4th of July Angel Food Cake
Shared by: erin
Source: The Art of Real Food by Joanne Neft and Laura Kenny
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift flour, then measure, and place in a bowl. Add 1/2 cup sugar and salt to flour and sift twice more. Set aside.
Beat egg whites in a large clean bowl. When whites are foamy, add cream of tartar, lemon juice, and vanilla. When bubbles are uniform, add remaining cup of sugar a few tablespoons at a time. Beat whites until they form stiff peaks (when you lift the beaters a peak will form and hold) and sugar is dissolved.
Fold in the flour with a clean rubber spatula, using a down-the-side-and-up-through-the-batter motion. Do not over mix.
When mixture is thoroughly combined, turn into a very clean grease-free 10-inch tube pan. Bake 50 minutes. Test for doneness by pressing lightly in center of cake; if it springs back, cake is done.
Remove from oven and invert pan until cake is cool. The cake must be raised an inch or more above the counter during cooling process. An easy way to do this is to invert the cake pan over a wine-type bottle. When cool, remove the cake by running a serrated knife around the edges of the pan.
Slice the cake in half horizontally; there's enough angel food cake to make the 4th of July cake and the Rocky Road Cake. You can freeze the half you don't use.
TO MAKE CREAM CHEESE ICING:
Whip cream cheese and cream until fluffy. Slowly add sifted sugar. Add lemon zest and blend. For an orange flavored icing, replace the lemon zest with orange zest.
TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE:
Gently pour Meyer lemon cream cheese icing over cake; letting it dribble down the sides. Use blueberries and raspberries (or strawberries) to alternate colors on the top of the icing.