I wanted to serve a light summer dessert after a dinner with friends last evening. Our dinner was anything but light since we were having big juicy grilled burgers, thick slices of fresh homegrown tomatoes and vidalia onions, fresh corn on the cob dripping in butter with a squirt of lime juice for those who dared, and a sweet and spicy slaw made with nappa cabbage.
I decided to make Ina Garten’s Angel Food Cake, and serve it with sweetened nectarines, and a drizzle of blueberry sauce.
For the blueberry sauce you can use fresh or frozen berries. I had a large bag of frozen wild blueberries which I used along with some fresh. This sauce was in the fridge leftover from waffles last Sunday, so that was easy.
To serve the cake I spooned some sliced nectarines I had macerated in a bit of sugar over the angel food cake, and drizzled the blueberry sauce on top. Garnished with a mint sprig it was picture perfect, and satisfyingly light. Summer on a plate!
Now here’s Ina’s recipe for her Angel Food Cake… the only change I made was the addition of orange zest as well as the lemon zest called for.
Lemon Angel Food Cake (Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Family Style)
serves 8
…Serve this plain, with sweetened fruit, or drizzled with ½ cup of confectioner’s sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice.
2 cups sifted superfine sugar, divided
1 and 1/3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising)
1 and ½ cups egg whites, at room temperature (10 to 12 eggs)
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 and ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 and ½ teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
Note* I used ¾ teaspoon lemon zest and ¾ teaspoon orange zest
Combine ½ cup of sugar with the flour and sift together 4 times. Set aside.
Place the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on high speed until the eggs make medium-firm peaks, about 1 minute.
With the mixer on medium speed, add the remaining 1 and ½ cups of sugar by sprinkling it over the beaten egg whites. whisk for a few minutes until thick and shiny.
Whisk in the vanilla and lemon zest (and orange, if using), and continue to whisk until very thick, about 1 more minute.
Sift about 1/4 of the flour mixture over the egg whites and fold it into the batter with a rubber spatula. Continue adding the flour by fourths by sifting and folding until it’s all incorporated.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, smooth the top,
and bake it for 35 to 40 minutes, until it springs back to the touch. Remove the cake from the oven and invert the pan on a cooling rack until cool.
To store, wrap well and do not refrigerate.
