Not The Angel's Food Cake

Recipe books, faded with time, many of pages falling out, once lived in this cabinet.

My great-grandma's favorites books, newspaper clippings, and magazines filled the bottom right drawer, just below the spice canisters.

Some of these books made their way to my grandma's house, including one dedicated to desserts.

"Could I borrow this?" I asked. 

"No," the response.

So, I made my great-grandma's chocolate angel food cake by hand, from scratch, reading the instructions off a photo on my iPhone because it's 2017. 

For reference, all three of these houses are located on the same farm, each less than a mile from the other.  I made the cake in our house last night.  The lighting was not ideal or I'd have photo proof that I whipped the egg whites by hand, but alas, 'twas not aesthetic.  You'll just have to believe me.

I think I need to whip them firmer next time, but that means I'm using a hand mixer.

It's phenomenal, light and fluffy on the inside, sticky on the edges, and with a thin, crunchy top. 

I think I'm going to make strawberry sauce and whipped cream for it for supper tonight. 

Chocolate Angel Food Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 sifted cake flour (or 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, - 1.5 TBSP flour, + 1.5 TSBP cornstarch, sift together a few times)

4 TBSP cocoa

1 1/4 egg whites

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/4 cup sifted granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Sift flour once, measure, add cocoa, and sift four more times. 

2. Beat egg whites and salt with a flat wire whisk (or a hand mixer). When foamy, add cream of tartar and continue beating until eggs are stiff enough to hold up in peaks, but not dry. 

3. Fold in sugar carefully, 2 TBSP at a time, until all is used. Fold in vanilla. 

4. Then sift a small amount of flour over mixture an fold in carefully; continue until all is used.

5. Pour batter into uncreased angel food pan and bake for 30 minutes at 275 degrees, then raise the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and invert pan 1 hour or until cool.  If you have a handy old fashioned glass soda bottle sitting around, they work perfectly, as do beer bottles, etc.  

7.  Once it's cool, you can run a knife around the edge, and flip it onto a plate.  My pan is in two pieces, so I lifted the cake out of the pan with the bottom piece, and then ran a knife around the bottom of the cake, placed a plate on top, and flipped it over. 

I can't wait to finish this cake for dessert tonight. 

Make this cake for one of your Christmas shindigs; it's fantastic.

If you ever make my recipes, I'd love to see photos of them. <3

- Grace