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Mission Tea Room Cake
Cake Part 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup water 6 eggs beaten separately 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup flour 3/4 teaspoon cream tartar 1 teaspoon orange extract Boil sugar and water to thread stage. Pour the hot syrup in fine stream over stiffly beaten egg whites to which salt has been added, beating until cool. Then add egg yolks beaten thick and lemon-colored. Combine flour, after sifting, with cream of tartar, sift again together, and carefully fold it into mixture, adding flavoring. Bake in angel cake pan in slow oven 50 minutes.
This is a hot-syrup sponge in the style of an angel cake: the only leavening is air, held in a cooked meringue. Everything depends on the syrup temperature and on folding the flour without deflating the foam.
- Thread stageThat is roughly 230-234F on a candy thermometer, when a spoonful drops in a thin thread. Syrup boiled much hotter gets stiffer and harder to pour in an even stream.
- Pouring the syrupHave the whites beaten to firm peaks before the syrup is ready, and add it in a slow, steady stream down the side of the bowl with the mixer running. Beat until the bowl is no more than warm to the touch, roughly 8-10 minutes, or the yolks will scramble on contact.
- Slow oven300 to 325F. At that temperature 50 minutes is right for a tube pan; test with a skewer and by the cake springing back when pressed.
- The panAn angel cake pan is a deep tube pan, often with a removable bottom. Leave it completely ungreased so the batter can climb the sides, and invert the pan to cool the cake fully before releasing it.
- Cream of tartarHere it is sifted with the flour rather than beaten into the whites, which is unusual but works; it keeps the crumb white and tender. Do not omit it and do not substitute baking powder, which will coarsen the texture.
- FlourThe recipe says only 'flour'; one cup, sifted and then sifted again with the cream of tartar as directed. Cake flour gives a finer crumb, all-purpose a slightly tougher one; measure it by spooning lightly into the cup.
- FoldingAdd the flour in three or four additions with a large spatula, cutting down through the centre and lifting over. Stop as soon as no dry streaks remain.
- FlavoringThe orange extract goes in with the flour, though it is easier to beat it into the yolks. One teaspoon is reasonable; use half if yours is very concentrated.
- YieldOne tube cake, most likely a 9-inch pan given the small quantity of batter; about 10 slices. Good with a glaze, a fruit sauce, or whipped cream.