Angel Food Cake

I raise hens, random I know, and I will share more about my lovely ladies another day. Yesterday, I realized I had  an abundance of eggs I needed to use and angel food cake came to mind. If you've never made angel food cake from scratch, you must try this recipe. Its easy, its light and airy and literally melts in your mouth. (It makes those ones you buy in the grocery store taste like cardboard.) Try it!

2 cups sifted superfine sugar divided (it's important to use superfine sugar)
1 1/3 cup sifted cake flour (not self rising)
1 1/2 cup egg whites (10-12 eggs)
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine 1/2 cup sugar with the flour and sift 4 times (this is important and what helps give it that airy texture)
Set aside. Place egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment and whisk on high until the eggs make medium firm peaks, about 1 minute. With the mixer on medium speed add remaining sugar by sprinkling it over egg whites and beating until thick and shiny. Add vanilla extract and beat until really thick about 1 minute. Sift 1/4 of the flour mixture and gently fold into batter using a rubber spatula continue to add flour and fold until its all incorporated. Pour batter into an ungreased 10 inch tube pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes until it springs back to the touch. Invert pan onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

This cake is perfect all alone, as is. You could also add 1 tsp of lemon zest into the batter when you add the vanilla and it would be delicious as a bed for fresh berries and fresh whipped cream. HOWEVER, my husband and rascals are chocolate lovers! So I made ganache. I take equal parts chocolate and heavy cream and put in a double boiler and stir until all the chocolate is melted and combined. Warning you might want to dive into that bowl of chocolate, swim around in it for a bit, just make sure nobody's looking. I won't tell ;)