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April 9, 2012

Black & White Angel Food Cake

black & white angel food cake

When I was a kid I always wanted to help my mom make cakes in the kitchen. She’d give me what I thought were useless jobs like measuring out the flour (I actually like doing that now) and cleaning up the dirty bowls in the sink. Although these are important tasks to complete, I always thought I got the short end of the stick. I wanted MORE. I wanted to crack the eggs, measure out the vanilla, use the beaters and eat off ALL the frosting that smothered them. I desperately wanted to take the cake out of the oven and frost it myself without any adult supervision. I know now that my mom was teaching me valuable lessons of baking all while secretly preventing a major mess in the kitchen (she was tapped into my klutzy nature from an early age).

I still make a mess in the kitchen…

black & white angel food cake

We spent this Easter weekend at my parent’s house and while it was nice to get out of our routine and enjoy a slower pace of life, what I enjoyed most was making this cake by myself in my mom’s kitchen. That’s right. My mom gave me the responsibility of making this Black & White Angel Food Cake she picked out for dessert on Easter Sunday.

black & white angel food cake

Melting the chocolate, sifting the flour and beating the egg whites in the same bowl I remember using as a kid was almost as good as eating the cake itself. That’s right! No supervision needed. I’m a grownup (ahhhhh!).

A fluffy puffy light chocolate cake smothered with a decadent ganache? Uh huh! I’m so glad my mom picked this cake out and had me make it because I most likely wouldn’t have tried it on my own. And man, would I have missed out.

And we’re off!

Ingredient gathering.

black & white angel food cake

Egg whites at room temp. Chocolate gets ready….

black & white angel food cake

for grating! Do it over parchment paper cuz it’s easier to measure your final grating results.

black & white angel food cake

Egg whites go in a bowl with cream of tartar & salt. Whip those whites into submission.

black & white angel food cake

Add in your sugar.

black & white angel food cake

Then you add in your sifted flour/sugar combo. Fold it.

black & white angel food cake

Chocolate gets folded in.

black & white angel food cake

Smooth it in an ungreased pan.

black & white angel food cake

Bake it. And then invert it on a rack. This shot is not inverted. I did it right after this.

An inverted cake chilling on a cooling rack doesn’t make for good photos. FACT.

black & white angel food cake

Carefully take the cake out of the pan after it has cooled. A little knifing around the edges and you’ve got this.

black & white angel food cake

Ganache time! Let the chocolate chips melt with heavy cream in a double boiler.

black & white angel food cake

Spread it over your cake. Get messy. Pretend you’re a kid. Eat it of the spoon. No one can see you.

black & white angel food cake

Look! A pretty cake.

black & white angel food cake

Slice it up!

black & white angel food cake

Yup.

black & white angel food cake

Eat it up. You’re a grownup who makes cakes without adult supervision. You are living your childhood dream.

Black & White Angel Food Cake

makes 8 servings

(recipe from Ina Garten)

  • 2 cups sifted superfine sugar (about 1 pound)
  • 1 1/3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
  • 1 1/2 cups egg whites at room temperature (10 to 12 eggs)
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup coarsely grated semisweet chocolate

For the glaze:

  • 1/2 pound semisweet chocolate chips
  • 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

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 minute. Scrape the beaten egg whites into a large bowl. Sift 1/4 of the flour mixture over the egg whites and fold it very 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-inch tube pan, smooth the top, and bake it for 35 to 45 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.

For the chocolate glaze, place the chocolate chips and the heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate melts. Pour the chocolate over the top of the cooled cake to cover the top completely and allow it to drizzle down the sides. If you have chocolate glaze left over, you can serve it on the side with the cake.

  • Jeanette @ Mary's Pastry Lab

    it’s afternoon and i’m sitting in the office looking at this glorious picture… it’s killing me!!! it looks too yummy!!!

  • Maria @ Box of Stolen Socks

    mmmmm chocolate paradise with angels in cake form!

  • Blog is the New Black

    So pretty! I love this variation instead of serving it with strawberries!

  • Tina

    Tracy, since you like black and white things so much, I have just the thing for you! If you get some Black Cocoa Powder, mix it with some melted butter and add to the frosting, then it would really be black and white! Black cocoa powder is amazing. I added some to a ganache and it looked totally black, with no food coloring.
    Check it out: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/black-cocoa-12-oz
    (I do not work for King Arthur Flour; I don’t even live in a country where I can buy it, but my mom sends this stuff to me)

  • ileana

    I wish I could have a slice, now. I like how it’s a bunch of chocolate dust in the cake!

  • Katrina

    Angel food cake makes me a happy lady.

  • AlisonA

    So making this (did you know I’m obsessed with you now?) I’m not off work again till Thursday so I’ll just dream about it till then… I would so buy your cookbook… I hope you do make (write?) one…

  • Julie

    This looks like the perfect angel food cake recipe!

  • Megan

    AH! I need this in my life. Looks so good.

  • Sandra

    Looks very fluffy and airy, I’ll totally try it!
    But what do you do with all those leftover egg yolks?
    Seems kind of wasteful to just chuck them in the bin…

  • Denise Ruggeri

    Tracy: I have become addicted to your blog…it is great. Your Mom and I were besties in Kingergarten and friends throughout our grammar, high school and college years. She came to my house last week for a grammar school girls lumch and brought the chocolate cake that we all love…the dark chocolate layer cake with dark chocolate frosting. Hmmm…wish I had some now. I did Easter dinner…but we were healthy and did fresh fruit for dessert…well, there was a Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cake, too. I haven’t seen you since you were about 8…but maybe you remember that I made you a blankie when you were as baby…I think it was gingham. Best wishes….
    Denise

    • Tracy

      Hi Denise!!
      Thank you for your kind note. It’s so nice to have you here. Was the blanket you made me a green gingham with a little lacey trim? If so I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVED that blanket until it was ragged. LOVED IT.

      xoxoxo

      Tracy

  • Eileen

    This looks absolutely amazing–and I’m not normally a cake fan! I keep picturing leftover slices fried in butter for the world’s most impractical (but delicious) breakfast.

  • Alison

    Beyond that being an amazing looking cake, that was a very heart-warming post that took me back to my childhood. 🙂

  • heather @ chiknpastry

    YUM. can’t believe she let you measure the flour – that stuff is impossible to not get all over the place ;).

  • stacy

    this looks so amazing. I adore angel food cake- and this chocolate ganache might be the only thing I can think of that would tear me away from the angels usual companion of strawberries and homemade whipped cream!

  • Living The Sweet Life

    Yumm… this is one delicious looking cake!! And that’s incredibly cute, that you got to make this little wonder in your mom’s kitchen – – I get it, I know it’s a big deal xoox

  • Cortnie

    You’re totally a grown-up now!! This cake looks delish…

    xo
    cortnie

  • Jen

    This post makes me want to buy a tube pan just so I can try this recipe.

  • Cookie and Kate

    Oh man. My grandmother made my favorite homemade angel food cake for my little brother’s birthday, which was on Saturday, and I swear I ate at least a quarter of it all by myself. I’m a little caked out but that chocolate drizzle sure looks good!

  • Lucia

    This cake is a dream come true. Not only because of no-supervision 😉

  • cindy

    my mom never let me help her bake, she hates it so I’m pretty sure it was just a race to the finish line for her and helping kids was just an obstacle. the first cake I ever baked in my first kitchen was angel food AND I baked it in a tube pan I stole from my mom’s kitchen. this one is so pretty!

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  • Kristen

    I once made a chocolate angel food cake, but angel food cake with chocolate on top? Brilliant!

  • kale @ tastes good to me!

    I know what you mean; cracking the eggs and handling the vanilla were such coveted tasks for me too!

  • Tida

    Okay, I knew I wanted to make this when Ina made it on her show. Now that you’ve made it too, I HAVE to do this! It looks sooooo good! Love the new design too 🙂

  • Rebecka

    Hey hey hey!! You did a makeover!! Lookin’ goooood 🙂 Also, this cake looks fab.

  • Lori from a family's life

    This looks so light and tasty!

    Can’t wait to try it!

  • PerBer

    love the new website design!!! this recipe looks amazing..

  • Caitlin

    I LOVE this cake! I thought I recognized it as Ina’s recipe and it sure was 🙂 The ganache on top makes this the best angel food cake EVER!

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  • Elizabeth

    I had this for dessert tonight and it was SO good!

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  • dana

    I think I just wept a little. GIMME DAT.

  • Joy

    So is it really called heaving cream by the picture, or is it supposed to be heavy cream? Maybe heaving is something that cream does when it cooks? I don’t know if thats a typo or a fancy cooking method. But the only thing I can think of is a heaving bosom and the mental image is now making me giggle.

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