Angel Food Cake - Great British Bake Off Technical Challenge #2

It was a week ago when I took on the challenge of the Angel Food Cake from the first episode of the Great British Bake Off.

Now, I've made fatless sponges before but they're few and far between, and they were certainly nothing as technical as this.  Usually I make up the batter, pour it in the tin, throw some blueberries on top, and just cut it up into squares when it's cooled.  It's one of my diet treats, and it's really lovely.  But this?  I was determined to achieve perfection and nothing else would do.

The recipe I used is here.  The technical challenge recipes are posted on the BBC website after each episode has aired.

So then, down to business.  This recipe is a delightfully light sponge cake made without butter and with little flour, getting its rise from 10 egg whites.  It's lightly flavoured with lemon zest and is finished with vanilla cream and homemade lemon curd.  The recipe called for passion fruit in the curd too, but the one week I wanted to buy passion fruit was the one week I couldn't find it anywhere!

The main things that I discovered I required, beyond the ingredients, were a light touch and a lot of patience!

Egg whites whipped with the lemon juice and sugar

The egg whites above took around 10 minutes to reach the stage you see here.  This was because not only were there 10 egg whites in the bowl (and therefore a lot more volume to whip up than usual) but the sugar needed to be added slowly.  Had I done this using a stand alone mixer instead of a little hand mixer, I'm sure it would've been a heck-load quicker!  Add to this the slow, careful process of folding in the flour in three stages, slowly, gradually combining it so as not to knock all the air out of the egg whites, and you can see where most of the patience is needed!

About to go in the oven

It took a while, but here is my beautiful new cake tin, complete with delicately poured batter ready to go in the oven.  To say that it went against everything I know as an amateur baker not to grease the tin is an understatement.  I knew that as it rose the batter needed something to grip onto, and that the same would be the case for when it cooled, but I was still skeptical.

Hurry up and cool already!

Have you ever cooled a cake upside down still in its tin?  No?  Neither had I.  Was I desperate to see the result?  Oh by-heck-in-a-hand-basket, was I ever!  This was where the rest of the patience came in useful.  I wanted to lift it up and prod and poke and just see how my delicate baby of a cake was doing, but I resisted.  To this day I don't know how I did it, but I do know that the making of the lemon curd helped.

Lemon curd

I know this looks orange, and in its jar it does look like orange curd; it's not just down to the photograph.  I can guarantee it's the best lemon curd I've tasted, and I'm not only saying that because I made it; it's absolutely true.  It's also true that I was ecstatic to see that the finishing of the cake used up all of the egg yolks.  How happy am I that in a few weeks I get to use up some more of the remaining curd in a birthday cake for a colleague?  Very.  Not to mention how fabulous it is on hot toast!

Anyway, I digress (and drool a little!).

It turned out nice!

This is it.  This is what made me want to jump for joy in the kitchen and do a victory dance.  I kid you not.  Having carefully gone round the edges of the cake in its tin with a thin, non-serrated knife, this was the beauty that slid out; perfectly formed, evenly baked and all in one piece.  I was so happy I could have cried!

Now, having recovered from my joy and amazement, all that was left was to decorate the big beauty.  Whipped cream with vanilla and a drizzle of lemon curd (minus the passion fruit) were the only things remaining.  It felt like a shame to cover her up, but cover her up I did.

All done.  Decorated and ready for its box.

I did still have the nagging little doubts in my mind; what if it's not fully cooked in the middle?  With the muffins I could make extra and be sure that they were fit for consumption before I auctioned them off, but not with this.  With this Angel Food Cake I spent the next few hours worrying that it might still be a little raw inside.  I was lucky, then, to be offered a slice by the winning bidder!

The winning bidder.  Chuffed and a half!

When I said this was a big cake, I wasn't kidding.  The photo above has put it in perspective, and it wasn't long before it was put in bellies!

I said I was lucky to have been offered a slice before I left this lovely lady's home, and I really was.  My worries were blown away with just how light and moist (and fully cooked... hurrah!) this cake was.  I urge anyone to try it; it's not a difficult bake, it just takes some patience and a light touch.

I was reliably informed a few days after this photo was taken that her granddaughter announced I was "through to the next round", and she'd gone at the cake with a ladle!  It's only a shame there wasn't any photographic evidence!

I'm already noting down ideas for the next Angel Food Cake I bake.  And the next.  And the one after that.

It's lovely.  Try it!

Not to forget a big thank you to all who bid on this cake.  Every last penny helps out the fabulous work Matty's Bistro does for the young adults in Teesside.  Much love x