Angel Food Cake with Peaches and Cream from ‘Endless Summer Cookbook’
Photograph by Lucy Schaeffer
From Yahoo Food’s Cookbook of the Week: Endless Summer Cookbook by Katie Lee
Great-Grandmother Pearl’s Angel Food Cake with Peaches and Cream
Serves 8–1 0
My great-grandmother Pearl was famous for her angel food cake. She would enter baking contests with this recipe and always took home the blue ribbon. Among her bounty of prizes? A KitchenAid stand mixer (which came in very handy for this recipe, considering she used to beat the egg whites by hand) and a new stove! Not to mention a mighty fine sash and a ribbon proclaiming her the queen of cakes.
2 cups egg whites (from about 16 large eggs)
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups sugar
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
5 peaches, cut into thin wedges
Lightly sweetened whipped cream
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
In a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites at medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and salt and beat until stiff peaks form. Beat in 2 ½ cups of the sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, until smooth and glossy, about 4 minutes.
Transfer the egg whites to a large, wide bowl. Using a fine sieve, gradually sift the flour over the egg whites, gently folding in the flour with a spatula. Fold in the vanilla and almond extracts.
Scrape the batter into a 10-inch angel food cake pan. Using a table knife, slice through the cake batter several times to release any large air bubbles. Tap the cake pan once or twice on a flat surface. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for about 35 minutes longer, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert the pan onto the neck of a wine bottle and let cool completely.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss the peaches with the remaining ½ cup sugar and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until juicy, at least 1 hour, or up to 4 hours.
To loosen the cake, run a thin-bladed knife around the side and tube of the pan. Unmold the cake and transfer to a platter. Cut the cake into wedges and serve with the peaches and whipped cream.
Reprinted with permission from Endless Summer Cookbook by Katie Lee (Stewart, Tabori & Chang).
More cakes for your next cookout:
Strawberry Shortcut Cake with Basil Whipped Cream
