Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake

With Spring here and the warmer weather showing its presence, what better way to celebrate than with a light and airy angel food cake with fresh berries? With trying to incorporate more healthy desserts in our lifestyle, I found this recipe from Cooking Light and just added in some vanilla bean. I love the extra vanilla that a vanilla bean gives.

I have talked to people that thought angel food cake was a hard thing to do, but it's really not. With just 6 ingredients, and you should have them all in your pantry, you can whip up this cake in no time and would be perfect a perfect dessert for the Easter weekend!

Angel Food Cake
From: Cooking Light

1 cup sifted cake flour, or all purpose
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
10 egg whites
1 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp vanilla extract, or 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour and 1/4 cup sugar; set aside. Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp at a time, beating until soft peaks form. Sift 1/4 cup flour mixture over egg white mixture, and fold in. Repeat procedure with remaining flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Fold in vanilla.

Spoon batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until cake springs back with lightly touched. Invert pan; cool 40 minutes. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula; invert cake onto a serving plate.

Angel Food Cake

Here is recipe #2 from my Cooking Light cookbook. A light and spongy angel food cake. A friend of mine had just told me that she was wanting to make an angel food cake, that she didn't realize how easy it seemed, she had seen one being made on FoodTV, and she is correct when she said that they are simple. Just a few ingredients folded into whipped egg whites and bake it. That's it!

The temps have been in the high 70's this week and this angel food cake made the perfect strawberry shortcake!

Angel Food Cake
from: Cooking Light Desserts

1 cup sifted cake flour
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
10 egg whites
1 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour and 1/4 cup sugar, set aside. Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Add remaining 1 cup sugar, 2 Tbsp at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Sift 1/4 cup flour mixture over egg white mixture, and fold in. Repeat procedure with remaining flour mixture, 1/4 cup at a time. Fold in vanilla.

Spoon batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan, cool 40 minutes. Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula; invert cake onto a serving plate.

Chocolate Traffiking

I had never really thought about this or had even any idea about chocolate traffiking. Children under the age of 12 work on cocoa and coffee plantations, working 12 hour days and only make less than $150 a year. That broke my heart! Having 3 children myself under this age, I tried to imagine them having to do this to support our family. I couldn't. I know that other countries have different cultures than we do here in America, but those "babies" don't get to be kids and have to do more labor than I will probably have to ever do as an adult. So, when I read that R Khooks was doing this challenge, I knew that I would have to participate...if I could find a chocolate that was slave free. I only found 1 place in Knoxville that carried it, and it is a Nature store.

I found 3 oz blocks for $6 a bar...kind of pricey, but I loved how it baked and melted down. It is made from Theo and the fairtrade logo is on the front, however, it smelled great, it tasted great...it chopped great. I could also get it in different cocoa percentages, so I bought the 75%. Now....I found the chocolate..what to make. With loving chocolate and have so many favorite chocolate recipes, that was the next challenge..what to bake. While watching Barefoot Contessa on Foodtv, she made a Black and White Angel Food Cake with a chocolate ganache, I knew that I had to try it, and it was so worth it..light and fluffy, and just a little chocolate to satisfy the chocolate craving. My kids have loved it and my husband has eaten a piece (or two) in the past 2 days. I am happy to have participated in this to support such a great cause! Thanks for letting me be a part of it!

Black and White Angel Food Cake

2 Cups sifted superfine sugar

1 1/3 Cups sifted cake flour (not self rising)

1 1/2 Cups egg whites at room temperature (10-12 eggs)

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 Cup coarsely grated semi sweet chocolate

Chocolate Glaze:

1 Cup chopped semi sweet chocolate

4 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

Melt all 3 ingredients together in a double boiler. Drizzle over the cake.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine 1/2 cup of the sugar with the flour and sift them together 4 times. Set aside.

Place the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the eggs form medium-firm peaks, about 1 minute. With the mixer on medium speed, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar by sprinkling it over the beaten egg whites. Beat on high speed for a few minutes until thick and shiny. Add the vanilla and continue to whisk until very thick, about 1 more minutes. Scrape the beaten egg whites into a large bowl. Sift 1/4 of the flour mixture over the egg whites and fold it carefully into the batter with a rubber spatula. Continue adding the flour in 3 equal additions, sifting and folding until it's all incorporated. Fold in the grated chocolate.

Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-in. tube pan, smooth the top, and bake it for 35-40 minutes, until it springs back to the touch. Remove the cake from the oven and invert the pan on a cooling rack. When cool, run a thin, flexible knife around the cake to remove it from the pan. Drizzle with the chocolate glaze.