A Tale of Two Cakes... and Curd
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. But that is a gross exaggeration.
In the picture above, you can see two slices of angel food cake and a lovely dollop of homemade lemon curd. The slices are from different recipes for cake. One cake, I made with egg whites and the other I used meringue powder. Why bake two cakes, you ask?
I couldn't see making an entire tube angel food cake, so I halved the traditional recipe and baked it in a loaf pan. The problem was that the pan I grabbed was an insulated loaf pan. Big mistake. The cake needed about 25% more time in the oven than a non-insulated pan would've required and the cake was still somewhat underdone. It tasted ok, but you can tell an angel food cake has too much moisture if it collapses a bit when you're cooling it. And, yes, I was cooling it upside down!
I had already made the lemon curd and started to worry that the cake wouldn't be a suitable accompaniment for it. I didn't have enough eggs to make another cake, but I did have meringue powder. I've never used meringue powder to make an angelfood cake before, but it turned out very well. The biggest difference between it an a typical angel food cake is that it didn't rise as much - the top of the loaf was much flatter. My tasters prefered the meringue powder cake to the egg one, but I know it already had the advantage because it wasn't underdone.
The lemon curd, however, was problem free and delicious.
In the picture above, you can see two slices of angel food cake and a lovely dollop of homemade lemon curd. The slices are from different recipes for cake. One cake, I made with egg whites and the other I used meringue powder. Why bake two cakes, you ask?
I couldn't see making an entire tube angel food cake, so I halved the traditional recipe and baked it in a loaf pan. The problem was that the pan I grabbed was an insulated loaf pan. Big mistake. The cake needed about 25% more time in the oven than a non-insulated pan would've required and the cake was still somewhat underdone. It tasted ok, but you can tell an angel food cake has too much moisture if it collapses a bit when you're cooling it. And, yes, I was cooling it upside down!
I had already made the lemon curd and started to worry that the cake wouldn't be a suitable accompaniment for it. I didn't have enough eggs to make another cake, but I did have meringue powder. I've never used meringue powder to make an angelfood cake before, but it turned out very well. The biggest difference between it an a typical angel food cake is that it didn't rise as much - the top of the loaf was much flatter. My tasters prefered the meringue powder cake to the egg one, but I know it already had the advantage because it wasn't underdone.
The lemon curd, however, was problem free and delicious.
Lemon Curd
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
5 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
Combine lemon zest, juice, eggs and sugar in saucepan and whisk to combine. Continue whisking over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Add butter.
Keep whisking until mixture starts to bubble and thicken. Transfer to a bowl and store in the fridge.
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