Angel Food

 I've heard from many people that they have never made a homemade Angel Food Cake.  Why is that?, I wondered.  So I set out to find out why and compare the two.

I started with the boxed cake by Better Crocker.  It was a cinch to add a bit of water to the box ingredients and mix.  But what was in the box mix? Sugar, Wheat Flour Bleached, Egg White, Corn Starch, Leavening (Baking Soda, Citric Acid), Modified Corn Starch, Calcium Chloride, Modified Soy Protein, Salt, Cellulose Gum, Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Artificial Flavor, Sodium Lauryl Flavor (A Whipping Aid), Nonfat Milk. And the box cake was just 2.79 at my grocery store.

We ate the cake served with strawberries and cool whip, Angel Food is always one of my favorites and I enjoyed every bite.  The texture was airy and spongy, if a bit on the sticky/sugary side.  The outside was a touch crunchy making a great contrast in texture.

 Next up, I separated 12 egg whites from their yolks.  I decided this was the reason that most prefer the boxed method.  Now, I knew I would have 12 yolks that I would have to make.  I solved that issue with a Greek Avgolemono recipe I had on hand, but still only used 8 of those yolks.

Whipping the egg whites was my favorite part of making the cake from scratch.  Check out these peaks:

The homemade version turned out beautifully.  The advantage was that I was able to easily adjust the flavor by adding orange extract and vanilla extract.  The texture was a bit more dense than the boxed version, the flavor better, but it was missing the crunchy outside.

My version of the Angel Food was more expensive but I was also able to control the quality of the ingredients.  I prefer to use organic sugar and cage-free, organic eggs ... I'm just guessing these aren't Betty Crocker's choice.

I can't tell you that I prefer one method over the other, they both have their purpose.  If I were to frost, the homemade cake would hold frosting better.  If I wanted strawberry shortcake I would choose homemade because the denser cake would hold more of the strawberry's juices.  If I were to eat plan, I'd prefer the boxed version and also if I needed a cake in a hurry.

Each cake has a purpose and I won't ever feel like I'm cheating if I break out Betty's box now and then. Stay tuned for my Angel Food cake recipe, coming soon.