It’s my birthday! And that means cake. So, what kind of cake will hold this food writer’s candles? There are so many endlessly delicious combinations of the spongy, sweet stuff. How can I pick a favorite?This year’s winner is: Angel Food Cake with 7-Minute Frosting.
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| Angel Food Cake with 7-Minute Frosting Recipe from Grandma’s Cookbook |
7-Minute Frosting alone wins top honors from me in the category of cake-topping. Gooey, melty, and mounded like a poof of sweet air, this frosting makes me giddy. In fact, making this with angel food cake reminds me of playing with clouds. Both batters rise higher and higher as the whisk blades purr, threatening to ooze from the bowl and flood the room. I imagine swimming through the thick, vanilla-laden clouds, licking my fingers as I go.
Grandma’s Cookbook
This spring I returned to Illinois to visit family. When I’m with Mom and Grandma, we always bake. We had a hankering for this cake, so Grandma pulled out the cookbook she received when she was married— a book that was the backbone of most of our family meals growing up. In fact, when it came time to purchase my first cookbook, I selected a newer version of this very book: Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book—the one with the red and white checkered cover that looks like a picnic blanket.
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| My grandma’s cookbook from the 1940s. |
In can only imagine the memories that cookbook holds!—birthdays, anniversaries, grandkids’ births, get-well dishes, sympathy casseroles, and everyday suppers. There are surely cottage cheese-based dishes that my Grandma loved (and my Grandpa hated). There are recipes torn from newspapers shoved between the pages for safe keeping. There are hand-written notes and recipes passed along from friends. If that cookbook could talk!
Three generations of women (me, my mom, and Grandma) piled into my mom’s kitchen this spring to share in the joy of baking this lovely cake together. We noted that this old recipe called for the eggs by volume (1 ¾ cups) rather than quantity (1 dozen) as most contemporary angel food cake recipes. Grandma pointed out that there’s a lot more water in today’s eggs and that “back in the day” the yolks were much larger and the whites smaller, so you might have used more than a dozen.
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| Folding sifted flour into beaten egg whites–like playing with clouds! |
Grandma guided, Mom measured ingredients, and I mixed. We laughed. We took pictures. We talked about the evening’s meal. When the fluffy batter was ready, we scooped it into Mom’s angel food cake pan (which surprisingly, she had to purchase that day having misplaced her old one after not making this cake for years). Into the oven it went.
We set the timer, but Grandma’s nose was more exact. She smelled the finished cake several minutes before the timer was set to ring. Good ol’ Grandma!
Tips for the Best Angel Food Cake
To cool an angel food cake, you’re supposed to set the cake pan upside down over a wine bottle. This prevents the cake from flattening as all those tiny air bubbles cool. Problem is: modern day angel food cake pans aren’t designed with this wisdom in mind. Further, many modern angel cake pans are made with a slippery nonstick coating. This prevents the cake from doing what it loves to do best—slink and stretch its way up the sides of the pan, gripping as it grows. So the modern pan yields a slightly flatter cake.
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| Angel food cake recipe from Grandma’s old cookbook |
How to solve this problem? Head to your local thrift store and purchase a traditional aluminum angel cake pan—free of the nonstick coating. I found one recently for only $1!
Tips for the Best 7-Minute Frosting
If you thought finding a proper angel cake pan was a challenge, try finding a double broiler for the 7-minute frosting. Apparently these are tools of yore. My mom used to own a double broiler (I think they were once as standard in every kitchen as Kitchen Aid mixers are today), but over the years her recipes moved away from this piece of equipment, and it’s long gone.
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| 7-Minute Frosting Recipe from Grandma’s Old Cookbook |
Thankfully, it’s easy to replicate a double broiler. Simply find a metal bowl that will rest stably on top of a pot of barely bubbling hot water. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. The steam will provide the heat for the frosting.
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| Frosting the cake once it has cooled completely |
You need to use the 7-minute frosting right away after you’ve made it, so wait until your cake is cooled and ready for frosting. Also, this frosting will get hard and crunchy on the outside if left exposed to the air. If you can’t serve it immediately, cover the frosted cake to keep it moist and melt-in-your mouth amazing.
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| Delicious, gooey 7-Minute Frosting as good by the spoonfuls as it is on the cake! |
And if it’s your birthday, too: Happy Birthday!
FAQs
Egg Whites: The star of the show! They provide all of the leavening for angel food cake. Using only whites (no yolks) gives this cake a super light texture. Be sure to use only fresh eggs; liquid egg whites in a carton have been pasteurized, which can prevent them from whipping into stiff peaks.
Can you decorate with 7 minute frosting? ›
With this light Fluffy White Frosting recipe, I pipe my swirls to the ceiling! I can't get enough of it, and it's just so pretty too! This fluffy seven minute frosting is not only perfect for cakes, but it's also perfect for cupcakes and high hat cupcakes too!
Why do you turn an angel food cake upside down after baking? ›
Every angel food cake has to be cooled upside down in the pan. Why? Until the cake is completely cooled, its spongy structure hasn't set. Flipping it upside down makes sure it doesn't collapse during that process.
What are the ingredients in angel food cake mix? ›
Ingredients. Sugar, Wheat Flour Bleached, Egg White, Corn Starch, Baking Soda, Citric Acid, Enzyme Modified Soy Protein, Calcium Phosphate, Salt, Cellulose Gum, Artificial Flavor, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (a whipping aid). Contains Wheat, Egg And Soy Ingredients.
Why do diabetics eat angel food cake? ›
As stated previously, Angel Food Cakes are great for people with diabetes because they are low in sugar compared to most other cakes, and especially low in simple sugars and carbohydrates.
How to improve angel food cake mix? ›
Give your boxed angel food cake mix a summery twist by adding a can of crushed pineapple to it. Gently fold it into the whisked batter, careful not to deflate the mixture. If you over-whisk it, the cake will turn out chewy and dense.
How long can 7 minute frosting sit out? ›
Use immediately as a frosting for cake, and serve as soon as possible; at cool room temperature, the frosting will hold for about 24 hours, as the cake will slowly absorb the meringue over time.
Why does 7 minute frosting get grainy? ›
Usually it is grainy from the sugar not dissolving into the butter properly. One easy fix is to re-whip the frosting, preferably with the paddle attachment, on medium speed until it becomes smoother. (You can let it go for quite a bit!)
Does cake with 7 minute frosting need to be refrigerated? ›
How do you store 7 minute frosting? This frosting is safe to store at room temperature for one day. Anytime after that and you should refrigerate it.
Why does angel food cake have a hole in the middle? ›
The hole in the middle of the pan allows the hot air to circulate and reach the center of the cake. Unlike most cakes that are simply placed on a wire rack to cool, Angel Food Cakes are immediately inverted so the baked cake will maintain its volume and to keep it from shrinking as it cools.
It's possible that the cake went bad and that's why it tasted sour. When perishable food items like cake are left at room temperature for too long, they can become contaminated with harmful bacteria that can cause food poisoning. These bacteria can produce acid, which can cause the sour taste that you experienced.
Why not grease pan for angel food cake? ›
Do not grease the angel food cake tube pan (one in which the center tube is higher than the walls of pan and the bottom is removable.) You want the batter to cling to the side while it is rising. A greased pan will not allow the batter to rise.
What happens when you over mix angel food cake? ›
In delicate sponge-type cakes (like chiffon or angel food cake) there are two moments for concern. First, when you're whipping the egg foam, and second, when you're incorporating the flour. An overmixed egg foam will be slack, wet, loose, and unable to hold peaks.
Can you use milk instead of water in angel food cake mix? ›
If vanilla or yellow cake, replace water with milk or any version of silk, decreasing the amount by the extra amount of oil you will use (end of this paragraph). Add an extra teaspoon or two of vanilla.
Is it okay for a dog to eat angel food cake? ›
No, cake is unhealthy for dogs. Many kinds of cake—like chocolate cake or cake with raisins—are toxic for dogs, and all cake contains high amounts of calories, fat, sugar, and other harmful additives.
Why don't you grease the pan for angel food cake? ›
Do not grease the angel food cake tube pan (one in which the center tube is higher than the walls of pan and the bottom is removable.) You want the batter to cling to the side while it is rising. A greased pan will not allow the batter to rise.
Why is an angel food cake light and fluffy? ›
Angel food cake is one-of-a-kind, and no other cake recipe matches its super fluffy, airy texture. Though it's a type of sponge cake, it differs from other popular recipes because it's traditionally made using no butter or oil in the batter. Instead, beaten egg whites are the secret to its ultra-light texture.
What happens if you don t turn angel food cake upside down? ›
As it bakes, it clings to the sides of the pan and gets as tall if not a little taller than the pan. As it cools it could deflate if left in the baking position so it has to cool in the pan, upside down. Some angel food pans have little feet that stick up, usually three of them, so you don't need a small bottle.
