Angel Food Cake

A sign of spring at our house is an over-abundance of eggs. Not pretty little Easter eggs. I'm talking about the ones that arrive with the fertilizer still stuck to the side. The ones that are piling up in our second refrigerator.

The ones that are making me crazy looking for recipes in which to use them.

Apparently, the chickens got the memo that the axe was going to fall if we didn't start getting some return on our investments.

Currently, we're getting 12-18 eggs per day.

I didn't even realize that we had that many hens laying!

It kind of spoils my chances of picking up some cute little chicks to replace the old girls.

We've enjoyed deviled eggs, scrambled, fried and poached eggs, hard-boiled eggs, frittata, quiche and omelettes. I've added eggs to bread recipes and even thrown in an extra egg to cookie dough.

But now I've had to pull out the big guns. Cake. Angel food cake to be exact. That delicious, fluffy cake that requires a dozen eggs to reach its spongy goodness.

We'll be having cake until September.

When the chickens molt.

Until then, I'm serving cake. With a side of treadmill.

One of my favorite ways to have angel food cake is with fresh berries. While in town today, I found fresh strawberries. They are not local, but California is on the same coast as Washington, so that's close enough for me. Since this cake is sweet, I like to slice strawberries, grate a little lime zest, and squeeze the lime juice into the berries, before serving on top. Of course, it must be finished off with freshly whipped cream.

It would be criminal not to.

Enjoy!

Angel Food Cake

1 cup sifted cake flour

1-1/4 cup organic powdered sugar, sifted

1-1/2 cups egg whites (about a dozen)

1-1/2 t. cream of tartar

1/4 t. sea salt

1-1/4 t. vanilla extract

1/2 t. almond extract

1 cup organic cane sugar

Preheat oven to 375F. Move the rack to just below mid-level.

Sift flour and powdered sugar together and give it a stir. Set aside. In large mixing bowl, whip egg whites, cream of tartar, salt, and extracts until soft peaks form. Gradually, 2 Tb. at a time, add sugar to eggs white mixture, beating until stiff peaks form.

Adding 1/2 cup at a time, gently fold flour mixture into meringue. Continue adding 1/2 cup at a time and folding each time until all of the flour/sugar has been added.

Pour into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Using a butter knife, run it through the batter to get out any air bubbles.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.

*Repeat this process as the chickens continue to show you who is in control.