Angel Food Cake with Filling

Sunday dessert was from Betty Crocker's 1950 Picture Cookbook. A freshly baked Angel Food Cake with filling and covered in whipped cream. This cake should have been named DREAM CAKE. Wonderful! This recipe started with the Angel Food Cake recipe (a "key" recipe) "Light as air.....fluffy as a cloud."

Set out, but do not grease ....... 10" tube pan, 4" deep

Measure and sift together three times :

1 cup sifted SOFTASILK flour or 1 cup sifted Gold Medal Flour

7/8 cup of sugar (granulated)

(mix and set aside to be added to merinque later)

Measure into large mixing bowl:

1 1/2 cups of egg whites (12)

1 1 /2 tsp. cream of tartar

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Beat with wire whip until foamy.

Gradually add, 2 tbsp. at a time ...................... 3/4 cup sugar (granulated)

Continue beating until meringue holds stiff peaks.

Sift gradually the flour sugar mixture over the meringue.

Fold in gently just until the flour-sugar mixture disappears. Push batter into ungreased tube center pan. Gently cut through batter with a knife. Bake. When cake tests done, invert. Let hang until cold. Temperature: 375 degrees (quick mod. oven) Time: Bake 30 to 35 min * To see if your cake is done: bake until no imprint remains when finger lightly touches top of cake. (Another way, is to insert a toothpick. Cake is done if toothpick comes out clean.) * Apparently they used to make (and may still) a sort of cone shaped holder that you could invert a tube pan on. I didn't have anything like that, but my tube pan had little tabs that extended about 1" from the top of the pan, so when inverted the top of the cake was not touching anything. Once cooled, to remove an Angel Food Cake from the pain, insert a knife or long slender spatula down the side of the pan and gently pull the cake away from the edge, do this around the tube also. I had to go around my cake a couple of times to get the bottom to turn loose. *Egg whites: A dozen egg whites is an estimate. It actually took only 11 eggs to measure 1 1/2" of egg whites. If you don't have an egg white separator ( I don't) save yourself some trouble. You don't want any yolk to get into your white, so break each egg and separate by dropping the yolk into a bowl, but drop your egg white onto a saucer by itself. Slip that egg white into your mixing bowl, then do another egg. You don't to be on egg #10 and get yolk into your mixing bowl. *Sifting ingredients. This is essential, even if using presifted flour. Had to send my husband to town to buy me a new sifter! Had one, once upon a time....but I guess you can tell....it's been a while since I've used it)) *Oven temperature: Even though this recipe is over 50 years old, temperature is temperature. My oven is a convection oven though and this probably altered the results a little. The cake came out a little browner than I wanted, but it was to be covered with whip cream.....no one complained about it)) Once the cake was cool, it was set aside while the filling was made. The filling recipe came from the Desserts section of the cookbook. This excerpt heads that chapter:

Desserts

Dessert originally meant food served after the table had been cleared or "deserted" of everything else......even the cloth removed. We find accounts of grand dinners served in the early days of our country describing the polished mahogany tables with candles in tall silver candelabra casting a mellow glow over the guests enjoying a "dessert" of fresh fruit. In Europe, "dessert" still means fruit served at the end of the meal. However, for them, this fruit course follows a "sweet" ....that is a pudding, pastry, souffle', or an elaborate torte creation. We Americans have simply promoted the "sweet" to the place of honor at the end of the meal.

European visitors in our country are amazed at the array of "sweets" Americans have to choose from. In addition to those we have adopted from other nations, British steamed puddings, German and Austrian tortes, French meringues, and Italian souffles, we have developed our own special favorites, including ice creams and our fruit shortcakes and cobblers.

This wide variety of truly delightful desserts make it difficult to choose a section for one chapter. It would have been easier to fill a whole cook book with dessert recipes. We have tried, however, to give you dessert favorites of each type. You will find some that are suitable for holiday dinners and parties....other for simply family meals where consideration must be given to what the children may eat. Then there are the elaborate distinctly party desserts for buffet suppers or dessert luncheons. Of course we have made it a point to include homey, old-time favorites too!

With all these at your fingertips, we hope you will have fun servcing dessert that will bring each meal to a satisfying and delightful finish.

Betty Crocker, 1950

The fillings for angel food cake all sounded delicious. There was Angel Food Waldorf; Apricot Ice Cream; Almond Cream; Luscious Chocolate Almond Dessert; Fresh Strawberry Coconut; Chocolate Peppermint and Angel Food Delight. I chose the Angel Food Delight. Choice of an epicure, Judge Leslie L. Anderson, Minneapolis, MN Prepare Angel Food Cake for filling. Fill cake cavity with: Fruit Cream Filling and Frosting Whip until stiff ..... 3 cups whipping cream Beat in..... 6 tbsp. confectioner's sugar Fold into a little less than half the cream ..... 3/4 cup crushed pineapple, well drained 1 cup fresh strawberries, cut in halves 6 marshmallows, cut into quarters Replace top of cake and spread remaining cream on top and sides. Chill 4 to 8 hours. How to Fill Angel Food Cake 1. Place a high 10" Angel Food Cake upside-down on a plate or waxed paper. Slice entire top from cake about 1" down. Lift off top and lay to one side. 2. Cut down into the cake 1" from outer edge, and 1" from middle hole, leaving a substantial "wall" of cake about 1'' thick, and 1" base at the bottom. 3. Remove the center with a curved knife or spoon, being careful to leave a "wall" of cake at bottom 1" thick. Place on serving plate. 4. Completely fill cavity with chilled filling. 5. Replace top of cake and press gently. Cover top and sides with the remaining chilled cream mixture. Things I did different in the recipe and what I'll do next time: I only sifted one time.....cake would have probably been taller if I can followed the directions more closely. I really missed that part until posting this blog! Instead of quartering the strawberries, I sliced mine up smaller and even mashed them up a little bit. Also cut the marshmallow into smaller pieces. Next time....I think I'll just buy an Angel Food Cake! End result should be just as good and such a time saver! Plan to try the Angel Food Waldorf next time. It has Chocolate Whipped Cream....been wanting to try this for sure! As far as whipping the egg whites and the whipped cream....I simply can't image doing it with a wire whisk or hand beater! Our fore...mothers....must have had biceps like a power lifter!