Don't sweat it--add some pudding, fruit and whipped cream and make a trifle. No one will know the difference.

We all have our kitchen mess-ups.

One Easter, I was making a peach cheesecake. Got it all mixed up, and in the oven, and discovered that I'd neglected to add about half the sugar. The cake was edible, though, and I passed it off as an experiment in a low-sugar recipe for my diabetic mother--LOL!

Aw, a fallen angel; I'd still eat it.

With Angel Food cakes, remember to let them cool completely in the pan. They will not stick, I promise.

Sol

oh man--all over that spotless oven and racks! sorry to see it. (and frankly am thinking that such a clean oven was practically inviting this sort of mishap!) but i'm working on a batch of creme fraiche and have some lemon curd--i'll bet they'd be wonderful together if you want to join us!

Oh just make a trifle! haha! I've had that same thing happen.

Isn't it funny how our ovens always come out looking so clean in a picture? Mine is NOT clean but if I took a picture it looks so shiney!

Is yours really that clean? (besides all the goo dripping all over it) hahaha!!!

2 things....angel food cakes go into a pan that allows for cooking through without over cooking ( burning!!) the outside....that's why the tube.
Secondly, if it sticks...about 5 more minutes back in the oven will soften the sticky suger between the pan and the cake and allow it to come out of the pan.
When you discovered you didn't have your tube pan, you should have put it into a 9 by 13...or even a jelly roll pan and called it jelly roll.
I had one fall out of the pan into a puddle on the counter because I had under cooked it....and it was home made!!
Linda C

'fallen angel' snort good one, sol!

Thanks for sharing, rococo. Good luck!

I understand that there are no calories in any baked good that turns out badly! Happy snacking.

If I were you, I'd take that cake, cut it up and make a trifle.

I love angel food cake and that one looks like it would be wonderful with a cup of coffee. One of my favorite cakes to snack on.

I made a Lime Angel Food cake a couple of weeks ago. Delish!

Jane any of that tomato sauce left that I sent you, time for a Bloody Mary. By the way I second the trifle idea.

Thanks for the giggle, I'm needing it today!

PS: an oven that clean is a sign of a sick mind! LOL

This cake makes far too good a story to do anything but serve it as is.

It shall forever be known as the 4th of July Exploding Angel Food Cake. My very own little brand of culinary fireworks.

Whoever asked about the oven the answer is yes, it's always that clean. But it's got a special coating on it and everything wipes off with a sponge. I don't do anything special.

I would still eat the fallen angel also. I Love angel food cake!

I'll upload the "final" photo of the cake tomorrow. Too much vino tonight!

My guest emailed this morning to report that she polished off the piece of the cake I sent home with her before going to bed.

DH adored it. So, even though "we" knew it was a mess, it certainly didn't suffer appear that way.

Next time, maybe I'll just use half the batter. LOL.

Riverrat1
Your lime angelfood cake does sound wonderful. How much lime juice do you use?
Lois

Looks delicious to me.

Fallen angel! LOL

AM

Oh yum, I love angelfood cake too. I'd have just eaten it, in chunks. Maybe for breakfast!

That's a nice save with the strawberry sauce, though, it looks beautiful.

Annie

On the fallen angelfood posting you mentioned lime angelfood cake. That sounds so yummy and am wondering how much lime juice and or zest you use. Guess I could experiment but thought it would be better to know instead of spoiling a cake.
Lois

First thing I baked in my new wall oven ran over and made a huge mess of the racks and oven! I knew it was going to do that and forgot to put foil under the pan. Oh well, the oven was christened in grand form.

But your cake really does not look that bad and I sure would not pass on a large piece!

Michelle

Here's River's lime cake in case anyone missed it on the other thread.

Sequel: the guests took half home and she ate it right away (think I said that before). Our bit was in the fridge until the next night and then DH divided it up and we had it with ice cream and just the residual strawberry sauce. It was so much better than I'd ever expect a box mix to be. Really surprising.

Still cannot find my other pan -- I've looked again. It may be elsewhere but I guess I'm going to buy a proper angel food cake pan now that DH enjoys it so much.

Anyone have a very good pan? It took me longer to clean the stupid pan than to make the cake. I want a pan that will do what san promises. The cake needs to fall outta there.

River's Lime Angel Food Cake
*********************

1 cup cake flour

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 1/2 cups egg whites (about 12 large), at room temperature

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I use a little more juice)

1 teaspoon grated lime zest

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

**Confections' sugar icing flavored with lime (recipe to follow)

**********************************************************

Position rack in the middle of an oven and preheat to 350 degrees

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and confectioners' sugar. Resift the flour mixture twice. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat together the egg whites, lime juice, lime zest, cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form. Gradually add the granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, and continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form. Sift one-fourth of the flour mixture over the egg white mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the flour mixture into the egg white mixture. Repeat the sifting and folding with the remaining flour mixture in 3 more batches. Spoon the batter into a nonstick or regular tube pan 9 1/2 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep.

Bake until cake springs back when lightly touched, about 45 minutes. Invert cake in the pan on a work surface and let cool completely. (If your cake pan does not have little legs on it then turn over a bottle neck)

When cool run a sharp knife around the pan sides to loosen the cake and turn out of pan. Place right side up on a serving platter. Drizzle icing over the top allowing it to run over the sides slightly. Let stand until icing sets, about 1 hour. Serve immediately, or cover with a cake dome and store at room temperature for up to 1 day.

**Notes- I will eat this cake after it sits for up to 3 days

Confectioners' Sugar Icing
**************************

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together the butter and lime juice until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and let stand until cool, about 5 minutes.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture and whisk vigorously until smooth and thickened, about 1 minute. Use within 5 minutes, or the icing may become too thick to drizzle. If the icing does become thick, rewarm it for 2 or 3 seconds over low heat, whisking constantly.

William-Sonoma Kitchen Library

Hi all,

I seem to only have time to cook on holidays.

Revived this thread because I made another angel food cake today.

It didn't overflow (I bought a new bigger pan) but it fell.

The recipe says to turn it over a bottle.

Could someone please explain how you put a narrow angel food cake pan cone over a bottle?

Also, how the cake doesn't fall out of the pan onto the bottle or get stuck on there?

So I hung it up on a bottle but it got lopsided

Then I tried to invert it on a platter as you normally would, while warm. It fell.

It's not bad but it's not as high as the height of the pan.

So what's up with this? How does this work? I cna make croissants and pithiviers but not a stupid angel cake (I'm not good at mashed potatoes either).

Sol, where are you?

I use a tall bottle with a narrow top, like a wine bottle and let the cake cool completely. Then run my knife around the sides of the pan to release it from the bottom and then around the bottom.

I'm not able to comment on the recipe, as I've made very few of these in my career, but my mother uses an old fashioned tube pan that has these little stems that are placed on the rim of the pan. When you turn the pan over, they act like feet, suspending the cake pan upside down. Seems to work for her. I think your problem could be the fancy cake pan. Sometimes the smooth-sided pans just work better!
Ellen

Rococogurl

Well at least I am not the only one to have problems with angel food cake ... my last one had to be broken up in chunks and served with strawberries and whipped cream,(tasted good, looked like the devil) and the sad thing is I have Mama's old type tube pan with those little legs.

I like this lime recipe and will try one more time :)

My angel food cake pan was my grandmothers, it has the little legs on the top, but the cake always rises above that so I invert it on the bottle.

Maybe the trick is the old pan!

I couldn't figure out how to turn the pan upside down over a bottle. First of all, even a cognac bottle was too big for the funnel to fit on. It would need to be some type of custom peg! (It's a brand new non-stick pan that the cake sticks to)

Second of all, when the cake releases, wouldn't it fall out of the pan and down onto the bottle, and since the funnel are is so small break apart?

I tried it right side up on the bottle but the pan started to pull on the cake and I thought it would come apart (the pan has a floor with the funnel that fits into the sides part.

So I am still either confused or just the dumbest woman who ever tried to make an Angel Food cake.

I really know a fair amount about baking and have never encountered anything this counter intuitive.

Rococogurl,

While I'm not an angelfood cake expert, I do have the book "Cookwise", which might have some answers. There are a bunch of tips for making an angelfood cake, most of which you are already doing:

- cream of tartar is important(check)
- ungreased pan (check) - this also says to rinse the pan with hot water.
- cook thoroughly (check)
- completely cool the cake inverted (check) so that air can circulate freely around it. Maybe that's it? Instead of cooling inverted on the counter, or on the bottle and then turning it out warm, try cooling it completely inverted on a wire rack or cookie sheet.

Hope that's the answer.

AM

Thanks AM. That does make sense to cool it on a rack.

Will give that a try. If anyone else can explain this it would be great.

Just wanted to clarify - by "cookie sheet", I meant a wire rack for cooling cookies, so that the air can circulate and no condensation forms anywhere.

It's a brand new non-stick pan that the cake sticks to

Rococogurl, I was about to throw my hands up in the air, until I read the above. And you're gonna hate me for saying this, but get rid of that new, non-stick pan!
Well, don't toss the pan, instead, use non-stick pans for pound cakes, and other butter cakes, but NOT Angel Food cakes.

Angel Food cakes need a non-stick surface to give the batter something to cling onto, in order to rise. I use an old, heavy gauge aluminum pan. I pour the batter right in it, no prep. It always rises to its fullest, but never collapses. I've even baked AF cakes in sheet pans, sin problemas.
Invert your cake (don't worry, the cake won't fall out). After the cake is allowed to cool for about 1-1 hours, use a spatula -instead of a knife- to loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Don't jab the spatula into the sides. You'll damage the cake and scratch the pan.
Just insert the spatula about half-way into the side of the pan, and go all the way around, gently pulling cake away from the pan. Don't forget to do the same to the core before you try releasing the cake.

Please try these simple techniques, and you'll have a cake that'll make angels sing.

Sol

Sorry, Roco, that should've read:
Angel Food cakes will not rise in a non-stick pan. The batter needs an ungreased surface for the cake to adhere to, in order to rise.

Sorry, I haven't had my coffee yet.

Sol

Just a thought or a question really, could you have made Tiramisu with it?

I've never made an angel food cake, so I can't offer any suggestions, but I finally learned what those little legs on old tube pans are for! I've wondered about that every time I see one at a thrift store or yard sale.

Sol, thanks so much! I bought the new pan at the grocery and it's a huge one, which is very nice for all the bundt recipes of varying sizes.

But I think you may be right -- I need to watch out for a vintage angel food cake pan at a yard sale. One of the aluminum ones.

This new one has a cone that's so small it doesn't go over a bottle upside down. And though it's nonstick, this cake sticks to it most definitely.

kuzari -- Tiramisu should be made with the dry ladyfingers (savoiardi) reason being, the mascarpone has a great deal of moisture, which they absorb plus there's the coffee syrup needed for moistening. Angel food cake is moist to begin with and I fear would turn to soup under the weight of the cheese. But it's good for trifle -- that has cooked custard and less syrup (usually). It stands up to fruit --rubbery-- LOL.

Meamwhile, with all the problems DH adores it and it's almost gone.

I don't even like angel food cake and yet I want to tear the nice brown crust off that and eat it by itself! I wouldn't even want any fruit on it.

Beverly

My Mom turned her Angel Food Cake pan over on top of a shot glass and it just fit.

The older Pans are much heavier although it is hard to find one that is not rusted.

Michelle

Ten hits on ebay with search terms 'angel food cake pan vintage' - even a cool glass item. Lots of square ones, too. 42 hits without the term 'vintage'.