Angel Food Cake

Angel food cake is an old stand by. My dad was over for supper not long ago when I served this cake and he said "it tastes just like mom's". I served it with strawberries and whipped cream just as she used to, and I had to agree, it was a taste I remembered well. Follow the tip to making your own cake flour. It may be an old tip some of you have used for years and a new tip for others. 

TIP: To begin, if you don't have cake flour make your own by measuring one cup of all purpose flour and removing 2 tablespoons. Now add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the flour making 1 cup. Sift this mixture at least 5-6 times. Now you have the one cup of cake flour you need for this recipe.

• 1 cup cake flour
• 3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 12 egg whites, room temperature. This is very important
• 1 1/2 tsp cream of tarter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sugar (yes again) 
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

1. If you are making your own cake flour make sure you sift it 5-6 times.
2. Now add the first amount of sugar to the flour and sift another several times. Set aside.
3. Separate room temperature egg whites from yolks. It is very important that your bowl for the whites is completely dry and clean and that not a speck of the yolk gets into the whites. (save egg yolks for other recipes)
4. In a large bowl ( I use my kitchen aid mixer) beat egg whites. Add cream of tarter, salt and second amount of sugar. Beat well adding extracts as mixture begins to thicken. Beat until stiff high peaks form. 
5. Using lowest speed add sifted flour/sugar mixture to egg whites and just allow the dry mixture to incorporate with the egg whites. Stop machine and using a spatula gently scrape from bottom of bowl to make sure all flour is getting mixed in. If you are not using a machine, fold in the flour/ sugar mixture. Either way, be gentle with this step and also don't over mix.
6. Pour batter into ungreased tube pan. Run a knife all the way around through the middle to get rid of any trapped bubbles in the batter.
7. Bake in 375º oven for 30-35 minutes.
8. Turn a small mug upside down and turn cake upside down in pan onto mug to cool. Once completely cooled run knife around outside of pan and remove cake to plate. 
9. Ready to serve or wrap well and freeze for several weeks.

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