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Curatives | Chowder | Sweet Potato Pie | Angel Cake


Angel Cake


One cup of flour, measured after one sifting, and then mixed with one teaspoonful of cream of tartar and sifted four times. Beat the whites of eleven eggs, with a wire beater or perforated spoon, until stiff and flaky. Add one cup and a half of the fine granulated sugar, and beat again; add one teaspoonful of vanilla or almond, then mix in the flour quickly and lightly. Line the bottom and funnel of a cake pan with paper not greased, pour in the mixture, and bake about forty minutes. When done, loosen the cake around the edge, and turn out at once. Some persons have been more successful with this cake by mixing the sugar with the flour and cream of tartar, and adding all at once to the beaten egg."

-- MRS. D. A. (MARY) LINCOLN, Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book, 1884

This angel cake comes from American culinary goddess Mary Lincoln, whose name has long been forgotten. An early leader of the famed Boston Cooking School, she wrote cookbooks that became the foundation of home economics classes from coast to coast.

Angel food cakes first became popular at the end of the nineteenth century, when America's scientific cooks were falling in love with newly invented kitchen gadgets like the Dover handheld egg beater. The "Dover" could "beat the whites of two eggs in ten seconds"--nothing short of miraculous.

Did the kitchen inventions of industrialism--from the cast-iron stove to the fancy new apple corer--actually save women work? Probably not. These new tools brought fine cuisine in closer reach of ordinary women, who then worked very hard to achieve the dishes and cakes and higher standards that were once the province of the wealthy with servants.

In any case, it's hard to argue with the virtues of Angel Cake. And being able to turn out a good one was not easy even with a dover egg beater, or with an electric mixer for that matter. It required then, as now, a fair amount of technical understanding. You've never tasted Angel Cake until you've had one like this, made from scratch.

Tips: Follow Mary Lincoln's recipe with the following in mind.

  • Angel cakes have no leavening but get their rise from egg whites beaten full of air, and to successfully achieve this you can't have a speck of fat or egg yolk in your mixing bowl or in your baking pan. Wash them well before starting.

  • Since eggs come in different sizes, measure your egg whites so you're sure you have 1 3/4 cups (about 11 eggs, but it depends), and have them at room temperature. Beat them until smooth, wet, and shiny, and you can make trails and form peaks with your beaters.

  • Add the sugar slowly--two tablespoons at a time.

  • I like both vanilla and almond extract--one teaspoon of each.

  • Use cake flour, not all purpose. Most recipes say to fold your flour into the eggs. I find that it works well to sprinkle it on top of the egg whites 1/2 cup at a time, using an electric mixer on low speed.

  • Use 10-inch tub pan, with at least 3-inch high sides and a removable bottom so you don't need to mess with the parchment paper.

  • Bake in preheated oven at 325 for about 50 minutes, until golden and firm to touch.

  • Some suggest inverting the pan onto a narrow-necked bottle to prevent falling while it cools.

  • After 90 minutes turn right side up. As Mrs. Lincoln mentions, you've got to use a knife to loosen the cake from the sides and center tube of the pan. You may wish to add a glaze or serve with berries.