Just Baking

If you’ve been making as much ice cream as I have this summer then you’ll no doubt have a surplus of egg whites.  It seems that even when I try to use up them up, by making a lemon meringue pie for example, I create more of them.  Why oh why does everything tasty involve egg yolks?  Everything except meringues and angel food cake!  However, meringues and I have a history of not getting along and angel food cake is something that is made only once a year in my household, specifically for Dad’s birthday.  I’m not going to lie either, for a long time, Dad’s cake came from a box, for the simple fact that you need about a dozen egg whites to make it.  And who has that?  This past year, I took over the cake making duty and made him an angel food cake from scratch, (and at that time pondered over what to do with all of the extra egg yolks).  What I need are eggs that can be purchased in cartons with whites only and yolks only, based on what kind of dessert I’m making.  Apparently chickens don’t agree with that idea.   In any case, I didn’t have a problem this time around because my ice cream making ventures have provided me with more than enough whites for my cake, (so many in fact, that I actually made a batch of cocoa-mocha meringues as well).  So if you’re stuck wondering what to do with all of your leftover egg whites, angel food cake is definitely the way to go.  And in case you were wondering, I didn’t make all of that ice cream in one day, the egg whites were accumulated over the past month and frozen until I was ready to use them.  Learning that you can freeze egg whites is another helpful hint that I garnered from a savvy food blogger and has certainly made it much easier to bake angel food cake.  So what happens if you don’t have a surplus of egg whites?  You can try ordering them from a chicken, or you can start churning out some ice cream and you’ll have plenty in no time.  I recommend the latter.

Angel Cake (from The Canadian Living Cookbook)

1 cup sifted cake and pastry flour
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups egg whites, (about 12) at room temperature
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Sift together flour and ¾ cup of the sugar.  Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy; add lemon juice, cream of tartar and salt.

Beat until soft peaks form.  Gradually add remaining sugar, 2 T at a time, beating until mixture is very stiff and glossy.

Sift flour mixture over egg whites in 4 batches, carefully folding in each batch until well blended.  Fold in vanilla.  Pour into ungreased 10-inch tube pan and run a spatula through the mixture to eliminate any large air pockets.

Bake in 350° F oven for 40-45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.  Turn pan upside down and let cake hang until cool.  Remove from pan and frost with your favourite glaze or frosting, if desired.  (I like to cover mine with chocolate whipped cream, as I did here).