lemony angel food cake

We are overflowing with strawberries around here. I’m loving strawberry season. I still plan on making some jam but I wanted to make a delicious dessert for after dinner. I wasn’t feeling straight up strawberry shortcake. So after perusing Pinterest for a bit, I came across a lemony angel food cake that sounded delicious. I happened to have a bunch of lemons left over from a different recipe so this was perfect to use up some ingredients before they went bad.


This was the pin-spiration for the dessert:

Source: marthastewart.com via Julie on Pinterest

Really it was completely delicious. The cake by itself was totally addicting. Every time I walked by the leftovers I cut myself a tiny slice and munched on it. I was really happy with the results. I could have whipped the egg whites a little bit longer and it would have been a little fluffier, but it was delicious. The recipe I used said to add the lemon juice, zest, vanilla and cream of tartar before the egg whites were at stiff peaks and I don’t think that was the best plan. I couldn’t get them to whip all the way up to firm peaks, even beating them for 15 or so minutes.





Lemony Angel Food Cake
(adapted from Martha Stewart)


1 cup sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
12 large egg whites
2 tablespoons lemon zest
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 12” cake pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
• Sift together cake flour and 1/2 cup of the sugar.
• Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, then add in lemon zest, lemon juice, cream of tartar and vanilla extract. Beat for an additional 1-2 minutes until soft peaks return.
• Add the rest sugar gradually while beating to firm peaks but not stiff peaks.
• Fold in the flour/sugar mixture.
• Pour into prepared pan and bake 40-50 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.