As happens with “Top Chef”, I can’t keep up with all the great TV shows out there – that is why I’m in love with Netflix right now: I’m able to watch entire seasons, beginning with the first episode, without missing anything. \0/ That is how I got completely hooked on “Mad Men”, a show I’d wanted to watch forever, and now I cannot wait for the 5th season to be available on Netflix – while that doesn’t happen, I’ve started watching “Breaking Bad”, which is absolutely fantastic, too. There you go, another TV show addiction. :)
And speaking of another addiction – ice cream making – all the egg whites I had in my freezer were used in this über tender cake; the original recipe called for finely shaved dark chocolate, but I had the idea of using cacao nibs instead – it turned out good in terms of flavor but I believe the texture of the nibs was too coarse for the delicate cake.
Angel food cake with cacao nibs and orange freckles
slightly adapted from the absolutely gorgeous Vintage Cakes: Timeless Recipes for Cupcakes, Flips, Rolls, Layer, Angel, Bundt, Chiffon, and Icebox Cakes for Today's Sweet Tooth
Cake:
1 cup (120g) cake flour (homemade: 100g all purpose flour + 20g corn starch)
120g confectioners’ sugar
12 egg whites (336g), room temperature
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
85g (3oz) cacao nibs, mixed with ½ tablespoon all purpose flour
Icing:
¾ cup (105g) confectioners’ sugar
juice of 1 orange
water, if necessary
Adjust a rack to the bottom third of the oven; preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Have ready a 25cm (10in) straight-sided metal tube pan
Whisk together the cake flour and confectioners’ sugar in a bowl, then sift the mixture three times.
In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites and salt on medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and whip on high speed. Gradually add the granulated sugar in a steady stream. On high, whip until firm (not stiff) peaks form. Reduce the mixer to low speed, add the vanilla and orange zest and mix until incorporated.
Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture over the whites and gently fold. Do the same with the remaining mixture in 2 additions, adding the cacao nibs with the last one. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, place it on a baking sheet and bake for about 40 minutes or until the top is golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Invert the pan onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To remove the cake from the pan, loosen the sides of the cake with a thin, long knife or spatula. Invert onto a plate.
Glaze: sift the icing sugar into a bowl and gradually add the orange juice, mixing until desired consistency. Add the water if necessary. Pour over the cooled cake.
* I used a nonstick pan
Serves 8-10
(a very good one, by the way), have a touch of spices (yum) and three kinds of dried fruit (yum, yum): the cinnamon, ginger and cloves turn them into an even tastier kind of oatmeal cookie and the addition of cranberries, apricots and raisins is a good way to use up the dried fruit left from the holidays.
; not only was it dead easy to make but I think you can go wild and adapt it accordingly to your taste - for instance, Nigella used chestnut purée but I went for dulce de leche instead.
)
instead of a pastry bag and placed rounded mounds of filling on the center of each cookie, topping with another cookie and pressing down gently to squish the filling.
