Angel Food Cake for two

 

On thing I have always missed over here is Angel Food Cake. There is something really special about a proper Angel Food Cake.  It is very difficult to get an Angel Food Cake tin here in the UK, and if you do find a proper one, it costs an arm and a leg.  I was always going to bring one back from Canada when I went home to visit, but it just never happened.

 

The other day I spied a recipe for a mini angel food cake that is baked in a loaf tin on Pinterest.  It is attributed to recipe the site, Dessert for Two.  This is the recipe I used today and I have adapted it to use British measurements as well as North American.

 

The best thing about the recipe is that you don't need anything other than a metal loaf tin to bake it in.  No Angel Food Cake tin needed! You must not use a non-stick loaf tin, as the cake mixture needs to be able to grip the sides of the pan to bake up properly.  I just used my metal loaf tin as you see above (this is after baking and I am hanging the cake upside down to cool.) 

 

YOU MUST NOT grease or butter the pan.  It must be left as is.

 

Don't worry about it.  Your cake will not stick to the pan and you will be able to release it properly at the end once it is cold.

 

This is the perfect size for us and as you can see it baked up lovely.

 

You can also see that it released perfectly from the pan. It is beautifully light and has a wonderful consistency.  It is every bit as perfect as a proper angel food cake baked in a full sized tin.

 

Just look at how beautiful the consistency of the cake is. It has even holes and is soft and spongy as a slice of white bread. 

 

Its light and fluffy, not rubbery at all.  You do need to cut it with a serrated knife, using a sawing motion without pressure. If you press too hard you will squash your cake.

 

I was so very excited to discover this recipe.  There are lots of desserts that I used to make using angel food cake.  I make one in the summer with whipped cream and strawberries. It  immediately sprang to mind!  It has been ever so long since I have enjoyed it.  I can't wait!

 

Today we enjoyed it simply cut into slices, topped with a dollop of thick Jersey cream that I happened to have in my refrigerator along with some fresh raspberries and blueberries.

 

 This was so yummy.  I love Angel Food Cake. There is no fat in it, just basically egg whites, a bit of sugar and some flour.  It is the dieter's dream dessert.

 

I used to bake angel food cake often for my boss down south  It was a favourite  to serve when the ladies were coming for lunch!

 

Its lovely served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. Its also pretty incredible toasted!

  

I would call this a winning recipe and I think you will enjoy it as well!

Yield: Makes one loaf sized cake

Author: Marie Rayner

Small Batch Angel Food Cake

All of the deliciousness of a full sized cake, perfectly sized for two.

ingredients:

• 150g granulated sugar, divided (3/4 cup)
• 70g plain flour (1/2 cup all purpose)
• 1 TBS cornflour (cornstarch)
• 210g  free range egg whites (7 large)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/4 tsp salt

To serve:

• whipped cream, or thick cream, or clotted cream
• fresh berries or fruit

instructions:

How to cook Small Batch Angel Food Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 165*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Have ready a 9 by 5 inch loaf tin.  Make sure that is is NOT a non-stick pan. Also please do not line the pan or grease it in any way.  Angel food cake needs a ungreased ordinary tin pan in order to rise properly.
2. Measure 50g of the sugar into a bowl (1/4 cup) along with the flour and cornflour.  Whisk together and set aside.
3. Put the egg whites into a large grease free bowl, along with the vanilla, cream of tartar and salt.  Beat with an electric whisk on medium speed just until the whites become foamy.  Continue to beat whilst adding the remainder of the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time.  Beat on high until it forms soft peaks. This will take about 3 to 4 minutes.
4. Fold 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the egg whites using a rubber spatula. Be gently and use a straight up and down in the centre, over to the side motion. You don't want to deflate the whites or release any of the air you have beaten into them.
5. Repeat, adding the remainder of the flour in two lots  Make sure no lumps of flour remain and take care to do everything gently so that the egg whites don't deflate.
6. Pour the cake batter into the plain loaf tin, leveling it off.  Place onto a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes. When it is done the top will no longer be sticky to the touch and if it cracks the cracks will also not be sticky.
7. Have two tin cans laid on a level surface, with a space between measuring the length of you loaf tin. Invert the loaf tin as soon as you remove it from the oven on these tin cans, making sure that either edge of the loaf tin rests on the edges of the tin cans. (see above)
8. Leave to cool upside down for at least an hour.  I left mine for a couple hours.
9. Once your cake is completely cold, using a sharp knife, run it around the inside edge of the loaf tin all the way around to loosen the cake.  Gently tip the cake fall onto a cutting board on its side.
10. Use a serrated knife to cut the cake into slices, taking care not to squash the cake and using a gentle sawing motion.
11. Serve in slices garnished with the cream and berries.  Delicious!

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

I did ask the other day if there were any recipes that you would be interested in seeing me downsize for the smaller family.  Have you been able to think of any?  I do like a challenge!  Happy Wednesday! 

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Midnight Feast Worthy Cherry Cake

 

When I was around 6 or 7 years old, I discovered Enid Blyton Books.  I was totally enthralled with her stories.  At first it was the fairy stories but then I graduated into the adventure books and the books about boarding schools.

 

The children in the adventure books didn't seem to have much supervision and they travelled all around the countryside, solving mysteries and getting in and out of scrapes.  I longed for adventure.

 

The children in the boarding schools also had adventures, and tuck boxes and  midnight feasts. All of her books were filled with lot of deliciously exotic sounding foods . . .  huge coconut macaroons,  billowing meringues, meat paste sandwiches, sausage rolls, cherry cakes and ginger beer . . .

 

Oh how I longed to go to Boarding School and have a tuck box filled with treats from home . . .  to gather together with the other girls and enjoy mutual midnight feasts of a gargantuan proportions.  How my heart yearned to take off into the wild blue yonder across the fields with a couple of meat paste sandwiches tied up in a handkerchief along with a slice of cherry cake and a bottle of ginger beer . . .

 

My friend Tina went to Boarding School in South Africa.  She had a tuck box and it was filled with treats from home.  Her mother would make her own sweets and cakes and once a week, they were allowed to go into their tuck box and enjoy one of the treats inside.  Her homemade goodies were much in demand and she often was able to trade with others for their "exotic-to-her" store manufactured treats.

 

They also had midnight feasts in their dormitory.  Each girl would steal some bit of food away from their lunch or supper, hiding the goodies in the pockets of their uniform to be shared out and enjoyed later at night after the matron had gone to bed.  They would pretend to be asleep and then in the middle of night they would gather together and tell stories and share their provisions together . . .  which had taken on the magical properties of anything which has been purloined  . . .

 

She said that they even would sneak out of the dorm sometimes, putting some of the smaller girls out the windows (because they fit), getting them to unlock the door and then they would all wander about having midnight adventures in the dark . . .  pillows made to look like bodies under the covers back in the dorm. 

 

OH it does sound so very exciting to me,  and more than a bit dangerous . . . even now as a 64 year old woman.  My heart still longs for adventures and midnight feasts although to be sure those days are long gone for me, and I don't think my digestion could take eating anything after 7 o-clock at night.

 

I have learnt since moving over here that there is nothing exotic or even tasty about meat paste sandwiches  . . .  or fish paste for that matter (ugh) . . .  but there is something incredibly moreishly exotic about sausage rolls,  eccles cakes, macaroons, ginger beer and  . . . cherry cake.

 

Perfect for midnight feasts and indoor picnics . . .  this cherry cake is well worthy of sharing.  Cut into thick slices . . .  buttery and moist . . . .

 

And studded with plenty of glace cherries  . . .  and topped with a sweet drizzle glaze icing and toasted flaked almonds . . . 

 

Most of the cherries end up evenly distributed, but some do manage to sink to the bottom, no matter how hard you try to make it so that they don't.  Its inevitable, but if anything . . .  this only adds to the allure of the cake . . .

 

You nibble the cake all around their sticky sweetness . . .  saving those sunken cherries and bottom bits of cake for a very nice last mouthful  . . .  

Ahhh  . . . there really is nothing so satisfying as a very nice mouthful.

 

If you only bake one cake this weekend . . .  let it be this . . .  incredibly delicious, moreishly decadent, cherry stogged full buttery cake!

  

Excellent washed down with flasks of hot tea, cold milk and spicy ginger beer, and perhaps accompanied with an adventure or two or three!

Yield: cuts into 8 slices

Author: Marie Rayner

Cherry Cake

A delicious slice of nostalgia.

ingredients:

For the cake:

• 225g self raising flour (1 1/2 cups + 2 TBS)
• 100g ground almonds (1 1/4 cups)
• the finely grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
• 275g glace cherries, preferably undyed or a mix (scant 3 cups)
• 225g butter, softened (1 cup)
• 225g granulated sugar (1 cup plus 2 TBS)
• 3 laarge free-range eggs
• a few drops of almond extract
• 2 TBS milk

For the glaze and decoration:

• 65g icing sugar, sifted (1/2 cup)
• milk to thin
• a handful of toasted flaked almonds

instructions:

How to cook Cherry Cake

1. Preheat oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4.  Lighty butter a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf tin.  Line with baking paper. Set aside.
2. Rinse the glace cherries in hot water to remove all of the syrup and sugar.  Dry well and then cut in half.  Set aside.
3. Sift the flour into a bowl. Whisk in the lemon zest and almonds.  Stir in the halved cherries.
4. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at at time.  Stir in the almond extract.  Fold in the flour mixture and milk, making sure the cherries are well dispersed.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf tin.  Smooth the top.  Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes. Check at about 45 minutes and if you think it is getting too dark, cover loosely with a double sheet of aluminium foil.  It is done when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. (Today mine took about 15 minutes extra.) Leave cake in the tin to cool completely.
6. Tip out onto a wire rack. Whisk together the icing sugar, a few drops of almond extract and just enough milk to give you a thick drizzle.  Flick over the cake and scatter with toasted almonds.  Cut into thick slices to serve.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

Created using The Recipes Generator

 

Have you ever noticed how important food figures into a good book or story?  When I think of my favourites there was always some kind of food involved.  Perhaps thats because children enjoy food and adventure hand in hand, and so long as they are active,  they don't have to worry too much about the calories.  Ahh to be a child again . . . what were some of your favourite stories/books when you were a child?

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Menier Chocolate Christmas Cake