Silver & Gold Angel Food Cake
Submitted by bkuipers
Silver and gold angel food cake: a marbled tube cake swirling pale angel food whites with golden orange-yolk batter for a striking sliced reveal. Light, airy, and ready for fresh strawberries.
YIELD
1 cakePREP
30 minCOOK
40 minREADY
70 minThis is angel food cake with a clever twist: a yolk batter swirled through the classic egg-white base, marbling the cake silver and gold from edge to edge. The yolks get beaten into part of the flour mixture with orange zest until pale and thick enough to ribbon off the beater. The whites get whipped with lemon juice and the rest of the sugar to glossy peaks, then folded with the remaining sifted flour.
A third of the whipped white batter goes back into the yolk batter to lighten it before the two go into the pan. You then spoon both batters into the ungreased tube pan in alternating dollops and drag a long thin knife through to swirl them. Bake until golden, invert immediately onto a bottle to cool (this is critical for preserving the height), and garnish with fresh strawberries.
Pro Tips
- Use room-temperature egg whites for maximum volume. Cold whites whip to less than half the height.
- Make sure not a speck of yolk drops into your whites. Any fat will collapse the foam.
- Sift the flour and sugar twice, not once. Angel food cake depends on the lightest possible dry ingredients for that signature airy texture.
- Fold in three additions with a rubber spatula, cutting straight down through the center and turning the bowl as you go. Stirring deflates the air.
- Invert the pan onto a bottle the moment it comes out of the oven. The cake hangs upside down as it cools, otherwise it collapses under its own weight.
Variations
- Swap the orange zest for lemon zest in the yolk batter for a brighter, sharper citrus note.
- Dust the cooled cake with powdered sugar instead of berries for a cleaner, simpler finish.
- Drizzle with a thin chocolate glaze for a more dramatic dessert plate.
Ingredients
Directions
Position oven rack in lower third of oven.
Heat oven to 375℉ (190℃).
Mix 3 tablespoons flour and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium-size bowl.
Sift remaining flour, ¾ cup sugar and salt, twice, onto waxed paper.
Beat whites and juice in large bowl at medium speed until soft peaks form.
Gradually beat in remaining sugar until glossy peaks form.
Beat in vanilla.
Add yolks and rind to flour mixture in medium-size bowl.
Beat at high speed until pale yellow and ribbon forms when beater is lifted, 3 minutes.
Fold sifted flour mixture into egg whites in 3 additions.
Remove a third of whites mixture; fold into yolk mixture.
Alternately spoon yellow and white batters into ungreased 10-inch tube pan.
Run thin, long knife through batter, swirling batter together.
Bake in 375 degree F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until golden and wooden pick inserted in top tests clean.
Invert pan onto bottle to cool.
Run thin knife around edges; remove cake from pan.
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