If you think melt in the mouth meringues but in a soft, lighter than air cake form that just about sums up an Angel Cake. Go on, make yourself an Angel today – you’ll be pleased you did!
Makes one 27cm (103⁄4in) round cake
Prep: 40 minutes plus cooling
Bake: 45 minutes
Oven: 160°c (fan)/180°c/350°F/Gas Mark 4
100g (31⁄2oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
9 egg whites (approx. 310ml/10fl oz)
11⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
11⁄2 tsp vinegar (malt or white wine)
220g (8oz) caster (superfine) sugar
220g (8oz) jar Raspberry Coulis
220g (8oz) strawberries
100g (31⁄2oz) raspberries
100g (31⁄2oz) redcurrants
Angel Cake/Tube/Ring tin (pan) approx. 27cm (103⁄4in) diameter, 11.5cm (41⁄2in) depth
Stand / electric whisk
Chopping board
Glass beer bottle
1 Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan)/180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Starting with the prep, sift the flour three times. Yes, three times, and set to one side.
2 Now for the egg whites: scrupulously clean bowl and whisk please, any trace of grease and they won’t whip up for you. Place them in a large bowl along with the vanilla extract and vinegar, and start to whisk. Whisking by machine is easiest!
Vinegar works to stabilise the whisked egg whites by lowering the pH. Cream of Tartar will do the same job, as will lemon, and should be added as the start of whisking. The resulting whisked egg whites will be flexible and stable enough to cope with folding, piping and baking – keeping in all the air bubbles that you’ve worked hard to incorporate.
3 Once the egg whites start to go white and frothy, with the whisk still running begin to add the sugar just one spoonful at a time, allowing it to be whisked in before adding the next. Slowly does it. Incorporate all the sugar in this way. Whisk it in fully and then continue to whisk until the egg whites will stand in stiff peaks.
Liquid pasteurised egg whites can be bought in cartons from the refrigerated section in the supermarket which saves you having 9 egg yolks to be used up. Alternatively use up leftover egg yolks to make custard (see Troubleshooting section).
4 Sift the flour onto the egg whites and gently fold in using a spatula or metal spoon, cutting through the pockets of flour, lifting and turning until everything is fully incorporated and any major lumps are worked out.
5 Place dollops of the angel mix into the angel cake/tube tin carefully, to avoid knocking out the air. The tin should not be greased, the mixture needs the sides of the cake tin to cling onto and climb up as it rises.
6 Roughly level the mixture with the back of a spoon and bake in the oven for 45 minutes until golden brown and springy when touched lightly with a fingertip.
7 Remove from the oven. Now, to stop it from sinking inwards take a small, squat glass bottle, a beer bottle is ideal. Turn the cake upside down. Trust me, it won’t fall out. Place the central tube of the cake tin over the neck of the bottle. Hold it steady and then gently let go. The tin should sit suspended on the top of the bottle. Allow it to cool completely like this.
8 Prepare the fruit. Reserve 8 stems of redcurrants for decoration, then hull and quarter the strawberries, and toss them together with the raspberries and remaining redcurrants.
9 Once the cake has fully cooled remove the tin from the bottle. Using a palette knife loosen the cake from the tin around the sides and gently flip out onto a serving plate. Pour the raspberry coulis over the cake and top with the fruit. Finally lay the reserved redcurrant stems over the top and serve.
Don’t use a plastic bottle for inverting the Angel Cake – it’ll melt with the heat from the tin!