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TREAT: Chocolate angel food cake
TREAT: Chocolate angel food cake
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My friend Travis Douglas currently works at sustainable architecture firm Re:Vision, in Manayunk (winner, Best of Philly 2009, Best Green Architecture), but before he constructed enviro-houses, he built cakes. The man spent a year and a half as a pastry cook at Metropolitan Bakery, baked at the High Point Caf� in Mt. Airy when it first opened, and put in three months at Pasion!, which he noted had "really creative desserts."
Though his paycheck is no longer made from sugar and egg whites, Travis brought this incredible chocolate angel food cake drizzled with chocolate ganache to a recent dinner party. The cake was airy and light but had an intense cocoa flavor; we gilded the lily with sliced local peaches and organic vanilla ice cream.
His original recipe, after the jump.
Travis Douglas' Chocolate Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache
In the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment:
20 egg whites
1/2 T cream of tartar
1� 1/4 C� sugar
In a large bowl:
1/2 C + 1 T cocoa
1/4 C + 2 T hot water (more if necessary)
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
In a small bowl:
1 C + 1 T flour
1/4� tsp + 1/8 tsp coarse salt
3/4 C + 3 T sugar
Whisk egg whites til frothy (I think that I use 4 or 5 speed on kitchen aid)
Add cream of tartar
Whisk till stiff peaks (there is a danger of over-beating)
Slowly rain in sugar while whisking
Whisk till stiff peaks (there is virtually no danger of over-beating)
While it's whisking:
In a small bowl sift flour, sugar and salt together
In a large bowl combine cocoa, hot water, vanilla together to form like a melted chocolate
Fold 1/3 of egg whites and cocoa together in cocoa bowl with spatula
Sift flour mix in 4 additions into remaining 2/3 egg whites. Whisk it in.
Make sure to fold gently so that you don't beat too much of the "air" out of the egg whites � they are essentially holding the rest of the ingredients in suspension.
Combine the two until color just "un-marbelizes."
Fill angel food pan 3/4 full (I don't oil or flour the pan). Take a knife and run it around through the batter a couple times to get out any large air bubbles from pouring (this is important).
Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Do NOT open that oven until an hour has past � it will collapse. Cake is done if after an hour you press and it springs back and feels dry. It is OK for top to caramelize a little, so don't stress much about letting it go too long.
Immediately invert onto tabs of pan. Cake cools this way. Don't try to unmold until completely cool � I always bake at night and wait til the next morning.
To unmold, my secret is I find the largest plastic lid that I can � and cut the lip off.� this will get cleaner results than any knife. Slide it between the cake and the pan and essentially roll it around.
Cover cake with chocolate ganache:
6 oz semi-sweet (half bag)
1/2 cup heavy cream
melt on bain marie
I probably made this look more complicated, because I was trying to give tips.
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