Aunt Shirley's Angel Food Cake

I love cake, all kinds of cake, but Angel Food cake is hands down my favorite and I feel blessed to have inherited the best, at least I think it's the best, Angel Food cake recipe I've ever tasted.

My great Aunt Shirley loved to bake and everything she made was amazing, but this cake is my favorite recipe of hers and every time she made it for a family gathering it would disappear in a blink.
When my aunt Judy gave this recipe last year, I was thrilled and couldn't wait to try it. 

Here's the recipe:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 cup of cake flour
3/4 cup of sugar
12 egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons of cream of tarter
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
another 3/4 cup of sugar

Sift flour with 3/4 cup of sugar, four times.  It's important that the flour is fine and sifted well with the sugar.  Beat the egg whites, cream of tarter, salt and vanilla until the egg whites are stiff enough to hold a peak and glossy.  Add the other 3/4 cup of sugar to the egg white mixture 2 tablespoons at a time while beating slowly.  Begin adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, slowly folding the flour in with the egg white mixture until the flour is all incorporated.  Don't overmix.  Bake in an ungreased tube pan.  It's important that the pan is ungreased, Angel Food cake needs to climb up the pan while baking and won't do that if it's greased.  Bake for 35-40 minutes. Don't open the door during the baking process, if you need to look at the cake, turn on the oven light and peak through the oven door window.  Angel Food cake is delicate after all.  :)

Once it's done (it should look like the photo above and a knife inserted in the cake will come out clean) you want to flip the pan upside down onto a clean towel and leave it there for one hour.

Once cooled, lightly push on the center of the pan and it should separate easily from the outside of the pan.  Using a butter knife, gently scrape around the bottom of the pan and around the center to release the cake from the pan.  I store my cake in a plastic cake dish.

And here's how I like to serve it.

With a nice big dollop of real whipped cream.  If you try this and enjoy it, let me know.  I don't make it as often as I'd like because I would just eat it constantly.  It's mostly fat free (minus the cream of course.)   :)

Enjoy your weekend and take care.  oxox