Orange Blossom Angel Food Cake

Version Française Ici

The weather here is totally depressing. It rains so much you could just stand up and open your mouth to drink water in case you're thirsty. It began last saturday around 5:00 PM, stopped only for few hours yesterday morning, only to resume as hard as ever. A multitude of thick, fat, noisy, cold drops...

I like rain in autumn, or when it bursts with a violent and short storm in the heart of summer, or may be when it's a thin mist like it's often the case in Brittony or North of France. I don't like thick heavy, stubborn rain.

We needed some sun and a warm lightness to uplift our moods in the cold and humid atmosphere. I stopped my usual occupations, grabbed my Angel Food Cake mold and a box of eggs.

I had other plans to flavour this cake than the traditionnal vanilla/almond/lemon. Few oranges were putting up a show of colour in the basket where they were sitting in company of avocados and limes. They looked like spashes of sun rays, not unlike the ones you can see through the thick canopy of an old tree when you're lying on the grass. Catching glimpses of the orangy-red afternoon sun under the big tree on the swimming pool side was one of my favorite activity when on vacation in Morocco. As a kid and then a teenager, I used to do that everyday. Morocco...

OK, I'll stop daydreaming and actually bring some sun to this sad afternoon. It'll reflect against the white Angel Food Cake like the moroccan sun against sheets drying outdoors in a summer afternoon.

Orange Blossom Angel Food Cake

1 cup (250 ml) sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups (375 ml) sifted granulated sugar
12 large egg whites (1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons), at room temperature
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Have ready an ungreased large tube pan (9-inch diameter, 16-cup capacity), preferably with a removable bottom. If the pan bottom is not removable, line it with parchment or wax paper.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour with 3/4 cup sugar. Place remaining 3/4 cup sugar in another small bowl next to the mixer.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, or with a handheld mixer, beat egg whites at low speed until just broken up and beginning to froth. Add cream of tartar and salt and beat at medium speed until whites form very soft, billowy mounds. With the mixer still at medium speed, beat in 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all sugar is added and whites are shiny and form soft peaks. Add orange blossom water and vanilla and beat until just blended.

Place flour-sugar mixture in a sifter set over waxed paper. Sift flour-sugar mixture over egg whites about 3 tablespoons at a time, and gently fold it in, using a large rubber spatula. Sift any flour-sugar mixture that falls onto the paper back into the bowl with the whites.

Gently scrape batter into pan, smooth the top, and give pan a couple of raps on the counter to release any large air bubbles.

Bake until the cake is golden brown and the top springs back when pressed firmly, 50 to 60 minutes.

If cake pan has prongs around the rim for elevating the cake, invert pan onto them. If not, invert pan over the neck of a bottle or funnel so that air can circulate all around it. Let the cake cool completely, 2 to 3 hours.

To unmold, run a knife around edges, being careful not to separate the golden crust from the cake. Slide cake out of pan and cut the same way around removable bottom to release, or peel off parchment or wax paper, if used.

Place the cake, bottom-side up, on a platter. Cut slices by sawing gently with a serrated knife. Serve the cake the day it is made.

If you wish, you can use the traditional flavouring which consists of:

1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
0.5 teaspoon pure almond extract

In this case, I find the best thing to have with the cake is a raspberries coulis or a fruit sorbet. I don't like the idea of heavy things to have with this lightly textured, fat-free cake.

Moroccan Orange Salad

This is a really simple dessert, a classic in Moroccan cuisine. It's so simple it looks plain. But if you like orange blossom water, you're in for a delicious treat.

Peel to the flesh (do not leave the thin skin under the white pith) 3 oranges. Slice them horizontaly.

Lay the slices flat on a plate. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon orange blossom water, then 1 tablespoon sugar and finally 1 tablespoon cinnamon.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill.

Serve cold with the Orange Blossom Angel Food Cake.