A fat-free dessert that goes wonderful with fresh fruit. The key to making a good angel food cake is in a soft meringue.
Prepare: 15 minutesmins
Bake: 45 minutesmins
Total Time: 1 hourhr
Servings: 12
Ingredients
1 ½cups(360g) egg whites
1 ½cups(300g) sugar
1cup(120g) cake or all-purpose flour
2tsp(8g) baking powder*
1tsp(5mL) vanilla extract
½tsp(2.5g) salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375F (190C.)
Wash throughly a 10" tube pan to ensure it is free of grease. Do not use spray or grease.
Sift together flour, baking powder and 3/4 cup of the sugar. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat egg whites and salt with a mixer on low speed until foamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar in the form of a gentle stream. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Beat in vanilla until just combined.
Add dry ingredients to egg whites by folding in 1/5 of the mixture in at a time. This prevents the egg whites from deflating too much. Pour and level batter into the pan.
Bake 35-45 minutes or until top is no longer sticky, bounces back when touched and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Center should read between 200F (93C) and 210F (99C.)
Cool cake upside down to prevent the cake from collapsing. This will take around 1 - 2 hours. Run a clean knife around edges of pan and carefully remove the cake.
Notes
*You can substitute 1 1/2 tsp of cream of tartar for baking powder.Do not open the oven door before 30 minutes or you could cause cake to collapse.Baking meringue based desserts on a humid or rainy day can cause cake to become sticky as meringue based desserts are hydrophobic and easily absorb moisture from the air. You can combat this somewhat by slightly over-baking and covering as soon as the cake is cooled. It's best to make meringue based desserts on a dry day.