The Great Mocha Almond Angel Food Cake Challenge

[Carrie L.]

Oh Barb, that looks like a masterpiece! I WANT SOME...NOW!

[Carrie L.]

In fact, would you consider sharing the recipe you used? (Frosting and all.)

[Jenise]

I've never had an angel food cake plop like that, Barbara. Was yours heavier, more moist, than typical?

[Barb Freda]

It is moist, but heavier? There's barely anything in there! 16 whites, some sugar, a bit of flour and some cocoa...this is such a wonderful cake...I don't get it, but the plop won't keep me from making this again...It probably would have been a bit taller than it is, but not much; these cakes do settle back some.

I cannot get over how good the cake is (credit to the recipe here, not to me...) I think I have probably NEVER had a homemade angel food cake before!

[Robert J.]

Barb scores the first goal!

FLDG 1

W.S. 0

rwj

[Leslie D.]

Well, my cake is baked and hanging upside down. It was a near disaster, it was in the oven, I was cleaning up the counter and noticed a measuring cup...with flour in it.

Took the cake out of the oven, scooped out the batter, added the flour, folded it in, back in the pan and the oven.

I am so out of practice baking.

[Barb Freda]

Leslie, you cracked me up with that...Baking is HARD.

b

[Leslie D.]

Leslie, you cracked me up with that...Baking is HARD.

b

It doesn't seem to have affected the cake, it seems to have risen as much as most Angel Food cakes with the same amount of ingredients.

Thank heavens!!

[Leslie D.]

Cake is finished, it was easy enough.

I used the Sunset magazine Mocha Angel Food recipe for the cake. It's a slightly smaller cake than the Cake Bible recipe, it calls for a cup and a half of egg whites instead of two cups, and half a cup of cake flour instead of a cup.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recip ... id=1016408

The coffee buttercream is half a recipe of the Cake Bible's NeoClassic buttercream, flavoured with a teaspoon of powdered Espresso and 2 tablespoons of Illy Espresso liqueur.

Pictures have been taken, I just have to figure out how to post them.

[Jenise]

Leslie, if the pix are digital and stored on your computer or on a hosting service like FlickR, all you need do is click on Reply so that you have an open Dialog box, click on Upload Picture, above to the right, then browse to find the file, and Insert Standard. It will print an '[img]' code right into the dialog box. Submit, and you're done!

I'm about to start my cake. Hope it will work without Cream of Tartar cuz I don't have any and I'm not going out in this snowstorm.

[Robert J.]

Finished my cake. Pics are on the way. I just have to load them.

rwj

[Robert J.]

Alright, the cake rocks, except for one thing: it didn't rise as much as it should have. This is due to the fact that I can't fold worth a sh*t. I fear that I deflated the egg whites too much. But the flavor, color, and texture (mostly) are simply divine. Here are a BUNCH of pictures.

Batter.



Frosting.


Cake.



Finishing.







Eating.



rwj

[Barb Freda]

Gorgeous, Robert.

Did you use Rose B's recipe? I am still marveling at the texture...I acutally want to make it again!...But of course I have Christmas baking coming uop...

what to do, what to do...

B

[Barb Freda]

I did have to add this photo, though, because I was way impressed with the rising of my cake...

[Jenise]

Robert, you doll. I love your pics. Never thought to photograph the batter or the just-out-of-the-oven results, but mine looked like Barb's except that the crests were a bit singed. It rose to the top of the pan and beyond, so it was five plus inches high when I removed it.

I used the Mrs. Fields recipe Celia provided me, which was almost identical to the Cake Bible recipe. However, concerned that my eggs were small I used 16, and instead of putting in the full load of chocolate flavor I halved it, mixing two heaping teaspoons of Dagoba cocoa into reheated leftover strong coffee instead of boiling water. The recipe said to bake it 40-45, and because of the aforementioned singes, I pulled the cake at 40.

Right reasoning, wrong move. Because however done on top the cake was actually slightly underdone at the base, and so although the cake didn't collapse it compressed more than it should have during the cooling phase. Another five minutes would have been perfect.

For the frosting I decided on an icing instead of a frosting per se, and I chose a caramel icing from the Joy of Cooking made of brown sugar, milk and butter boiled together. As hoped, it made a good glue for the nuts, and was a fine flavor background for the mocha flavors, but I have to admit that I love the crust on a plain angel food cake and the moisture content of the icing was not, for me, a plus.

Here's the finished cake:



I also took a picture of a cut slice, then accidentally deleted it while cropping it.

In lieu of that, I offer a bonus cat picture.

[Robert J.]

We win, hands down.

rwj

[Carrie L.]

I am SO impressed by all of you. What great looking cakes.

And Jenise, a great looking cat to boot. Who is that one?

[Barb Freda]

We are GOOD. That is all I have to say for that...

I am blogging some of my food thoughts...if you want to see more of my cake photos:

http://web.mac.com/barbfreda/Site/Blog/Blog.html

[Jenise]

Carrie, that's Bob Marley, and that's really the first good picture I've ever taken of him. That black fur doesn't photograph well.

Barb, tried to go to your blog, but that address doesn't get me there. Did you test it?

[Cynthia Wenslow]

I just fixed Barb's link.

[Barb Freda]

Jenise, Cynthia,

Thanks for testing and correcting. I am trying to redirect it to the domain name I own, but haven't gotten to do that yet.

And now for serious thread drift--Jenise (and others in the NW) how are you guys faring with these storms? I heard about people getting plucked from the rooftops with rising waters all around...I had not realized it had gotten so bad ...hope you are all safe, warm and dry.

b

[Jenise]

Barb, thanks to Cynthia, I was able to read all about the cakes on the blog--nice blog!

Thanks for being worried, but all that mess is at the southern end of the state and I live at cooler, but milder and sunnier far north. Nothing to worry about up here, we're dry.

[Jenise]

Hey, I've come back to this thread to add two things:

#1) Most importantly, I forgot to mention that having left out the cream of tartar for lack of having any around, I didn't find that my cake lacked anything. True, I don't know how it would have been otherwise, but angel food cake is one of the few sweets I love and understand, and this cake was spot on but for just slightly undercooked. I would suggest that if you know how to handle your egg whites this could be a superfluous ingredient. Also, with some trepidation because I couldn't be sure that some chem reaction with the egg white didn't require all 1 and 3/4 cups of it, but I cut back on the sugar in the recipe. Not by a lot, but about a scant 1/4 cup (I can't be exact because I use a 1 cup dry goods measure and just eyeball fractions. As it worked out, the cake obviously didn't need the extra sugar and for my tastes, it was better for being slightly less sweet.

#2) Four days later, the cake, which has been sitting on the counter with a loose piece of foil over it to keep the cats from licking it, is still great. Still has that fresh texture, it's not dry or stale at all. On that note, I wish to offer testimony that no better morning coffee cake has ever been invented. Bob suggested strongly that I make this again on his birthday, if not before.

[Howie Hart]

I made the cake today and it was very good. I took it to my son Dan's for Sunday dinner, where it was birthday cake dessert for Pete's Thanksgiving dinner (Pete's birthday was on Thanksgiving, but he was still at Fort Hood). I used 1 cup of brewed espresso in the batter. While fully cooked, it was almost a bit too moist. Instead of frosting, I made the Almond Chocolate Creme Brulee posted earlier, adding another cup of espresso to that mix. It was delicious, but a bit too thin. Perhaps some powdered sugar blended in would have thickened it. I took pictures, but I'm too tired right now to post them. I hope to get around to it tomorrow.