Lavender Angel Food Cake
Submitted by Kernow
Lavender angel food cake with 12 egg whites beaten to stiff peaks and dried lavender folded into the batter. Light, fragrant, and fat-free. Ready in about an hour.
YIELD
1 cakePREP
20 minCOOK
40 minREADY
1 hrsDried lavender folded into a classic angel food batter makes this cake something genuinely different from the plain white version.
The technique is pure angel food: 12 egg whites beaten in a completely dry, grease-free bowl until stiff peaks form, with the dry ingredients sifted over in four careful additions and folded in with a rubber spatula. Any fat in the bowl or on the whisk and the whites won’t hold their structure. The lavender goes in at the last fold.
The cake bakes in a 10-inch angel food pan, then cools completely upside down on a wire rack before you even think about removing it from the pan. That inverted cooling is what keeps the delicate crumb from collapsing under its own weight.
Baker’s Tips
- Separate your eggs cold but let the whites come to room temperature before beating. Room temperature whites whip to higher volume.
- Use culinary-grade dried lavender, not decorative lavender, which may be treated with pesticides.
- Run a thin knife between the cake and pan sides in one smooth pass rather than sawing, to keep the edges clean.
Ingredients
Directions
Sift the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt together.
Set aside.
Chop the rose petals and set aside.
In a DRY, GREASE-FREE, 4½-quart bowl of a heavy-duty (such as Kitchen Aid) electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they become frothy; add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form.
Gradually add the granulated sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Add the vanilla in the final moments of beating.
Put the dry ingredients back in the sifter and sift over the beaten egg whites, in four additions, folding with a large rubber spatula to incorporate after each addition.
Fold in the chopped rose petals and dried lavender in one addition.
Pour the cake batter into a 10-inch angel food cake pan, or 4½ cups of the batter into each of the 9 individual angel food cake pans.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
Remove the cake(s) from the oven and place upside-down on a wire rack and allow to cool COMPLETELY.
Before removing from the pan(s) run a knife between the cake and the pan side.
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