Week 2: Angel Food Cake

Last time, I tried making my first angel food cake, which turned out completely underbaked and inedible, but I did learn which indicators to trust in discerning when an angel food cake is fully baked. This week, I am going to try to find a good starting recipe for my tests. From all the recipes I gathered (see below), it seems like there are only minor differences between most of the recipes except for Recipe 5 where water is added. I will thus compare Recipes 3 and 5 using my standard 1 tsp. of vanilla and 1/4 tsp. of Diamond Crystal kosher salt.

Recipes broken down in percentages from [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. Percentages don't include vanilla extract or salt.

I admittedly was very confused about why one would add water to a meringue. Typically less water in a meringue leads to a more stable meringue that weeps less. Some recipes with meringues even call for aging your egg whites to evaporate off some water to help make a more stable meringue. The claim from water proponents is that it makes a lighter, more delicate cake that is moister. I could see how this might work. The water evaporates into steam as the cake bakes creating more lift and air pockets. I'm hoping to learn if this is true or not by putting it to the test. For Recipe 5, you are supposed to whip to stiff peaks, add the water, and then beat it to firm peaks, while Recipe 3 is just whipped to firm peaks.

Recipe 3 had the characteristic cracked top, but it was slightly tough.

Once baked, Recipe 3 had the signature cracked top of an angel food cake, while Recipe 5 did not. Recipe 3 had a delicious vanilla flavor. It was plenty sweet, which narrows the range of sugar needed from 37-43% down to 37-39% for future tests. It had a height of 6.0 cm and was a bit tough, so it could be lighter. Since the total amount of batter was different between the two splits, I didn't measure the height of Recipe 5 for comparison. Recipe 5 was moister and softer than Recipe 3, but it tasted very eggy. This made me wonder if the flavor and textural differences were just due to different recipes and my inexperience making angel food cake or if it really was due to the water. To really put this to the test, I'll take Recipe 3 next week and try it with and without extra water to try to get to the bottom of this in a more controlled way.

Recipe 5 was lighter and more delicate, but it tasted eggy.