Happy 10th birthday to Riegl Palate! A decade! During all of this time, I’ve posted a new recipe every week and never missed one. Some might say I’m crazy (I prefer ‘dedicated’) but I’m having too much fun. Today’s post is number 560 on my site.
It has become a tradition to share a chocolate cake to celebrate this milestone. Please allow me a bit of leeway as there’s chocolate in the frosting and not the cake. This cake seemed fitting for this celebration. It’s a more sophisticated take on my favorite birthday cake when I was growing up. It also happened to be my paternal grandmother’s favorite cake. She passed away almost ten years ago – not long after Riegl Palate launched.
The version we made when I was growing up was fairly easy since the cake came from a box (does anyone remember that there were originally two packs in an angel food cake box and at some point they combined them into one making it even easier to prepare?) and the frosting was simply chocolate pudding (from a box) mixed with whipped cream and rum.
As much as I love angel food cake (and this one in particular), I had never attempted to make a gluten-free angel food cake although I have seen several recipes. Since I have introduced non-GMO flour into my at home baking, I have been able to make a few things that I have missed since giving up wheat in 2014. I was pleasantly surprised recently to learn that King Arthur Flour (always my go-to) is non-GMO, including their cake flour which is what is needed to prepare this cake. So there was no reason not to make a homemade angel food cake. The hardest part is ensuring that you keep the egg whites (from 12 eggs) as clean as possible when separating them from the yokes – the rest is easy.
If I’m making a homemade cake, I can’t exactly use pudding from a box for the frosting. Fortunately a few years ago I made a gluten-free version of Ina Garten’s Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake. While making the frosting for this cake, I was having food flashbacks to my favorite childhood angel food cake. The frosting had all the right flavors but taken to the next level. Gone was the chocolate pudding from a box – it was replaced with high quality cocoa powder, mascarpone cheese (and heavy cream) and more rum. It’s amazing that I didn’t eat the entire bowl before frosting the cake. While making an angel food cake from scratch isn’t too difficult, I will not tell if you choose to make it from a box.
I know that if my grandmother were still with us that she would approve of this upgrade. We were able to enjoy this cake a few months ago with Embry and Chris H. Were it not for Embry, Riegl Palate wouldn’t exist. She not only motivated me to start the site, she built the site. She has always been willing to help and cheer me these last 10 years.
A huge thank you to all who read, comment on, share and make recipes from Riegl Palate – it means so much to me. It makes my day when family and friends reach out to say that they’ve made one of my recipes. Just this past week I received an email from Kristie A saying that their Gourmet Dinner Club was meeting for the first time in person since the pandemic began. The theme was ‘pick a recipe from your favorite recipe blog/online source.’ She and Tom were assigned dessert and decided to make four different desserts including Pecan Squares from Riegl Palate. I was in very good company as the other three desserts were from Ina Garten, Dorie Greenspan and The New York Times Cooking. When I began writing Riegl Palate I never could have imagined that decade could have gone by. I look forward to many more amazing culinary experiences with family and friends.
Cheers to the art of good eating and to many more years of Riegl Palate!
P.S. If you aren’t already following Riegl Palate on social media please consider doing so. Check out Riegl Palate on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
| Angel Food Cake with Chocolate-Mascarpone-Rum Frosting | Print |
- 1-3/4 cups granulated sugar (see Notes)
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons cake flour (see Notes)
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 12 large egg whites (see Notes)
- 1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups cold heavy cream
- 9 ounces mascarpone cheese
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup dark rum
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Garnish with shaved dark chocolate (see Notes)
- Adjust oven rack to the lower middle position. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- In a large food processor or blender, pulse the sugar until fine and powdery. Remove 1 cup and set aside. Leave the remaining sugar in the food processor or blender. Add the cake flour and salt to the food processor. Pulse 5-10 times until mixture is aerated and light.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (you can also use a hand mixer), whip egg whites and cream of tartar together on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Switch to medium-high speed and slowly add the 1 cup of sugar you set aside. Whip until soft peaks form, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add vanilla extract and beat just until combined.
- In three additions, slowly sift the flour mixture into the egg white mixture using a fine mesh strainer, gently folding with a rubber spatula after each addition. (To avoid deflating or a dense cake, don’t add the flour mixture all at once.)
- Pour and spread batter into an ungreased 9 or 10 inch tube pan (see Notes). Shimmy the pan on the counter to smooth down the surface.
- Place the pan in the oven. Rotate the pan about halfway through baking. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. The cake will rise up very tall while baking. Remove from the oven, then cool the cake completely upside-down set on a wire rack, about 3 hours.
- Once cooled, run a thin knife around the edges and gently tap the pan on the counter until the cake releases.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (you can also use a hand mixer), combine the heavy cream, mascarpone cheese, sugar, cocoa powder, rum and vanilla. Mix on low speed to combine and slowly raise to high speed to form firm peaks. You can prepare the frosting an hour prior to using – store in the refrigerator.
- Assemble Cake:
- After the cake has cooled completely, using a long bread knife or serrated knife, cut the cake in half so you have a top layer and bottom layer. Set the top layer aside. Do not worry if it’s not even, as the frosting will cover up any flaws.
- Using a rubber spatula or off-set spatula generously frost the bottom layer, including in the center hole. Carefully place the second layer atop the frosted layer and continue frosting the cake.
- Using a vegetable peeler or microplane, shred dark chocolate over top of cake.
- Refrigerate, loosely covered, until ready to serve. Can be made a day in advance.
* Cake flour is recommended over all-purpose flour as it will create a softer and fluffier texture which is key for a good angel food cake. Cake flour has less protein and therefore less gluten. The preferred way to measure flour for this recipe is to ‘spoon and level.’ Use a spoon to add flour to a measuring cup. Do not pack it down and do not tap the measuring cup. Once the measuring cup is full, use the back of a knife to level off the top of the measuring cup.
* Fresh eggs are recommended for this recipe. Do not use egg white substitutes. Separate the eggs when they are cold and let the egg whites sit for 30 minutes to come to room temperature. This helps to create the fluffiest volume.
* A tube pan is also known as an angel food cake pan. Do not use a bundt pan for this recipe. If your pan has little ‘legs’ on the top, you do not need a rack to cool it. You can simply turn it upside down.
* I used Hu’s Simple Dark Chocolate for the shavings on top of the cake. Any good dark chocolate will work. We love Hu chocolate bars especially Hu Salty Dark Chocolate.
Source: Variation on recipes from Cook’s Illustrated (for cake) and Barefoot Contessa (for frosting)
Nicole, this was my favorite dessert growing up. Thank you. And your grandmother always used the egg yolks to make zabaglione.
Dad – Love of this cake runs in the family! Yes, zabaglione is a great way to use the egg yolks.