angel food cake for valentine's day

courtesy of bluekaleroad

I love Angel Food Cake with pink butter cream icing, but a more fancy-schmancy version is an Angel Food Cake with fresh whipped cream frosting and raspberries....either one would great for Valentine's Day dessert!

Recipe courtesy of Honest Cooking

Angel Food Cake {The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook}

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups (163g) powdered sugar
• 1 cup (90g) cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups (355mL) egg whites (roughly 10-12 egg whites), at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp (4,7g) cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 tsp (7,4mL) vanilla
• 1/4 tsp (1g) salt
• 1/4 tsp (1mL) almond extract
• 1 cup (192g) sugar
• Whipped Cream Frosting
• 2 cups (473mL) heavy cream
• 1/4 cup (32,5g) powdered sugar
• 1/8 tsp (0,5g) salt
• 1 tsp (5mL) vanilla or almond extract

Instructions

Angel Food Cake {The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook}

1. Stir the powdered sugar and cake flour together in a bowl and set it aside.
2. Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla, salt and almond extract at high speed until well mixed.
3. Continue beating the mixture and add the sugar, 2 Tbsp (24g) at a time, just until the sugar dissolves and the egg whites form stiff peaks.
4. Do not scrape the bowl while you beat the batter.
5. Fold in the cake flour mixture, 1/4 a time, using a rubber spatula, just until the flour disappears.
6. Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch (25,4cm) tube pan.
7. Cut through the batter with the spatula to break any air bubbles.
8. Bake the cake for 30 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back to the touch. Any cracks on the surface should look dry.
9. Invert the cake pan onto a funnel and let it cool completely.
10. Loosen the cake from the pan with a spatula and place it on a plate.

Whipped Cream Frosting

1. Beat the cream, sugar and salt at medium speed until stiff peaks form.
2. Fold in the vanilla or almond extract.
3. If a creamy whipped cream filling is desired, slice the cake in half using a serrated knife.
4. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream frosting in between the layers.
5. Then frost the outside of the angel food cake and using the spatula pull the frosting into attractive peaks.
6. Keep the frosting and the frosted desserts in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them.
7. Slice the cake with a serrated knife so that the cake doesn’t compress while being cut.