The Community Table Project is about sharing signature recipes from everyday folks, and creating a sense of community around food. If you make a signature dish you think is great, send me an email at baconhound@gmail.com and let’s talk!
Who doesn’t love angel food cake? It’s light and delicate, often filled with funfetti, and super easy to make: just open the box of cake mix and add water! Bev’s angel cake is a little different. For one thing, her cake is chocolate, and it is 100% made from scratch. After tasting it, I’m not sure I’ll ever reach for a box mix again.
The Cook:
Beverly Baldwin.
Bev is a long-standing Edmontonian. She was born and raised here before moving to Calgary for work. She moved back home several years ago, is recently retired, and is still getting used to the idea that she doesn’t have to answer to anyone but herself. Bev loves to bake, so with her kids grown and moved out, she decided to bake a cake for us!
The Dish:
Chocolate Angel Cake.
This cake has been a birthday tradition for as long as Bev can remember. Her Mother made it for her and Bev continued the tradition by making it for her own children to celebrate their birthdays. Now her son has picked up the recipe (and the cake stand) and started making it for his own family.
The Story:
After enjoying this special birthday treat the first few years of her life, Beverly wanted to learn to make it herself. Each time her Mom made it, Bev was by her side learning all of the tricks. When she had married and moved away, Bev decided to cook it for her Dad when he came to visit after the birth of her first son. The final product did not turn out well, but Bev didn’t let that deter her, and in the years since that first cake, Beverly has perfected her Mother’s recipe and served us a spectacular chocolate angel cake.
Bev told us that she felt a bit out of sorts because this cake has always ever been served on one cake plate. It belonged to her Mother and got passed to Bev. Just recently Bev passed the plate on to her son, so she had to make due with a different serving dish for our visit. I’m confident that both the recipe and the cake plate are in good hands with her son, who has attempted the recipe twice and is determined to master the recipe that he, too, grew up loving.
The Recipe:
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- 3/4 cup cake flour
- 1.5 cup sugar + 2 tbsp
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 1.5 cups egg whites approx 12 eggs
- 1.5 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp vanilla
- 1.5 cups icing sugar
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 3 cup heavy cream
Ingredients
Cake
Icing
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- Measure and sift together flour, half of the sugar (3/4 cup), and cocoa
- In a large bowl, let egg whites reach room temperature, then add cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla. Beat egg white mixture until foamy, slowly adding the rest of the sugar about 2 tbsp at a time. Contimue to beat until stiff peaks form in the merengue.
- Slowly fold in sugar/cocoa mixture until fully incorporated. Pour mixture into greased bundt pan.
- Bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes.
- Sift together icing sugar and cocoa
- Whip heavy cream and fold into icing sugar/cocoa mixture
Bev's Tips and Tricks:
- It's best to make this recipe when it's not too hot (on cooler days or in the morning before it heats up). This helps ensure your egg whites will be light and fluffy
- Fold your egg whites in with the rest of your mixture slowly. Bev suggests to fold once and turn your bowl a quarter turn. Repeat until fully incorporated
- Bev likes to use a clear bowl for her mixing (both for the cake and the chocolate whipped cream) so that she can see if there are any streaks of unmixed ingredients
Big thanks to Kunitz Shoes and The Italian Centre Shop for coming on board and sponsoring The Community Table Project. The support of strong community-minded companies like these help make content like this possible, so go see Kunitz Shoes next time you’re in need of quality shoes and cool socks, and The Italian Centre Shop for everything you need to make these recipes at home.
Baconhound is an Edmonton food blog, focusing on the best restaurants and dishes in Edmonton and beyond. Phil Wilson is a food writer and also the host of the Canadian food podcast, Off Menu. Find it in the iTunes store and on Stitcher.
My father-in-law from the Wainwright area has always told this story of his mother making him, from scratch, a chocolate angel food cake for his birthday… I swear he licks his lips every time he thinks of it. Until now, I’ve wondered if this was a bit of imagination or a bit of false memory at work. Thank you for confirming that such a thing exists! Now I know exactly what to (attempt to) bake him for his 65th B-Day!