I am looking for a good angel food cake recipie and some type of topping. I did a search and also have 1 million recipies. I am looking for a easy updated version. Do you have to sift the flour and do you have to use cake flour? Suggestions appreciated.
This is one of the instances where I do sift the flour. You also need to use cake flour. Angel food cake is easy if you have a stand mixer to beat the egg whites. It is really technique dependant - whipping the whites to the right state, folding in the dry ingredients, using the right pan, inverting the pan to cool. There really isn't any way to update or simplify this cake although you could use a box mix - they are fool proof but the texture just isn't the same.
As for topping, I think you need to keep it simple. I like fresh berries and a little whipped cream. Strong flavors and hard textured toppings just don't seem pleasing to me.
An angel food cake is a traditional recipe .
Tecnically speaking......If you want an upgraded one , it lies initially on the quality of your cake flour although there are other factors but which is beyond the scope of the undertanding of the home cooks.
A really good angel food cake should use the lowest protein bleached and chlorinated cake flour with a protein of just around 7 and a pH of 4.8-5.0 and an ash content of 0.30-0.35. In comparison the typical cake flour you buy in the store shelf can have protein of 8-8.5 and pH of 4.8-5.5 and ash content of 0.35-0.40. More suited for other less delicate cakes such as chiffons,sponges and layers. Unfortunately that kind of angel cake flour you cannot obtain easily as its more expensive due to the use of flour fractionation and much lesser yield of flour based on flour extraction rate, to attain such grade. Therefore many formulators add some wheat starch to dilute the protein content of the cake flour to obtain the desired flour protein. But for home use I advise to keep it simple, no need for this cake flour/ wheat starch blend, leave this point to the specialist cake formulators.Any good recipe of angel cake will work fine as long as you religiously follow the procedure and also understand every point of it to ensure that you will obtain the best quality cake you can get. Keep this in mind...... Following recipe is different from understanding the technique in the recipe; so combine the two principles and you will obtain good results in your baking chores.
Yes, its highly preferable in order that lumps will be avoided that affect the uniform incorporation in the meringue. Even in the institutional baking ,bakers still sift the flour for the same reason. Flour is sifted before its used, and it should sifted with the other dry ingredients when folded into properly beaten sugar,egg white mixture. And be reminded, never over mix the flour and meringue which is one of the reason of heaviness in cake texture aside from under and overbeating the whites. Roy
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