Thursday, March 18, 2010

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.




4 comments:

CC said...

This post was just too funny. I do believe the hens have shown you who's boss.., but the cake looks really,really good. :)

Cindy said...

Oh man... I'm gonna enjoy that long distance. We are getting about 18 eggs a day as well, but have four families eating them so....

That looks so good. We might have to visit some day with my good strawberries and your yummy angel food cake.

I saw a recipe on one of the cooking shows where they used beaten egg whites in pancakes. They were ricotta/blueberry pancakes with the egg yolks in the batter, then folded egg whites in just before cooking. Your cake looks better.

Can you just have a little piece for me???

blank said...

Hi Kim, I found your blog on Cindy's page. I laughed all the way through reading! We've been raising chickens for meat and eggs for a year now and my Mother-in-law has offered much good advice (including the comment about producing and the axe!). She recently told me that she used to make an Angel Food Cake with the whites and a Sponge cake with the yolks. Feeding a family of 8 never left much behind! I've been dreaming of Angel Food Cake and then I saw your post and that's it - it's on my list!
Thank you for sending a little joy in my day!

http://lifeinevverybreath.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Momma...WHY are you lettting your daughter spend $5.00/dozen on organic eggs when you are having this great abundance?!? I will certainly take some off of your hands when I come out this week :)

Love you!

Valerie