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Angel Food Cake
Whites of 12 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons cream tartar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract 1 1/2 cups sugar measured after sifting 1 cup and 1 tablespoon white flour measured after sifting Measure out all ingredients before commencing to put the cake together. Sift flour and cream of tartar together five times. Sift sugar five times. Beat egg whites till very foamy, but not stiff; add flavoring, sift in sugar slowly, beating all the time. Use care to avoid making the mixture stiff. Sift in the flour slowly, mixing with a light folding motion.
Bake in an unbuttered pan fifty-five to sixty minutes. Place a pan of boiling water under the cake during the first forty-five minutes. The oven should not be opened for the first twenty minutes. When the cake is done, place upside down on a cake cooler, and leave in pan till cold.
A classic tube-pan angel food, given without an oven temperature — the one thing you most need to supply. Everything else in the method is sound and worth following closely.
- Oven temperatureThe original assumes the cook knows her range. Bake at 325F for the stated 55 to 60 minutes; a moderate oven of 350F works but browns the crust faster than this long bake wants.
- The hinge: do not overbeatThe instruction to beat the whites "very foamy, but not stiff" and to "avoid making the mixture stiff" is the whole recipe. Whites beaten to a dry, stiff peak cannot stretch as the cake rises and will tear, then collapse. Stop at soft, drooping peaks that still flow slightly.
- Cream of tartar placementHere it is sifted with the flour rather than beaten into the whites, as most modern recipes direct. Either works chemically — it acidifies the batter and stabilizes the foam — but folding it in with the flour means the whites are less stable while you sift the sugar, so work briskly.
- FlourThe recipe specifies only "white flour," with no indication of grade. Cake flour gives the tender crumb intended; if using all-purpose, replace 2 tablespoons of each cup with cornstarch. The five siftings are not decorative — they aerate and prevent lumps that will not disperse in a foam batter.
- Egg whitesTwelve whites from the eggs of the period is roughly 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups; measure by volume rather than counting modern large eggs. Separate them cold, then let them stand at room temperature 30 minutes before beating.
- The pan of boiling waterThis adds steam so the surface stays flexible while the cake climbs, and it moderates a hot, dry range. In a modern electric oven it is optional; if you use it, set the water on the floor or lowest rack and remove it for the last 10 to 15 minutes so the crust can set.
- Unbuttered panNot an oversight. The batter needs to grip the sides to rise, and the cooled cake must cling while it hangs inverted. Use an ungreased two-piece tube pan, never nonstick, and never a silicone mold.
- CoolingInvert immediately and leave it until completely cold — at least 90 minutes. A tube pan with feet stands on its own; otherwise hook the center tube over a bottle neck. Loosen with a thin knife before turning out.
- YieldThe recipe gives neither pan size nor yield; a batter of this volume conventionally suits a 10-inch tube pan and serves roughly 12 to 16. Cut with a serrated knife or pull apart with two forks; a straight blade compresses the crumb.
Angel food belongs to a family of American foam cakes that became practical only once fine white flour, refined granulated sugar and reliable wire whisks were all cheap — which is to say the second half of the nineteenth century. Recipes for it appear in printed collections from the 1870s and 1880s onward: no fat, no yolks, and no chemical leavening, the cream of tartar acting as an acid that stabilizes the foam. A cake demanding twelve whites presupposes a kitchen already using yolks freely in custards, sauces and salad dressings — nothing wasted, both halves of the egg accounted for.