Chocolate Lover's Angel Food Cake
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa (Dutch-processed)
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup sifted cake flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Whites of 16 large eggs, 2 cups
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a medium bowl combine cocoa, coffee and boiling water and whisk until smooth.
- Whisk in vanilla.
- In another medium-size bowl combine 3/4 cup sugar, the flour and salt, and whisk to blend.
- In a large bowl beat the egg whites until frothy.
- Add the cream of tartar, and beat until soft peaks form when beater is raised.
- Gradually beat in the remaining 1 cup sugar, beating until very stiff peaks form when beater is raised slowly.
- Remove 1 heaping cup of egg whites and place it on top of the cocoa mixture.
- Dust flour mixture over remaining whites, 1/4 cup at a time, and fold in quickly but gently, using a large balloon wire whisk or slotted skimmer.
- It is not necessary to incorporate every speck until last addition.
- Whisk together the egg white and cocoa mixture, and fold into the batter until uniform.
- Pour into an ungreased, 10-inch, two-piece tube pan (the batter will come to within 3/4 inch of the top), run a small metal spatula or knife through the batter to prevent air pockets, and bake for 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed.
- (The center will rise above the pan while baking and sink slightly when done.
- The surface will have deep cracks like a souffle.)
- Invert the pan, placing the tube opening over the neck of a soda or wine bottle to suspend it well above the counter, and cool the cake completely in the pan, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Loosen the sides with a long metal spatula and remove the center core of the pan.
- Dislodge bottom and center core with a metal spatula or thin, sharp knife.
- (A wire cake tester works well around the core.
- To keep the sides attractive, press spatula against sides of the pan and avoid up-and-down motion.)
- Invert onto a serving plate.
- Wrap airtight.
cocoa, instant coffee, boiling water, vanilla, sugar, cake flour, salt, whites, cream of tartar
Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/4008 (may not work)