Ankersrum USA
 

Brown Sugar Angel Food Cake with Berry Whipped Cream

Fluffy angel food cake, whipped cream, fresh berries: perfect summertime dessert.  This one gets a flavor boost from brown sugar in the cake instead of regular sugar, and freeze-dried berries folded into the whipped cream.

From AnkarsrumUSA recipe developer, Carmi Adams:

While angel food cake is not a difficult cake to make, there are several ways it can go wrong so let’s break it down step by step:

Balloon whisks and plastic bowl for whipping egg whites.  Beat the egg whites and brown sugar on highest speed until frothy.  Make sure your bowl is very clean – no residue of butter or oil and be careful when separating the egg whites from yolks.  Any fat will inhibit the egg whites from whipping into stiff peaks.
Add cream of tartar and beat till stiff peaks. This does not take long in the Ankarsrum mixer so once the mixture starts to hold its shape, turn off, pull the beaters out and if the egg whites at the end of the beaters stay pointy in little peaks and don’t flop over, it is ready.
The last ingredient is sifted cake flour. Switch out to the single wire whisks and low speed to fold in flour a little at a time.  Make sure to sift cake flour to remove any potential lumps.
Scrape down the sides with a spatula to make sure all flour is thoroughly incorporated. Don’t beat the mixture, that will deflate the egg whites, just gently fold.
Spoon mixture into an UNGREASED angel food cake pan with a removable bottom.  Yes, the type of pan matters if you want to be able to successfully remove the cake once it has cooled.
Because of the density of the brown sugar, this angel food cake will not rise as much as a traditional one.
Cool upside down for an hour. Why? Because until the cake is completely cool, its spongy structure is not set. Turning it upside down ensures it doesn’t collapse as it cools.
Run a table knife around the edge of the cake pan to remove bottom part of pan. Run knife around the bottom of the cake and the inner tube to completely remove from pan.  Slice into three horizontal layers then start on the filling.
Heavy whipping cream and sugar whipped to soft peaks. Take one third and fold in crushed freeze-dried strawberries. (I just crush the fruit up right in the bag with my hands.)  Take another third and fold in with crushed freeze-dried blueberries.  Leave the final third plain.
Start layering with freeze-dried and fresh fruit, and then frost the final layer with the plain whipped cream.  Make sure to store any leftovers in the fridge because of the whipped cream.

 

There are so many options of freeze-dried fruit now, feel free to swap out for other flavors, same for the fresh fruit.  Angel food cake is a perfect blank canvas for all kinds of fruit combos.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments about this recipe.  Happy baking!

 

Angel Food Cake with Berry Whipped Cream

 

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Inactive Time: 1 hour

 

Cake:

12 large egg whites

266 g. (1 1/4 cups packed) brown sugar

4 g. (1 tsp.) cream of tartar

128 g. (1 cup plus 2 Tbsp.) cake flour, sifted

Filling/Topping:

690 g. (3 cups) heavy whipping cream

114 g. (1/2 cup) granulated sugar

28 g. (1 oz.) freeze-dried strawberries, crushed

28 g. (1 oz.) freeze-dried blueberries, crushed

227 g. (8 oz.) fresh strawberries

227 g. (8 oz.) fresh blueberries

 

For cake:

Preheat oven to 350º F.

In the plastic whipping bowl with the balloon whisks, combine the egg whites and brown sugar.  Beat on highest speed until frothy.

Add the cream of tartar and continue beating on highest speed until stiff peaks form.

Change to single wire whisks, reduce speed to low (1 o’clock) and slowly fold in flour.  Scrape down sides and gently fold in any remaining unmixed flour.

Spoon batter into an ungreased 10-inch angel food cake pan with removable bottom.  Bake for 45 minutes until top is lightly browned.

Remove from oven and turn cake pan upside down.  Let cake cool in pan, upside down, for 1 hour.

Gently run a table knife around the outer edge of the cake pan to loosen cake.  Carefully push up on removable bottom to remove cake from outer cake ring.  Gently run the knife around the inner tube of the cake pan and the bottom to finish removing cake from pan.  Slice into 3 horizontal layers.

For topping/filling:

In the plastic whipping bowl with the balloon whisks, beat the whipping cream and sugar on medium-low speed, gradually increasing the speed to highest setting as mixture thickens.  Beat to soft peaks.

Take one third of whipped cream and fold in crushed freeze-dried strawberries.  Take another third of whipped cream and fold in crushed freeze-dried blueberries.  Leave remaining third of whipped cream plain.

Lay one cake layer on serving platter or cake stand.  Top with strawberry whipped cream and sliced fresh strawberries.  Add on another cake layer and top with blueberry whipped cream and fresh blueberries.  Add on final cake layer and finish with plain whipped cream.  Serve with additional fresh berries if desired.

 

Yield: 8-10 servings

SUBSTITUTIONS:

-Cake flour can be substituted with whole wheat flour or a gluten-free measure-for-measure flour.

-If milling whole grain flour at home, a soft wheat is preferable for cakes.

-Sucanat can be substituted for the brown sugar.

-When swapping out flours and sugars, it is important to remember that the texture and structure (and sometimes the flavor) of the cake will slightly vary from the original recipe.

 

 

Published by

Carmi Adams

Carmi Adams has loved cooking from a very early age; requesting fondue pots and cookbooks for birthdays as a child. She further pursued her passion for food at the Art Institute of Atlanta and obtained a degree in Culinary Arts. Carmi landed a job on the show Good Eats, which aired on the Food Network. For seven years she did everything from food research, recipe development and testing, product testing to feeding a hungry film crew. Now living in the central coast of California, Carmi enjoys the bounty of agriculture, vineyards and farmers markets at her culinary disposal. She has been using the Ankarsrum mixer for over 15 years and feels that it is hands-down the best on the market for home cooks.