Homemade Angel Food Cake With Custard & Whipped Cream

Ingredients

1 ½ cups of powdered sugar

1 cup of granulated sugar

½ teaspoon of salt

1 ¼ cups of egg whites (12 eggs)

1 teaspoon of cream of tartar

½ teaspoon of vanilla

Take Note:

1) Simple it’s not, however, if you follow important tips I have written, it is well worth making. Don’t let the long list of tips scare you. They are actually easy but necessary. Example, a little mistake, such as getting a tiny bit of yoke in the batter could prevent the cake from rising. I know it may sound extreme but it’s not. I have ways to prevent this from happening.

2) Make sure your tube pan is clean of all oils, this would mean cleaning until absolutely spotless and drying with a paper towel or air dry to not get oils back on the pan or use your new pan and NEVER grease. This cake is made in an ungreased pan.

3) You should also make sure your bowl is clean that you are beating the egg whites in. Tip: wash bowl with teaspoon of white vinegar and a little salt rub clean. This also helps stabilize the egg whites.

4) Make sure your eggs are at least 3 days old and at room temperature before beginning.

5) Have an electric beater handy

6) When folding the batter, it MUST be done by hand and in a specific way that will be explained later. This is another step where the slightest mistake could lead to a flat cake and an hour wasted.

7) Be patient with the egg whites, it takes time to reach the point of having “stiff peaks” (will explain later). This could take over 30 minutes easily.

8) Lastly unlike normal cooking, baking is precise. Not that cooking isn’t but people can cook to taste. Baking this cake is more like a science right down to the reactions from adding the stabilizers. This cake is easy to screw up but when you have patience, it is so worth making. Truly and unbelievable cake.

9) Good luck and trust me; it’s worth the effort!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Taking 1 ½ cups of powdered sugar, sift twice into a bowl.

After sifting the powdered sugar twice take 1/3 of it and sift with the flour. Repeat adding another 1/3 of the powdered sugar and then one last time with the last 1/3 of the powdered sugar. Now you have the powdered sugar and flour sifted today.

Let this sit as you begin to prepare the egg whites.

I had a small bowl that I cracked and separated each egg white it. I would do one and then pour into the larger bowl. I thought this way if I cracked one and got yolk mixed in, I wouldn’t ruin the whites I had already successfully separated. I am glad I did because on egg white ten and twelve, I got some yolk in it. I didn’t have to throw out all the white I had done. Just rinse the little bowl and crack a replacement egg. (Thought this was smart!)

Twelve successful egg whites. Begin beating at a medium speed. You may want to sit and relax while doing this. Don’t lose faith. The egg whites will slowly (slowly) begin to change.

Add ½ teaspoon vanilla while continuing to beat.

Add ½ teaspoon salt. This is a stabilizer and should help the egg whites start to slowly form soft peaks.

Add 1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar. This is also a stabilizer and helps the egg whites to form peaks.

Once you have soft peaks start adding granulated sugar to egg whites two tablespoons at a time. Continue beating the entire time. This should eventually turn into stiff peaks. Similar to when you make whipped cream. If you need to, add another small pinch of salt or cream of tartar to get it to peaks.

This is the longest part of the entire cake. It takes approximately a ½ hour to get the egg whites to form peaks. Don’t give up. Look at the pictures. I was going to give up. I didn’t. It is amazing.

REMOVE electric mixer. This next step is important and must be done by hand.

Add some powdered sugar. A little at a time and take a clean rubber spatula. Fold into the white. Do not stir or mix. Slice spatula on an angle and scrap on bottom of bowl and list white up and over. Continue until all powdered sugar is folded in.

Now I take a metal cake knife and cut it thru the moisture to get rid of any large air pockets. Pour into angel food cake pan.

Put in preheated oven. Time for 35 minutes and check. Cake will probably take 40 to 45 minutes but I like to check at 35 and the again at 40 etc. Cake should be golden and if you touch the top gently, it springs back up. It is done.

Invert cake in pan and let sit and cool before eating.

1-cup sugar

1-½ cups of milk

4 teaspoons of cornstarch

4 egg yolks (beat)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

½ lbs. of butter (2 sticks)

12 tablespoons of powdered sugar

2 containers of heavy cream

Take out the butter and let it get to room temperature. We will use this later for the custard.

Beat yolks, and then set aside.

Pour milk into pan and heat slowly.

Add granulated sugar a little bit at a time, while stirring or whisking the entire time.

Add 4 teaspoons of cornstarch and 1 teaspoon of vanilla while continuing to stir.

Add beaten egg yolks and continue to stir until it reaches a thick and frothy texture.

Once the desired texture is reached, let the custard cool in the refrigerator.

While custard is cooling, whip heavy cream in a bowl (1-2 pints) and add powdered sugar as you whip the cream until you reach your desired taste and thickness.

Beat the two sticks of butter and the 12 tablespoons of powdered sugar. Be sure to add the sugar a little at a time.

Add cooled custard, a tablespoon at a time into the butter and sugar mixture and beat until nice and fluffy.

Spread custard onto cake first then do the same with the whipped cream. Be sure to rub all of the loose crumbs on the sides of the cake off before spreading the custard on. If you do not have the angel food cake cutter, use a serrated bread knife to cut.

Enjoy your beautiful creation!