Dark Angel Cake
Submitted by chrissysnanny
Chocolate angel food cake made with cocoa powder, whipped egg whites, and zero butter or oil. Tall, airy, and deeply chocolatey with a featherlight crumb. A fat-free chocolate cake that actually delivers.
YIELD
1 cakePREP
20 minCOOK
60 minREADY
3 hrsAngel food cake goes to the dark side, and it’s glorious. Cocoa powder gets folded into billowing egg whites to create a tall, tender cake with serious chocolate flavor and virtually no fat.
The technique is pure angel food: whip the whites to soft peaks, fold in the cocoa and flour mixture in thirds, and resist every urge to overmix. The result rises tall in a tube pan and cools upside down so it doesn’t collapse.
No butter, no oil, no egg yolks. Just cloud-like chocolate cake that’s lighter than air but still satisfies a real chocolate craving.
Baker’s Tips
- Egg whites whip best when they’re slightly below room temperature and your bowl is spotlessly clean. Any trace of fat or yolk and they won’t peak.
- Fold with a rubber spatula and keep it under the surface of the batter. Cutting through the top deflates those precious air bubbles.
- An ungreased tube pan is essential. The batter clings to the sides as it rises. A greased pan means a collapsed cake.
- Cool the cake fully (about 2 hours) before removing from the pan or it will tear apart.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 325℉ (160℃).
Resift cake flour with cocoa powder, ¾ cup sugar and salt.
In large bowl, beat egg whites on low speed 1½ minutes, or until frothy.
Sprinkle cream of tartar over whites.
Beat on medium speed until white and foamy.
Slowly add remaining sugar, beating 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft (not stiff), smooth peaks form.
Sprinkle one-third cocoa mixture and vanilla over egg whites.
Fold in with rubber spatula, keeping spatula under surface of batter as you fold.
Repeat two more times with remaining cocoa mixture.
Do not overfold.
Pour into ungreased 9 or 10 inch tube pan.
Bake in lower third of oven about 50 to 60 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and invert tube pan on counter.
Let cool in pan about 2 hours before removing.
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