Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard... Angel Food Cake with Strawberry Sauce

Nothing screams spring more than the first delicious strawberries from the garden.  Nothing goes better with juicy strawberries than angel food cake.  I had to withhold from eating all the strawberries picked from the garden for two days so that I would have enough to make a strawberry sauce.. that was very, very difficult!

As for the angel food cake, my original plan was to buy one.  However, when I was at the grocery store I thought the angel food cakes were too pricey and I had a bunch of eggs at home, so why not make an angel food cake?  I am not a baker, but I figured as long as I have a recipe how hard could it be?

In searching for a recipe, I decided on the Heavenly Angel Food Cake.  I discovered that I didn't have the kitchen equipment to make an angel food cake, so I had to buy a pan and sifter (I said I'm not a baker!).  Remember this all began because I thought the store bought angel food cakes were too expensive, but after I bought a special pan and sifter I could have bought three bakery made cakes!  Anyway, after I assembled everything I followed the recipe exactly:

Heavenly Angel Food Cake

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar

Directions

1. Separate eggs; discard yolks or refrigerate for another use. Measure egg whites, adding or removing whites as needed to equal 1-1/2 cups. Place in a mixing bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, sift confectioners' sugar and flour together three times; set aside. Add cream of tartar, extracts and salt to egg whites; beat on high speed. Gradually add sugar, beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Fold in flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Gently spoon into an ungreased 10-in. tube pan. Cut through batter with a knife to remove air pockets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert pan; cool completely before removing cake from pan. 

And this is how it turned out:

 

I was so proud of this cake!  I sat there and squished the cake and watched it bounce back for probably about 10 minutes!  

After I was thoroughly impressed with my first successful angel food cake, I moved on to making the strawberry sauce.  

Strawberry Topping

Ingredients

• 1 pint strawberries, cleaned and stemmed
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Cut all of the strawberries in half and set aside about 1/3 of them. In a saucepan over medium high heat, combine the remaining strawberries, sugar and vanilla. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. In a blender, puree about 1/3 of sauce, then mix back into remainder and add uncooked strawberries. Store in refrigerator.

 Here's the cake with strawberry sauce:

I would prefer more strawberry sauce, but that was all the strawberries I had at the time and this cake was not going to last long enough for more berries to ripen!

Finally, while I was on a homemade roll, I decided to make some whipped topping in the mixer.

Whipped Topping 

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar 

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like. 

Whew, my spring dessert is now complete and ready to eat:

 Yum!  The dessert's lifespan was very short- two days before it was completely devoured.  Now since I have all the equipment for making angel food cakes, I think I need to make more.

That's what has been cooking in my kitchen.  If you want to peak into other kitchens and see what others are cooking, head over to Thursday’s Kitchen Cupboard at the Gardener of Eden.