Angel Food Cake

Step 1

• 1 cup CAKE flour
• ¾ cup sugar

Sift together and set aside

Step 2

• 1 ½ cups egg whites
• 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tarter
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar

Beat egg whites until foamy. Continue beating, and add 2 Tablespoons at a time [of] the 1 cup sugar. Beat continuously until meringue holds stiff peaks.

Step 3

• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• ½ teaspoon almond extract

Fold in flavoring -- don't leave out the almond, and of course, WATKINS vanilla!

Step 4

Sprinkle the flour/sugar mixture over the meringue a little at a time, and gently fold in until all is mixed. Don't over stir, or you will break down the batter. Push batter into UNGREASED tube cake pan, and gently cut through with knife to remove air bubbles. Bake 350° over til top is crusty and slightly brown -- 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove from oven, and immediately invert pan over a pop bottle and let cool completely. Carefully loosen, and remove from pan. Roll the loose crumbs off gently with fingers (this is the part the children always gathered around for -- and to "lick" the cake pan). Let set just a few minutes to dry, then frost.

Steve loves this without frosting. I have probably baked more angel food birthday cakes than any other kind. The first one I ate or saw was when i was about 9 years old. I begged the recipe from my Great Aunt Lina Sweaney and used a fork to beat the eggs, a pan with an inverted glass, and built a fire in the old wood cookstove, put the cake in the over and let the fire burn down. Not the best I ever baked, but edible, and we were excited about it.