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Angel Food
1 3/4 C egg whites. 1 1/4 C Swans Down flour. 1 t cream of tartar Almond flavoring 1½ C fine granulated sugar 14 C Swans Down flour Whip the egg whites until foamy (use wire whip), add cream of tartar and continue whipping until stiff, but not dry. Fold in sugar gradually, then flour gradually-flavor. Rinse a large size angel food pan-shake free of water. Pour into this the mixture. Cut through the dough a few times with a spatula. Place in cool oven. Bake at 300°-325° F.
Mrs. Elizabeth Kohner.
A typical mid-century church-cookbook angel food: terse, and with at least one number lost in typesetting. Read the ingredient list carefully before you begin.
- The missing egg whitesNo quantity is given, though the method assumes them. A tube-pan angel food of this size takes 10 to 12 whites (about 1½ cups), at room temperature.
- "14 C" flourAlmost certainly 1¼ cups, a standard ratio against 1½ cups sugar. Fourteen cups is impossible; treat the printed figure as a typographical casualty rather than a conversion problem.
- Swans DownA bleached cake flour, still sold. If you substitute all-purpose, use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons and sift it three times with a third of the sugar.
- SaltOmitted here. A pinch beaten in with the whites sharpens the flavor.
- "Stiff, but not dry"This is the hinge. Stop while the peaks still bend at the tip and the surface looks glossy; once the foam looks grainy or cracked the protein has over-coagulated and the cake will not rise properly.
- The wet panRinsing and shaking out the tube pan, rather than greasing it, is deliberate. The batter must grip the sides to climb, and the film of water helps release later. Never grease an angel food pan.
- Oven300-325°F is what the recipe gives, low by modern habit. Expect roughly 45 to 55 minutes; the top should spring back and a skewer come out clean. The instruction to "place in cool oven" is unexplained: it may mean starting the cake before the oven is fully hot, or simply a low oven. With a modern thermostat, preheat to 325°F.
- CoolingInvert the pan on its feet, or over a bottle neck, and leave it until fully cold. Turning it out warm collapses the crumb.
- Flavoring and yieldAbout ½ teaspoon almond extract, or ½ teaspoon vanilla with a few drops of almond. One tube cake, 10 to 12 servings.
Angel food belongs to the American cake tradition of the later nineteenth century: it rises on beaten egg whites alone, with no butter and no yolks, and was commonly paired with a gold cake made from the leftover yolks. Its spread is generally tied to the arrival of the rotary egg beater and of milled cake flour sold by brand, Swans Down among them.