Saturday, June 11, 2011

Blueberry Angel Food Cake

Forgive the exuberance if it comes exuding through in this post, but I am still blinking my eyes and pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming and that yes, I really did get a vegan angel food cake to work using Ener-G egg replacer.  I've seen other vegan bloggers try to replicate the airy texture of angel food cake (often with tofu), but I can't believe more people aren't on to the secret that if you beat Ener-G egg replacer for 12 minutes, you come up with a stiff, thick, glossy mixture that is like egg whites.  The only question remaining was whether or not this mixture would set enough into a cake batter, once in the oven.  The answer?  Success!  Read on.

Ingredients:
For the cake:
  • 1 and 1/2 cups vegan sugar, divided
  • 1 cup cake flour
  • 12 Ener-G eggs
  • 1 and 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 and 1/2 cups blueberries
  • 2 tablespoons cake flour
  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
For the glaze:
  • 1 cup vegan powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1. Sift together 1/2 cup of the sugar and 1 cup flour through a flour sifter or fine-mesh sieve into a bowl; set aside.

2. Make the Ener-G eggs in a large bowl (you'll need 6 tablespoons of the powder whisked into 1 and 1/2 cups warm water).  Beat with a hand mixer for 12 minutes, until the mixture is thick and stiff like egg whites. After the first minute, add the cream of tartar and salt.  At about the 6 minute mark, begin adding the remaining 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time.

Note: be sure to use your largest mixing bowl for this process - the mixture is going to have a lot of volume.

3. Sift the cake flour mixture over the Ener-G mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, and gently fold in.  Fold in the vanilla extract and blueberries.  Although you could use either fresh or frozen blueberries, I chose fresh.  Next time, however, I might go with frozen since they are smaller and more uniform in size; I found that it was hard to fold in some of the larger, fresh blueberries, and they clumped together in batches, as seen in my final photo in this post.


4. Sift the remaining 2 tablespoons cake flour over the lemon rind in a bowl, and toss to coat.  Sprinkle the lemon rind mixture over the cake batter, and fold in.


5. Spoon the batter into a 10-inch angel food cake pan, spreading evenly.  Run a knife through the batter to break up any air pockets.  Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes - I couldn't believe (peaking through the window of the oven) how wonderfully puffed in volume my cake became, and the lovely golden tinge it took on.


6. Remove from the oven and invert the pan over a plate.  If the cake doesn't fall out on its own, use a narrow metal spatula to release it from the sides of the pan; cool completely.  Alas, the cake deflated quite a bit the moment it was out of the oven (the batter was all the way to the top just before opening the oven door), but the sponge-y, spring-y texture remained.

7. To prepare the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice.  Drizzle over the cooled cake.

Nutrition Info:
8 servings (1 slice), Calories 297 

Tasting Notes:
I still can hardly get over the fact that this cake worked.  The texture was soft and sponge-y and delicious, and there was great blueberry and lemon flavor.  I actually would use less lemon glaze on top, since the tart lemon distracted from the cake itself, but overall, I was so pleased with this dessert.


Update: for more fun success whipping Ener-G egg replacer into egg whites, please see my posts for Chocolate and Berry-Covered Meringue and Arugula and Cheese Souffle.

Rating:
4

12 comments:

  1. Congratulations! This smelled delicious. I'm sorry I didn't get to taste it.

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  2. do you think using powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar would help make it even fluffier?

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  3. Thanks Jillian! And great idea Courtney - powdered sugar is definitely worth a try next time around. I'd love to hear the results if you test it out!

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  4. Have you tried this without the blueberries, just to make a plain vanilla angelfood cake?

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  5. hi Melody-I have not tried, but if anything, I think it would work even better. The parts of the cake with the most blueberry clumps didn't have quite the right texture.

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  6. I used to have angel food cake for prevegan birthdays. I just tried this out, a half recipe, for my birthday next weekend. I used Bob's Red Mill egg replacer and it did not whip up at all. :( Sad.

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  7. hi Rebekah - I always use Ener-G, not sure if the Bob's Red Mill works in the same way but sounds like no from your results. Good luck and thanks for reading!

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  8. I am ECSTATIC to try this out! I miss real angel food cake with my strawberries and whipped cream in the summer. The testing begins tonight!

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  9. No, this will not work, EnerG is not capable of stiff peaking that is found in making an Angel Food cake. It does make sponge cakes, but not Angel Food. Hopefully that will change soon, Call the company and put this request in. But right now, no, this will not work. Don't waste your time, the product or your aspirations, Don't know why this was posted in the first place...

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  10. Replies
    1. I figured out what it was and baked this divine angel food cake tonight. I made it without the blueberries. I couldn't believe how unusual my cake batter became with the egg replacer, it was so fascinating, I've never made regular angel food cake myself, so I can't really compare, but it for sure didn't look like your usual vegan cake batter. The result is so tasty! I had 3 slices in a row, and tomorrow I plan on making vegan whipped cream to put on the remaining slices, with strawberries. Thank you for the recipe!!

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  11. I made this with frozen wild blueberries, and it was a total failure. The blueberries sank to the bottom to make a nice berry layer. When the cake was flipped over it fell apart instantly. The hot blueberry goo gave my father 2nd degree burns. The shreds tasted good, so I may try this one again. I would recommend mincing dried blueberries and adding them like the lemon rind for color and flavor.

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