Along with the blessed Guinness cake (recipe here) which I crank out for birthdays, another special celebration cake Mrs P has introduced me to is the angel food cake. Behold…
God bless America! Yes, I needed to invest in a special angel food cake tin (found at most homewares/kitchen stores, I got mine at ‘House’) but it has been well worth it. Angel food cake is like a big delicious squishy marshmallow. But it’s a cake. I know!
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Lemon and Pistachio Angel Food Cake
Ingredients
12 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 cup castor sugar
Seeds of 1 split vanilla bean
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
Lemon curd (recipe here)
Handful of pistachios, roughly chopped
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, move rack to bottom most position in the oven. Seperate egg whites into a large bowl, ensuring they are at room temperature. In a separate bowl combine plain flour and icing sugar. Add cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat with electric mixer on medium until foamy. Continue beating, now on high, adding in the castor sugar a tablespoon at a time and the vanilla seeds and almond extract, until thick, glossy and slightly stiff peaks form.
Very gently fold the flour/icing sugar mixture gradually through the beaten egg whites, using a rubber spatula and a vertical motion. Once combined, spoon the mixture into an angel food cake tin. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 35-40 minutes. Let cool slightly in tin, run knife around inside of tin and invert onto cake plate. Heat lemon curd slightly in microwave or on stove to make runny, pour on top of cake and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Serve with humungous dollops of double cream.
I made this on the weekend for our Father’s Day lunch, and although the kids turned their noses up at it, I see it as an adult win – more cake for us! You can top the cake with whatever you please, I just generally always have my lemon curd on hand and thought the pistachios would cut through the quite strong lemon zing (I make my lemon curd quite lemony!) It comes as no surprise that Amy taught me about this wondrous cake…it takes 12 eggs, and if there’s one thing that woman has no shortage of it’s eggs! Thankfully our own henny penny ladies have been kindly supplying us lately with a steady supply.
Do you have a favourite ‘celebration cake’ always pulled out for special occasions?
Sophie says
This looks so delicious! I am definitely going to try this one!
Marly says
It looks delicious. I thought the curd was caramel at first sight, it looks so thick and yummy. I have a few cakes I make, but Lemon zinger cake is very quick and easy (plus I have a real thing for lemons..) I also make them up as muffins. I serve it with whipped cream with a bit of zest folded through. I make it so often I will have to find me original recipe to get exact quantities 🙂