make an angel cake!

I said I would only take one dozen off his hands when our friend, Fred, called to say one of his paddle tennis partners — who owns a farm in Dover with 300 chickens — off-loaded three dozen on his bachelor buddy.

“I already bought eggs this week,” I told him. “But I’ll take a dozen off your hands.”

Far be it from me to say no to fresh eggs. Of course — because he knows me — Fred showed up at my door with two dozen Dover ovum. And, true to form, I took them. He looked so pathetic standing on the porch with his gray egg crates…

Now what?

My first thought was macarons since the cookies require lots of egg whites and, more importantly, I could finally use that macaron mat I made Steve buy me in that little gourmet shop in Paris. (He thought I got my fix at E. Dellerhin, but he was sadly mistaken.)

But sadly, after checking out  the notes on egg whites in Les Petits Macarons, I found “aged” egg whites are the best for making this chi-chi French confection. Apparently, the fresh variety of whites  make for a “less solid egg structure that can cause the macarons to crack or not take shape properly.”

Gong. Next.

Of course a frittata is always good (and needs plenty of eggs). Forget hollandaise sauce, especially after that call earlier this week from my doctor about my cholesterol. Ditto for the ice cream custard base. And then it hit me: Angel Cake!

The recipe I found on epicurious.com from a November 2001 issue of the late, lamented Gourmet magazine, seemed perfect — 1-1/2 c. egg whites from 11 or 12 eggs (yay!); 10-x sugar, cake flour, salt, cream of tartar, granulated sugar and vanilla were available. To boost the flavor, I added an extra teaspoon of almond flavor since my go-to angel cake bakery — Scialo’s County Bakery in Seekonk — tastes of almond.

The result was tasty and the crumb was good, but it was not as light and airy as it should be. I’m chalking that up to over-whipping the egg whites. The batter was quite stiff when it went into the removable bottom tube pan, and I wasn’t prepared for the big rise, then fall of the cake when it came out of the oven.

Of course, as the old saying goes, “Practice makes perfect.” And I do have another dozen eggs…

UPDATE: Undaunted, I made an angel cake for Mother’s Day with “aged whites” and superfine sugar instead of granulated. I was quite pleased with the results. Finally. It was served with strawberries and raspberries (slice the strawberries, toss in a little 10-X sugar for sweetness and gloss, add raspberries) and vanilla bean ice cream. There was one small piece left…but not for long!

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: #LauraRaposa, #TheFoodsmith, Cake, Dessert, macarons