white and sometimes chocolate, with chocolate whipped cream filling up the center hole.
         
         If you can handle the sugar but can't have the fat, angel food cake is the answer.

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         Deenso Mar 09, 2005 11:18PM
      3. re: curiousbaker

         you're right...you found one.
         
         I think Angel food cake is aptly named. It's divine. Such fantastic texture and that heady smell and taste of my favorite flavor: sugar. It's certainly one of those greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts desserts.
         
         I was making angel food cake as a child years before anyone talked about fat grams and my Dad had his heart attack and we started making angel food cake for the now-common low-fat reason. There is such an anti-low-fat backlash these days I hate to see angel food disrespected.
         
         The only real problem I see w/ angel food, is that you can eat way, way too much of it. Like a fluffy chocolate mousse, it just floats in your mouth and seems like air...I could eat a bucket-full.
         
         BTW, bought angel food cakes(at least the ones I've seen) are horrid, styrofoam, sickly-sweet abominations.

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         danna Mar 10, 2005 09:15AM

         1. re: danna

            I probably need to swing by your place when angel food cake is on the menu, then, as all I've had are store bought, and they truly are disgusting abominations, done (it seems) purely in the servitude of low fat fanatics. I try to keep an eye on my fat intake, I'll concede. But for the love of God, when it's a dessert, bring on the butter. Don't give me vegetable shortening, margarine, canola oil, applesauce--I want butter!
            
            Smokey

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            Smokey Mar 10, 2005 10:05AM
      4. re: curiousbaker

         I think the reason people give angel food cake a bad rap is due to the sticky, cottony grocery store versions that abound. Homemade angel food cake has a meaty texture like any good cake. I add grated lemon peel and poppy seeds to the batter to give it extra zing. Also adding vanilla bean to the batter makes it very special. The recipe I use comes from the Baker's Dozen cookbook, although the recipe from the latest edition of the Joy of Cooking works really well too.

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         poppytrail Mar 10, 2005 10:10AM

         1. re: poppytrail

            I will come out of the closet as somebody who enjoys the grocery store cake, when fresh berries are in season. sticky, sweet angel food cake, fresh sliced strawberries or whole raspberries, and unsweetened whipped cream - lots of texture & taste contrasts. I do prefer homemade not-so-sweet "shortcakes" with sweetened berries & cream but most people I know think that's weird and want a sweet cake for this dessert. I prefer angel food cake for this purpose to other premade cakes available.

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            julesrules Mar 10, 2005 10:17AM
      5. re: curiousbaker

         I was incredibly surprised the first time I had a homemade angel food cake because it was actually very good. The probably with grocery store cake isn't just that it's too sweet, it also lacks flavor and has an unpleasant texture. Homemade angel food cake is much more substantial and actually tastes like something other than sweetened cottony foam. It is fabulous dipped in chocolate fondue, and actually won out over the homemade pound cake for that purpose.

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         Jujubee Mar 10, 2005 10:35AM

3. Personally if you have that many eggwhites the over-nite meringues and other variations are so much more interesting. Check them out if you are dealing with lots of whites. That said there is a certian nostalgia to angel food cake- think I need to make one as my 13 year old has never been exposed..maybe with macerated strawberries that us lucky So Cal folks are finding in our farmers markets.

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   Torty Mar 09, 2005 07:13PM

4. I loved them as a child, but now find them too sweet as well.
   
   Whole Foods sometimes carries them and they are not too sweet. Very pleasant.

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   shoo-bee-doo Mar 10, 2005 02:48AM

5. Some Chowhound once pointed out in a post to me the virtues of lightly toasting leftover angel food cake slices and spreading a bit of jam on it. It's delicious.

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   josephsm Mar 10, 2005 01:44PM