angel food Archives | ZoëBakes

For Mother’s Day (and Valentine’s Day) I always bake something I’d like my beloved children to bake for me, as a not-so-subtle hint to them. This website is basically a reference for my boys to use whenever they are looking for ideas of what to make me. (If only they ever read my blog!) I think Angel Food is perfect. The name alone is fitting for us moms, considering what we do to keep our darling children alive, well fed and mostly happy. I received a lovely new cookbook yesterday and it fell open to the angel food cake recipe. Jessie Sheehan’s The Vintage Baker is a wonderful book, full of classic desserts with her twist on them. She made the perfect angel food cake, split it in half, then filled and topped it with a beautiful blueberry whipped cream. It really is a dream. I was completely smitten. I didn’t have any blueberries, but did have raspberries. Here in MN we’re just hitting spring and the very start of a growing season, so I rely on Driscoll’s to deliver perfect CA berries. I need the bright color and dose of summer.

The ethereal texture of this Raspberry Rose Angel Food Dream Cake is created by whipping a dozen egg whites to meringue perfection, then gently folding cake flour into it. I added some zest and rose water to make this beautiful cake even more festive. That’s the beauty of angel food cake, it is easy to play with different flavors. The secret to keeping the lightness of the cake is to cool it upside down. I have an old, super cheap, pan that I got at a garage sale in college, which doesn’t benefit from having feet on it, so I have to balance it over a wine bottle to cool. You can watch my instagram videos to see me bake this dream cake and many more. Read More

I have a child who doesn’t have a sweet tooth. He’s clearly missing one of my genes. He can walk past cookies, cakes, pastries, ice cream, even chocolate, especially chocolate. I don’t pretend to understand, but I try, and just hope he’ll grow out of it. The only type of desserts he will eat, without guilting him into it, are the fruity ones. He even baked a gorgeous rhubarb pie. So, when we celebrated his birthday, I made a traditional marble cake, with lots of sweet frosting for the rest of us, and this light angel food cake with fresh peaches for him. He had seconds, then thirds of the angel food and left the the sticky, gooey birthday cake untouched. The rest of us took care of it for him.

Although we are finally experiencing spring, we are far from peach season in Minnesota. They must be growing well in CA, because my local co-op had a bin full of the most beautiful, fragrant and juicy peaches. I may just be desperate for a sign of summer, but I think this may be the best crop I’ve had in years. I cooked them with just a touch of honey and a vanilla bean. The angel food has a healthy dose of citrus zest, which is a great balance to the sweet peaches, especially for people without the sugar gene.