Angel food cake recipe that works in Germany

[jean-louise 116]

Hello,

 

I wondered if anyone had a good and simple recipe for Angel's food cake that works in Germany. I've tried various recipes from the internet (mainly from blogs) but none of them turned out like the Angel's food cake I tried in the US (which was very sweet and cloud like). My friend loves Angel's food cake and I wanted to make him one for dessert.

 

I used the search function already but nothing popped up. I apologise if this had been discussed before and I missed the topic.

 

I do have an Angel's food cake pan so I can't blame the lack of it for my failures.

 

Any suggestions and receipes are appreciated.

 

Regards,

jean-louise

 

P.S: Is this one from allrecipes.com good? Does it help if I add a spoon of warm water to the eggs?

[westvan 9,706]

 

none of them turned out like the Angel's food cake I tried in the US (which was very sweet and cloud like).

Was it a homemade cake that you tried, or a bought one, because that could have made a difference. Commercially made ones will often have extra stabilizers and stuff added to make them very fluffy.

 

I have an angel food pan that I brought back this summer but I haven't yet tried to make an angel food cake in Germany. The allrecipes recipe looks pretty standard, I may try it out later this week and see if it's good. If you're going to make it I would follow the recipe exactly and not use any water.

 

Here's a good video with the proper technique

 

Angel Food Cake Video

[eurobabs 644]

Here is the recipe I use and it turns out wonderfully - but it is Gluten Free, so uses starches instead of wheat flour.

 

also a major mistake many make - use a metal bowl to mix or if you are using a plastic one, make sure it has NO grease residue in it - as well as making sure your tube pan is totally grease free!!

 

1 2/3 cup egg whites at room temperature

1/2 cup potato starch

1/2 cup corn starch

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cream of tartar (I have this from the US)

1 tsp vanilla extract (again from US)

1 tsp almond extract (again from US)

1 cup sugar (sifted)

 

Sift together starches and 3/4 cup sugar. Set aside.

 

In a large bowl - combine egg whites, salt, cream of tartar and extracts. Beat on high with electric mixer until stiff and stand in peaks. Reduce speed of mixer and sprinkle in the sifted 1 cup of sugar for about 1 min. Turn mixer to low speed and sprinkle in the starch/sugar mixture and mix for 1-1/2 min.

 

Carefully pour mixture into ungreased 10 inch tube pan. Bake 35 min at 190°C. When done (better to be a bit under than over cooked) Invert pan and let cool completely.

[jean-louise 116]

Thanks for your comments.

 

@westvan: It was a cake from a bakery so I am not sure what stabilizers they used. It was an lemon glazed angel's food cake. Thank you for the video. I've never thought of it but maybe I should do exactly like in the videos. I could set up all the ingrediants and just carbon copy what they do. I'll try it out, too and will post my result here.

 

@eurobabs: Oh, I used a plastic bowl. The regular one that I always make the dough in. But I can get a metal bowl. I think IKEA has nice metal bowls. May I ask if you use a hand whisk or a electric whisk? Does it make a difference? I used an electric one.

 

The ones I made always turned out

• dry
  
• too soft (more sponge cake like)
  
• not fluffy enough
  
• not exactly cloud like -> should have been more cotton candy like
  
• not sweet enough
  

 

 

I was wondering if I should add more sugar. I wondered if the sugar also helped the texture. Maybe I baked it too long. ...

 

I've got two questions:

 

1. I used Weinstein instead of cream of tartar. But that shouldn't make a difference, should it?
   
2. Do you use self rising flower for an angel's food cake or regular flour? I never know when a recipe asks for self rising and when not.
   

 

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I'll give it another shot tonight.

[westvan 9,706]

Weinstein is cream of tartar so that's OK. But you didn't use Weinsteinbackpulver, did you?

 

No, you don't use self-rising flour for this recipe since the egg whites do it all. Most American recipes use baking powder and/or baking soda as a leavening agent anyway and it will be made clear what to use. If there's no indication, you just use regular flour. UK/AUS/NZ recipes are more likely to use self-rising flour.

 

Yes, it could be that your plastic bowl wasn't quite fat-free. Those egg whites are really fiddly and won't stiffen up enough if there's even a tiny amount of fat. It could also be that you overwhipped the egg whites - that could make the cake dry. I wouldn't add more sugar than a recipe calls for because it would upset the balance of ingredients.

 

You can use an electric mixer or a whisk, I don't think it matters.

[eurobabs 644]

 

@eurobabs: Oh, I used a plastic bowl. The regular one that I always make the dough in. But I can get a metal bowl. I think IKEA has nice metal bowls. May I ask if you use a hand whisk or a electric whisk? Does it make a difference? I used an electric one.

Westvan gave some good tips

 

You don't need to buy a metal bowl (unless you plan on making this often) - just make sure you clean thoroughly the bowl and wipe it super clean so that there is no grease residue or slippery residue (from soap, etc) And best is to use a hand mixer or kitchen stand mixer. By hand would take forever ;)

[eurobabs 644]

It could also just be that you won't get the same texture using German flour. I really don't know as I have baked exclusively gluten free for the last 10 years. Perhaps that is why mine always turns out (using the potato and corn starch) instead of German wheat flour??? You could try my recipe and see if it works if you don't have success with the above tips and wheat flours. Would be interesting to find out if it is just the flour types?? Again, I am not sure as I have never baked with them as have always only used GF flours.

[westvan 9,706]

Yes, I don't know if the German 405 flour is exactly the same as cake flour.

[jean-louise 116]

Thanks again especially to westvan and eurobabs for the great comments.

 

Oh, I didn't know I could overwhipped the egg white. I always thought the longer I whipped the better it is. But I will watch it tonight and make sure I stop when the egg white is stiff and forms peaks.

 

I need to double check but I think I did use Weinstein (bigger sized and green coloured sachet).

 

I won't add extra sugar and will stick to the allrecipe.com recipe. I'd be very thrilled if I could make a nice Angel's food cake tonight.

[jean-louise 116]

Can you tell a difference in taste if you made a gluten free cake? I'm only concerned that my friend doesn't like it if there was a huge difference in taste. On the other hand my friend is a great chef and loves food so he'd appreciate any good food. I'll buy two boxes of eggs tonight so I can try both recipes. ... I only need to think of a way of use the egg yorks.

 

I'll check online the difference between cake flour and 405 flour. I always thought it was the same but I'll double check.

 

Thank you.

 

Edit: I've just found two old threads on TT about cake flour:

 

1. what flour to buy when baking a cake

 

2. flour types 405 vs. 550

 

Thanks everyone. :)

[eurobabs 644]

 

Oh, I didn't know I could overwhipped the egg white. I always thought the longer I whipped the better it is. But I will watch it tonight and make sure I stop when the egg white is stiff and forms peaks.

You can def over beat them. It is very important to stop when they have just reached the stiff peak stage.

 

Here is a bit on Cream of Tartar (potassium hydrogen tartrate or also called tartaric acid) and how to substitute - I have always had a jar of it or had someone send me one when I run out (it last for years) so no idea how the German substitute works??

link 1

link 2

 

Now I am in the mood to bake an Angel Food Cake I need something different other than cupcakes to make this weekend to blog about Thanks for the idea!!

[eurobabs 644]

 

Can you tell a difference in taste if you made a gluten free cake? I'm only concerned that my friend doesn't like it if there was a huge difference in taste. On the other hand my friend is a great chef and loves food so he'd appreciate any good food. I'll buy two boxes of eggs tonight so I can try both recipes. ... I only need to think of a way of use the egg yorks.

 

I'll check online the difference between cake flour and 405 flour. I always thought it was the same but I'll double check.

 

Thank you.

 

I bake A LOT (have a look at my blog) and most people say my Gluten & Milk Free stuff is equal to or even better than what they can buy. I even had a friend recently who visited one of the famous cupcake bakeries in NYC (the one that was in SATC) say that my Gluten/Milk/Egg Free Cupcakes were better It does take practice to perfect GF baking, but can be the same or even better in the end!

 

My Blog

[jean-louise 116]

@eurobabs: Thanks for your link. I didn't know you had a blog. I'll read it as I love to browse through recipes and look at nice pictures. I love to bake but am not very good at it. But I keep trying.

[westvan 9,706]

 

I need to double check but I think I did use Weinstein (bigger sized and green coloured sachet).

 

One of the ones on this page? Those are all baking powder, just a different kind that the regular baking powder you'd buy. There's cream of tartar/Weinstein in there, but also baking soda, which you don't need. I think you can still only get pure Weinstein at the pharmacy in Germany.

[jean-louise 116]

@westvan: Oops! You are right. I did use Weinstein backpulver then. So that is not the right kind, I assume? I can get pure Weinstein at the pharmacy? I feel a bit stupid now. ... Thanks for pointing out the Weinstein backpulver to me.

[westvan 9,706]

No need at all to feel stupid! I think the extra stuff in the Weinsteinbackpulver might make your cake come out differently. Cream of tartar in a recipe like this with lots of egg whites is really just used as a stabilizer rather than a leavening agent. Actually, we should make two cakes, one with Weinstein and one with Weinsteinbackpulver and see if there's a difference.

[Gen 2,454]

Where to get the pan:

Angel Food Cake pan at American Heritage in Munich which also has an online shop

 

Angel Food Cake pan at amazon.de - they have more and more things that you did use to have to import yourself. Im Angebot von Amazon.de seit: 9. September 2011.

[Gen 2,454]

This is an even better idea:

 

 

There are a bunch at amazon.co.uk.

 

Angel Food Cake Pans

 

I put in my address for the first one on the list and the shipping from the UK is just over £5.

 

 

[Gen 2,454]

On 11/17/2010, 4:23:17, westvan said:

Yes, I don't know if the German 405 flour is exactly the same as cake flour.

 

It's not - cake flour is bleached, and that's banned in Europe "for health reasons".  Fear, basically.  Also cake flour has less protein aka less gluten.

 

https://www.nigella.com/ask/what-is-cake-flour - Nigella Lawson

https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/05/why-no-unbleached-cake-flour.html - Stella Parks thoroughly explains the bleaching

 

I've seen Swans Down at some Asian shops around town, the more Japanese-oriented.  No, there's no apostrophe.

 

Maybe after Brexit, the UK will allow bleaching of flour?  Silver lining...

 

@eurobabs Stella Parks also recommends going gluten-free for people in Europe looking to make the authentic version.  You had the idea earlier!

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/05/gluten-free-angel-food-cake-recipe.html

[snowingagain 5,441]

Substituting a few tablespoons of cornstarch works pretty well.