Angel Food Cake

I'm starting off simple. Why jump in with both feet and do something like sky diving when I can dip my toe in the water and make angel food cake?

I love angel food cake. I mean the really good kind that costs $6.00 (no strawberries or whip cream included) at the grocery store. The perfectly white fluffiness smothered in whip cream with just a few tart strawberries to tap dance on your taste buds. MMMMMM.

I passed a recipe for one the other day while I was browsing for something chocolate to make and thought, "Oh I'd love to make that." My jubilation was stomped on my the full dozen egg whites called for in the recipe. "Ack, a dozen egg whites?" I exclaimed - because who doesn't like to exclaim "Ack" when they get the chance?

Needless to say, my adventure had to wait until I got back from grocery shopping two days later.

Since I am an amateur baker, I don't own a tube pan; but I do own a bunt cake pan. (That will work right?) My two-year-old girl, Roo, loved watching the mixer go round and round as I beat the egg whites until they were fluffy and glossy.

Roo promptly took a nap because all that baking tired her out. However, I still had to fold in the powdered sugar (I have NEVER used powdered sugar in a cake before and, to be honest, it scared me a little) and flour. I folded and folded until all the granules disappeared like magic. Then I poured the batter into my greased and powdered-sugared bunt cake pan. I know, I know, the recipe said, "Do not grease the pan." But I didn't read that before I sprayed it and have you ever tried to clean grease out of a bunt pan - Ack! So I dusted it with powdered sugar and called it good.

I pulled the pan out of the oven, reading the recipe quickly because my hands were burning through the thread-bare hot pads I've used for the last 8 years. Hey they are red and cute and match every kitchen decor I've ever had. "Turn tube (bunt) pan over on heat proof funnel and let cool for two hours." Ack! Two hours. Who has that kind of time? I'm scheduled to be at my mother's for dessert in an hour and a half. I vow to have a perfect Angel Food/Bunt Cake whether that cake knows it or not.

I do as instructed and within 20 minutes the cake falls out of the pan, cracking. Perfection-lost. I snatch a small piece to taste. Fluffy, white (inside anyway) and sweet. Perfection-regained. Once I cut it no one will notice the crack.

Amateur Adventure #1 a success.