Read The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook Online
Authors: The Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Tags: #Cooking
The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (320 page)
MAKES 3 CUPS
15 | ounces (3 cups) raspberries |
1–2 | tablespoons sugar |
Gently toss raspberries with sugar, then let stand until berries have released some juice and sugar has dissolved, about 15 minutes.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
At its heavenly best, an angel food cake should be tall and perfectly shaped, have a snowy-white, tender crumb, and be encased in a thin, delicate golden crust. The difficulty with making a great angel food cake is that it requires a delicate balance of ingredients and proper cooking techniques. In particular, since this cake is only leavened with beaten egg whites, it is critical that you whip them correctly. First, we found it key to create a stable egg-white base, starting the whites at medium-low speed just to break them up into a froth and increasing the speed to medium-high speed to form soft, billowy mounds. Next, the sugar should be added, a tablespoon at a time. Once all the sugar is added, the whites become shiny and form soft peaks when the beater is lifted. A delicate touch is required when incorporating the remaining ingredients, such as the flour, which should be sifted over the batter and gently folded in. Angel food cakes are baked in a tube pan. We like to use a tube pan with a removable bottom but a pan without one can be lined with parchment paper. We avoid greasing the sides of the pan so that the cake can climb up and cling to the sides as it bakes—a greased pan will produce a disappointingly short cake.
SERVES 12
If your tube pan has a removable bottom, you do not need to line it with parchment.
³⁄ | cup (3 ounces) cake flour |
1¹⁄ | cups (10¹⁄ |
12 | large egg whites, room temperature |
1 | teaspoon cream of tartar |
¹⁄ | teaspoon salt |
1¹⁄ | teaspoons vanilla extract |
1¹⁄ | teaspoons lemon juice |
¹⁄ | teaspoon almond extract |
1.
Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line 16-cup tube pan with parchment paper but do not grease. Whisk flour and ³⁄
4
cup sugar together in small bowl. Place remaining ³⁄
4
cup sugar in second small bowl.
2.
Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high and whip to soft, billowy mounds, about 1 minute. Gradually add ³⁄
4
cup sugar and whip until soft, glossy peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. Add vanilla, lemon juice, and almond extract and beat until just blended.
3.
Sift flour mixture over egg whites, about 3 tablespoons at a time, gently folding mixture into whites using large rubber spatula after each addition.
4.
Gently scrape batter into prepared pan, smooth top with rubber spatula, and gently tap pan on counter to release air bubbles. Bake cake until golden brown and top springs back when pressed firmly, 50 to 60 minutes. If cake has prongs around rim for elevating cake, invert pan on them. If not, invert pan over neck of bottle or funnel so that air can circulate all around it. Let cake cool completely, 2 to 3 hours.
5.
Run knife around edge of cake to loosen, then gently tap pan upside down on counter to release cake. Peel off parchment, turn cake right side up onto serving platter, and serve.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
Like the Hollywood stars of the 1920s who were the first to taste Harry Baker’s secret-recipe cakes at the Brown Derby, we were delighted by the uniquely light yet full richness and deep flavor of this American invention, which came to be known as the chiffon cake. With the airy height of angel food cake (from using whipped egg whites) and the richness of pound cake (from incorporating egg yolks and oil), this cake seemed like a win-win. We decided to start by going back to the original version, as first put before the public by General Mills in Better Homes and Gardens in 1948. Sadly, we were disappointed to find this cake was a bit dry—cottony and fluffy rather than moist and foamy, the way we thought chiffon cakes should be—and it lacked flavor. Decreasing the flour meant a moister, more flavorful cake but also less structure. Increasing the amount of egg yolks was a step closer, but our cake still wasn’t perfect. In the end, instead of whipping all of the egg whites, we found that mixing some of them (unbeaten) into the dry ingredients along with the yolks, water, and oil, provided the structure our cake needed.
SERVES 12
If your tube pan has a removable bottom, you do not need to line it with parchment. Serve as is or dust with confectioners’ sugar
1¹⁄ | cups (10¹⁄ |
1¹⁄ | cups (5¹⁄ |
2 | teaspoons baking powder |
¹⁄ | teaspoon salt |
7 | large eggs (2 whole and 5 separated), room temperature |
³⁄ | cup water |
¹⁄ | cup vegetable oil |
1 | tablespoon vanilla extract |
¹⁄ | teaspoon almond extract |
¹⁄ | teaspoon cream of tartar |
1.
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom of 16-cup tube pan with parchment paper but do not grease. Whisk sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk in whole eggs, egg yolks, water, oil, vanilla, and almond extract until batter is just smooth.
2.
Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip egg whites and cream of tartar on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high and whip until stiff peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Using large rubber spatula, fold whites into batter, smearing any stubborn pockets of egg white against the side of the bowl.
3.
Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth top with rubber spatula, and gently tap pan on counter to release air bubbles.
4.
Bake cake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 55 minutes to 1 hour 5 minutes. If cake has prongs around rim for elevating cake, invert pan on them. If not, invert pan over neck of bottle or funnel so that air can circulate all around it. Let cake cool completely, about 2 hours.
5.
Run knife around edge of cake to loosen, then gently tap pan upside down on counter to release cake. Peel off parchment, turn cake right side up onto serving platter, and serve. (Cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days or refrigerated for up to 4 days.)
Substitute ³⁄
4
cup brewed espresso or strong coffee for water and omit almond extract. Add ¹⁄
2
cup finely chopped toasted walnuts and 1 ounce unsweetened grated chocolate to batter before folding in whites.
Combine ¹⁄
4
cup cocoa and 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar in a small bowl, then stir in 3 tablespoons boiling water and mix until smooth. Follow recipe as directed, dividing batter equally into 2 separate bowls at end of step 2. Mix scant ¹⁄
2
cup batter from one bowl into cocoa mixture, then partially fold mixture back into same bowl (so that you have one bowl of white batter and one of chocolate batter). Sift 3 tablespoons flour over chocolate batter and continue to fold until just mixed. Pour half the white and then half the chocolate batter into the pan; repeat. Do not tap pan on counter before baking. Bake as directed.
Omit almond extract. Substitute 1¹⁄
2
cups packed dark brown sugar for granulated sugar and add 4¹⁄
2
ounces chopped pitted dates, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ¹⁄
2
teaspoon ground nutmeg, and ¹⁄
4
teaspoon ground cloves to dry ingredients in step 1. Process mixture in food processor until dates are cut into ¹⁄
8
-inch bits and mixture is thoroughly combined. Transfer to bowl and whisk in eggs, egg yolks, water, oil, and vanilla and proceed with recipe as directed.
Substitute ¹⁄
2
teaspoon baking soda for baking powder, decrease water to ²⁄
3
cup and vanilla to 1 teaspoon, and omit almond extract. Add 3 tablespoons grated lemon zest (3 lemons) plus 2 tablespoons juice along with vanilla in step 1. (For Lemon-Coconut Chiffon Cake, also add ³⁄
4
cup sweetened shredded coconut, coarsely chopped, to batter before folding in whites.)
Substitute 2 tablespoons grated orange zest plus ³⁄
4
cup orange juice (2 oranges) for water. Decrease vanilla to 1 teaspoon and omit almond extract. (For Cranberry-Orange Chiffon Cake, also add 1 cup minced cranberries and ¹⁄
2
cup finely chopped toasted walnuts to batter before folding in whites.)
Decrease baking powder to 1¹⁄
4
teaspoons and add ¹⁄
4
teaspoon baking soda. Decrease water to ²⁄
3
cup and vanilla to 1 teaspoon and omit almond extract. Fold 3 mashed bananas (1 cup) and ¹⁄
2
cup very finely ground toasted walnuts or pecans into batter before folding in whites in step 2. Increase baking time to 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes.
Frosted with
FLUFFY WHITE ICING
and sprinkled with coconut, this variation is a great one for kids.
Add 1 tablespoon cocoa to dry ingredients in step 1, decrease water to ²⁄
3
cup, and add 2 tablespoons red food coloring with extracts.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
Many cupcakes are tasteless, dry, and crumbly, while others are greasy and eggy. Still others are cloyingly sweet or rubbery and leaden. We wanted a yellow cupcake so delicious that the cake itself would be savored as much as its rich icing, a grown-up cupcake good enough to satisfy the mothers and fathers at a kid’s birthday party. The answer was easier than we could have hoped. We started with a simple ingredient list of all-purpose flour (pastry flour and cake flour produced too fine a crumb), a combination of whole eggs and yolks (fewer whites meant richer flavor), sugar, butter, and sour cream (for tangy richness). After pitting the classic creaming method against the two-stage method (cutting the butter into the dry ingredients, then adding the eggs and liquid), we couldn’t tell much difference, but when we used a less methodical approach (throwing everything into the mixer together in no particular order), we had the best cupcakes of the bunch. Why? One possible answer is that egg yolks contain emulsifiers that hold the fat and liquid together even when mixed in such a haphazard fashion. A simple whipped ganache, made of just heavy cream and semisweet chocolate, proved the perfect decadent topping.
