Table of Contents
- Immaculate Baking Whites: Coconut Angel Food Cake
- As Light as a Cloud
- The Secret of Egg
- The Art of Pastel-Meringue
- Perfect Coconut Flavour
- How to Achieve Coconut Fluffy Coverage
- Between Boxes and Dreams of a Huge Kitchen
Immaculate Baking Whites: Coconut Angel Food Cake
I’ve long been on a mission to make the whitest Coconut Angel Food Cake ever. Just like my whiter-than-white Vanilla Custard recipe, I’m on a one-woman mission to create baked goods that are super pale. There’s something strangely appealing about white food…. I think I’m drawn to anything weird and out of the ordinary, and cakes without that golden colour fall into that category.
As Light as a Cloud
I’m stepping slightly closer to white cake perfection with today’s coconut angel food cake. Furthermore, I’m fairly sure they call it ‘angel food’ because it’s so light and fluffy that it’s almost like eating a cloud. Which is obvs. What angels eat up there.
The Secret of Egg
Angel food cakes are a bit of an odd bunch, as they contain SO MANY egg whites. There are 12 of them in this cake, although I didn’t actually separate out a dozen eggs. You can buy egg whites in a carton, you guys! And it’s an absolute lifesaver when you want a light and fluffy cloud cake, but you don’t want to have to find a use for 12 egg yolks.
The Art of Pastel-Meringue
I like to think of this creation as a cake-meringue. You are going to whip up the egg whites and sugar to stiff peaks, and then add in some more cake-like ingredients (flour, cornflour, coconut extract) at the last minute. You will need a special angel food cake tin (this is the one I use: Amazon UK / Amazon US) which has a tube in the middle, a removable base, and some little feet sticking out the top. Furthermore, you can’t make this cake in any other cake tin, or it won’t rise or cook properly!
Perfect Coconut Flavour
The coconut flavouring comes pretty much entirely from a bottle, but that’s okay. I’ve tried flavouring cakes with coconut cream or milk before, and it was an epic disaster. Find some good quality coconut extract (I use Wait rose’s own brand one) and you will have a lovely coconut flavour, without the risk of ruining the cake’s consistency… or having grease dripping out the bottom.
Commenting on flavours, if you’re planning a special occasion, a black forest wedding cake could be a great option for a more decadent and richer option, although it certainly won’t be as pale and angelic as this one.
How to Achieve Coconut Fluffy Coverage
I wanted to cover the cake with light and fluffy coconut, to try to take the cloud metaphor a whole stage further, and this was possible due to my American baking haul back in Florida.
The UK doesn’t really have coconut flakes, and our standard desiccated coconut just wouldn’t have looked quite as fluffy. You can pick some up a bag on Amazon in the UK if you want to – for a premium of course – or just cover it with my coconut whipped cream and leave it plain. It will still taste just as gorgeous.
Between Boxes and Dreams of a Huge Kitchen
I’m just so heart eyes over how light and airy and white it looks. Like a fluffy rug. I guess I should apologise for not posting much of late. As I mentioned a few months ago, we are buying our first house! Well, contracts have been exchanged, and our moving date is set for two weeks’ time, so this has left me with a lot of packing and planning to do. As well as sourcing some furniture and appliances for the big move. And not much in the way of time spare for my favourite hobby.
Plus, anything non-essential (stand mixer, I’m looking at you) is about to get put in a box.
I can’t promise another post this month, but hopefully once the kitchen is fully unpacked, and we’re settled in to our new home, normal blogging service will be resumed.
MASSIVE KITCHEN, HERE I COME!
Coconut Angel Food Cake
Equipment
- 1 Mold
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Stand mixer
- 1 Knife To eliminate air pockets trapped in the dough.
- 1 Can of beans To balance the center of the mold
Ingredients
FOR THE COCONUT ANGEL FOOD CAKE
- 100 g ⅘ cup Plain or all-purpose flour
- 25g 2½ tbsp Cornflour or cornstarch
- 300 g 1½ cups Caster sugar (US granulated sugar), separated
- 12 Units Large egg whites At room temperature
- 1½ tbsp Cream of tartar
- 1⁄4 tbsp Salt
- ½ tbsp Vanilla extract
- 1½ tbsp Coconut extract
FOR THE COCONUT WHIPPED CREAM
- 350 ml 1½ cups Double or heavy cream
- 35g ¼ cup Icing sugar (US powdered sugar)
- ½ tbsp Vanilla extract
- 1½ tbsp Coconut extract
- 200 g 7oz Sweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
PREPARATION FOR THE COCONUT ANGEL FOOD CAKE
- Preheat the oven to 190 °C / 375 °F (170 °C fan) and make sure you have an angel food cake tin ready to use. Do not grease or line the tin, as the cake batter will need to grip onto the sides of the cake in order to rise up.
- Sift the flour, cornflour, and half of the caster sugar (150g or ¾ cup) into a medium bowl and set aside.
- Place the egg whites (making sure there are no yokes at all), cream of tartar and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl if using a hand-held mixer) and whip using the balloon whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Add the remaining caster sugar (150g or ¾ cup) and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.
- With your mixer on a low speed, add the sifted flour mixture to the egg whites, two tablespoons at a time. Occasionally stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is well mixed together. Once all the flour has been added, pour in the vanilla and coconut extracts and beat on low again for 30 seconds.
- Spoon the batter into the ungreased angel food cake tin, and then swirl through with a knife to get rid of any trapped air pockets in the batter. Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until the top of the cake feels springy to the touch. If there are any cracks on the top of the cake, feel inside and if it feels sticky then it is not quite ready. You do not want to undertake an angel food cake, or you run the risk of it sinking.
- The cake needs to cool. Completely inside the tin, but it is best to tip the cake upside down during the cooling process to speed things up. If your angel food cake tin had little feet sticking up on the top, you can just turn the cake upside down and rest it on the feet to cool. Alternatively, use a can of beans or something similar to balance the middle of the tin on when upside down. Once the cake is completely cool, use a knife to gently free the edges (only at the top) from the side of the tin and from the middle tube. Turn the cake upside down and give the tin a smack and it should come out. Use a knife to free the bottom of the cake tin from the cake and remove gently.
FOR THE COCONUT WHIPPED CREAM
- Place the cream and icing sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl if using a hand-held mixer) and whip using the balloon attachment until stiff peaks form. Add the vanilla and coconut extracts and whip through.
- Carefully spread the cream onto the outside and down the middle of the cake, trying not to get too many crumbs in the cream. I use a small offset spatula for this, but a round knife will work too. Gently press the sweetened coconut flakes onto the outside of the cake until the whole thing is covered.
