angel cups

Angel food. The queen of no-fat cake.  

This was my stab at creating my own version of those vending machine Dolly Madison “Angel cakes” I lived off of in college.

These came out so soft.

Marshmallow-y.

And very, very addictive.

I even tried out that Angel cake strippable pink marzipan icing.

Not a fan of the marzipan.

I traded it out for a very simple, very lemony glaze.

Super light, the citrus on vanilla paired perfectly. 👌

Angel Food Cupcakes 

makes about 16-18 cupcakes, or 8 mini cakes 

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon cake flour

pinch of salt

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided in half

6 egg whites

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract ~ my favorite is Pure Mexican Vanilla by Blue Cattle Truck

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a couple of cupcake pans with about 18 cupcake liners, or an 8-cavity mini loaf pan with rectangular liners. 

In medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, salt and half of the sugar (7 tablespoons).

In bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add in the remaining 7 tablespoons of sugar, beating on medium until mixture is thick and soft peaks form. Beat in vanilla.

Sift half of flour-sugar mixture over egg whites and gently fold in. Sift remaining flour-sugar over whites and fold in until most the flour streaks are incorporated. Batter will be a bit gritty.

Fill cupcake or rectangular liners full to heaping full, smoothing out the tops a bit, if desired. Tap pan lightly on counter to release any big air bubbles.

Bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes and the bars for about 25 - 28 minutes, until tops are light brown, appear dry and tester inserted in center comes away clean.

Carefully remove the cakes, flip over (still in paper liner) and allow them to cool upside-down on cooling rack until completely cool. 

Ice with super lemon glaze (recipe below), pink marzipan or pretty much any icing you can dream up. Or just eat straight-up.  

Super Lemon Icing

2 cups confectioners' sugar

zest of 2 lemons

3-4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In small bowl, combine sugar and zest and a few tablespoons of juice, until icing is smooth and thick.