Hi Guys, I'm Laura Vitale and on this episode
of Laura in the Kitchen, I am so excited to
share with you my recipe for Chocolate Angel
Food Cake. Now I made a traditional angel
food cake here a couple years ago but I was
personally craving a chocolate angel food
cake this morning and my husband was too,
and then we decided to just film it for you
because it's just a great all-purpose cake
recipe to have on hand because it's so good
and I personally love anything angel food
cake because it's so light and fluffy.
Okay so let's go over the ingredients so we
can get started.
You'll need some unsweetened cocoa powder,
some cake flour, instant espresso powder,
granulated sugar, egg whites, some cream of
tarter, salt and vanilla extract.
That's it!
I know!
It's one of my favorite things because it's
so easy and only requires a handful of ingredients.
The first thing you want to do is get your
oven preheated to 350F, once that's out of
the way everything else is pretty much done.
What I have here are some eggs whites, now
I've got some regular egg whites and then
I also have some egg whites that you buy in
the carton where it's just all egg whites,
and I used a little bit of that as well because
I wanted to use it up. So I am using a combination
of the two but you can use - I prefer to use
all regular fresh egg whites if I can but
I rather - I just had a little bit of it left
like a quarter cup so I figure I mind as well
use it.
I am going to make this in my standing mixer
fitted with a whisk attachment because, let's
face it, to whip these to stiff peaks by hand
is going to take a lifetime and a half and
you'll give up because it's not that easy.
I'm also adding my cream of tarter and my
salt at this point and I am going to whisk
my egg whites until they are light and frothy.
Once your egg whites are nice and frothy you're
going to start adding your sugar but you are
going to add it just a tablespoon at a time.
I know! It looks like it's a lot of work,
but it's not. It isn't. Let's be honest.
And now what you're going to do is you are
going to let this whisk until your egg whites
are nice stiff peaks. It's really important
that there are nice stiff peaks otherwise
your cake will not hold.
So just - that's why doing in the standing
mixer is just so easy.
That is perfect.
Now, please do not be discouraged - look at
that stiff peaks - do not be discouraged if
this - if you feel like it is not getting
to the right consistency because whipping
egg whites to this consistency can take a
good ten minutes, which is how long it took
me.
Now what I am going to do is I am going to
just take my flour, cocoa and instant espresso
and I am just going to pass this through a
sieve, only because you know, sometimes the
cocoa powder tends to be a bit clumpy and
the thing about this is that you want everything
to be super, super smooth because it's meant
to be a really light and airy cake. So taking
a two seconds to pass it through a sieve like
I did. See those? You don't want the clumps
of that to in your cake, so you just take
your spatula and you pass it through and you're
good to go.
Okay. Now what I am going to do is I am going
to add my vanilla, a good teaspoon and a half
or so, just eyeball it.
And then I am going to add my dry ingredients
in thirds because I don't want to add it all
at one time, I want to do this very gently
and you want to always fold, you don't want
to whisk this in otherwise you will lose those
- the air from the egg whites so just go around
and then just in the center.
Around and in the center. And that's how you
properly fold in dry ingredients into egg
whites. And then just continue to do this
until you have all your dry ingredients mixed
in and you'll be pretty much done. That looks
gorgeous. It almost looks like a chocolate
whipped cream. I want to eat it as-is.
Now, I am going to put this into a ten inch
tube pan and now the important thing is, contrary
to everything else we do, you do not want
to grease this.
It is important - now normally you want to
grease everything really, really well to make
sure the cake comes out but in this case you
don't want to grease this, you want it ungreased,
ten inch and this is a non-stick as well.
I'm just trying to get everything out of here
and then we will even it all out. I just don't
want to waste any of this batter because that
will mean that there is less cake for me to
eat. So let me get it all out of here and
then we are going to even it all out. Now
don't worry if you have a little white spot
from the batter that didn't get completely
mixed in with the chocolate, it's fine.
Think of it as like a marbled piece. It's
delicious either way.
Just even this out with your spatula.
I think that looks good enough. I'm not quite
sure I can get it any more even than this.
So let's call it day. Let's call it even.
I mean come on, that looks too good.
Take a knife and I'm going to run it around
the edges and I'm even going to run it in
the center a little bit, like so. I know that
sound crazy and it looks a little bit insane
but what that does is it settles any air bubbles
which is really important. You don't want
any air bubbles in this. And the I am going
to flatten it out one more time, just because
- I'm done.
Okay.
I am going to put this one a baking sheet
just because it's easier to get in and out
of the oven. The oven is preheated to 350F,
this will go in there for about 45 minutes
or so. You'll know when it's ready when you
touch the top and it springs back on itself,
you'll know it's completely done. Then I'll
show you what we do as soon as it comes out.
Once your cake comes out of the oven - now
you can - you have to put this to cool upside
down - you can do one of two things - or more
than that if you're craftier. You can put
this upside down on a wine bottle, or you
can do what I'm doing and I just put a couple
of cans in each corner, like so. It's not
as dangerous, we're not living on the edge
like we were if we were putting it upside
on a wine bottle but if you follow me on my
vlog channel, you'll know I have a tendency
to break things.
And today luck is just not on my side. So
I am just going to put it like this because
it is just the safe thing to do and this needs
to cool completely on - upside down like this.
So don't touch it. Don't go anywhere near
it. Let it cool completely and I will show
you what it looks like when it's cooled and
then we can slice and eat. In this belly.
Now this is cooled completely I just flipped
it over. And now I am going to take a butter
knife and I am just going to run this around
the edge of the pan just to loosen things
up because remember, this has not been greased.
Well this was not greased so you just have
to take your time and run it around to loosen
things up a bit.
And then also, make sure you do the same thing
in the center here. Just going to take a serrated
knife and cut my self a little piece.
This smells really good, by the way this entire
kitchen smells amazing. Oh look at that!
Ah, it is so - I can't even describe it to
you - it's just incredible. That's the marbled
piece I was talking to you about.
That's like - that's like lighter than air.
It totally hits the spot.
I was wanting chocolate angel food cake and
my nonna's ricotta cookies, so I made both.
Because when all else fails, anything chocolate,
and any nonna recipe, always hits the spot.
This is absolutely delicious.
It's chocolaty, but yet it's not bitter or
too strong. It's almost nice and subtle but
it really pops through because of the espresso
powder. Go to LauraintheKitchen.com to get
this incredible, light and airy and delicious
delicousness over here. Get the recipe at
LauraintheKitchen.com. Hope you enjoyed spending
time with me and I'll see you next time.
Bye bye!
