Note No one ever made a better angel food cake, than my Mom! It was a favorite company dessert, often served with fresh fruit and whipped cream. Onolicious!! She followed the directions in her cookbook *exactly*. Me ke aloha, Mary Spero

Here is what her favorite cookbook says about angel food cakes: "True sponge cake is leavened solely by air beaten into eggs. White sponge cake, or angel food, is made with only whites of eggs. Mock sponge cakes are made with baking powder and fewer eggs. Sift flour several times to incorporate as much air as possible. Handle flour lightly. Beat the egg whites until they are just stiff enough to hold up in peaks. The white piles should look moist and glossy. Eggs beaten just to this peaked, glossy stage give the best volume and finest grain. More air can be enclosed in egg whites if you beat them with a flat wire whisk instead of a rotary beater. Underbeaten egg whites makes cake heavy, compact, and undersized because not enough air has been incorporated. Overbeaten whites make dry cake of poor volume because of loss of air and moisture. Add flavoring to the mixture before the flour. It will then be thoroughly blended without the extra folding that would be necessary if it were added last. In combining ingredients, use only the folding motion. (See paragraph 29.) ** Fold mixture just enough to blend ingredients. Undermixing makes uneven grain in cake. Overmixing makes the cake heavy, undersized, close-grained, and tough. Spread batter evenly in ungreased pan. Cut spatula through batter with a circular motion to remove any large air bubbles and to draw batter into unfilled spaces."

** Folding is the motion made by gently cutting down through the mixture - and curving up and over. This encloses more air and prevents the escape of that already beaten into the eggs. Down, up, and over - down, up, and over ~ that is the folding motion. It should become a deft, rolling, continuous motion so that no time is lost. Use this motion to combine mixtures that contain important amounts of air.

Foods Corporation, New York, 1934, pp. 52-53.

Exchange Newsletter by MarySpero@prodigy.com (Ms Mary E Spero) on Aug 19,