Chocolate angel food cake

January 14, 12:23 PMDetroit Cooking ExaminerCourtney Monigold

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Photo by: Courtney Monigold, Angel Food Cake

Welcome to another week of “Dessert Wednesday”!

I was craving a lighter dessert, when I saw Ina on the Food Network whipping up a fluffy Angel Food Cake. From there…I was hooked.

I never made angel food at home because I had some predisposition that it was way complicated, but after watching her whip the egg whites with ease, I realized that this fluffy cake was a cinch! I said, “I can whip egg whites!”

So, after quickly running out to buy an Angel Food Cake pan along with a few other kitchen tools my sticky fingers couldn’t resist, I raced in the door with my store packages laying out all the tools I needed to bake this light, spongy cake.

I served mine with sugared strawberries and some freshly whipped Chantilly cream(recipe below) instead of the chocolate ganache that Ina made, but you can certainly do either!

Chocolate Angel Food Cake
Recipe from: Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients:
• 2 cups sifted superfine sugar
• 1 1/3 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups egg whites at room temperature (10 to 12 eggs)
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup coarsely grated semisweet chocolate (I used Valrhona)

Stiff egg whites should look like this

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together ½ cup of the sugar and the flour, 4 times. Set aside.

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Whip on high speed until the eggs form medium-stiff peaks, this should take about 1 minute.

This is about how thick and glossy you want it

Lower the speed to medium to add the remaining sugar by sprinkling it over the egg mixture. Once incorporated, beat on high speed for a few minutes until the mixture becomes very thick and shiny.  Add vanilla extract and whip until thickened, about another minute.

Cake batter ready for the oven

Scrape the egg mixture into a large bowl and gently fold in the flour mixture in 4 parts by sifting it over the batter with a rubber spatula. Fold in the grated chocolate.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch angel food pan. Smooth the top and bake for 35-45 minutes. The cake will spring back to the touch when it’s done. Remove the pan from the oven and invert it (put it upside down) to cool. Remove the cake from the pan once completely cool by sliding a knife around the pan.
Serve with sugared strawberries and whipped cream or chocolate ganache

Chantilly Cream:
Recipe courtesy of: Mirepoix cooking school

1 cup Heavy Cream
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:  Whip the cream and sugar together until firm peaks form.  Whip in vanilla and serve.