Lacquered Angel Food Cake
Oh my, buckle your seat belts and get ready to experience one of the best desserts ‘I’ve’ ever tasted. I’m not kidding. It takes a lot to knock my socks off when it comes to desserts since I am a baker who spends much of my time developing, testing, and eating sweets. It isn’t often that I am truly ‘WOWed’ by a recipe, especially one as simple to make as this. You begin with an already baked (or purchased) angel food cake. I can admit it now, I had an ulterior motive when I created the Blood Orange Chocolate Chip Angel Food Cake recipe I shared in my prior post. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
I have always considered myself a Midwestern girl. Technically speaking, I am actually from the South. I was born and raised in Kentucky, at the extreme tip of the state, only a stone’s throw from the Ohio border. Geographical lines get blurry in that part of the country and so depending on which way the wind is blowing, some days I’m a Southern girl, and some days I’m feelin’ my Midwestern roots. Today’s post is all about my Midwestern tendencies.
A few weeks back when I brought you this post and a recipe for Glazed Streusel Coffee Cake, I promised I would tell you all about another new addition to my cookbook collection. Please allow me to introduce to you, Amy Thielen. Amy is a professionally trained Mid-western chef with extensive credentials in many food related areas. Most recently, she launched her own show on FoodNetwork. I was hooked after watching the first episode. When I heard she had recently published a cookbook, well, you know me, I had to have it. Turns out, my sister was the perfect little ‘Secret Santa’ and there it appeared on Christmas morning. I spent the day after Christmas, lying by the fire, getting lost in her anecdotal writings and creative recipes. One recipe in particular had my mouth watering and my sweet tooth aching for a taste. I knew I couldn’t rest until I tried Amy’s recipe for Lacquered Day-Old Angel Food Cake with Pears. Ohhh Myyyyy Gooodddd! I’m not kidding. Sometimes it is the simplest things that are the best, and I’m telling you, this recipe is not only easy, but it is life changing. Tender slices of angel food cake are fried in caramelized sugar and butter. The crispy, crunchy, dark amber sugar crust that forms on each cake slice is evocative of the same glass-like pane of sugar topping crème brûlée. Are you on board now?! And, as if the caramel fried cake needs any further adornment, slices of pear are tossed about in the caramel remaining in the pan and served alongside the cake. Wait….a dollop of whipped cream rounds out the entire experience, and there you have it. Truly, this is one of the most delicious desserts I have ever tasted. Believe you me!
Notes: I’m sharing this recipe in a very informal way. It is intended to be a homey, last minute solution for using up left-over angel food cake. I used my Blood Orange Chocolate Chip Angel Food Cake, minus the chocolate, but any angel food cake will do.
Lacquered Angel Food Cake
Left-over slices of Angel Food cake
Granulated sugar
Butter
Slices of pear or apple (optional)
Whipped Cream
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Sprinkle about 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar into the skillet. Shake the pan to evenly distribute the sugar across the surface of the pan. Once the outer edge of sugar has started to melt and turn amber in color, stir with a wooden spoon until all the sugar has dissolved.
Add about 2 tablespoons of butter to the skillet and stir to combine. Add 3 or 4 slices of angel food cake to the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, turning the cake slices over and over, using a second utensil along with the wooden spoon, until the cake is fully coated with a dark amber glaze. This will take approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove the cake slices to serving plates. If serving with fruit, add the slices of pear or apple to the skillet. Over medium-high heat, quickly cook the fruit until it softens slightly and picks up some of the remaining caramelized sugar from the bottom of the pan. Serve immediately alongside the cake slices and some whipped cream.
O H M Y G O S H GOOD!
Mary said it perfectly above…only she missed saying: Every mouthful is HEAVEN! And it is.
Mary stopped by when a girlfriend was visiting and both my girlfriend and I leaned over the same plate and devoured the fluffy, crunchy, light, sinfully delicious sweetness – still warm despite the drive – dolloped with cold, homemade, whipped cream…oh my!
The sounds the two of us made were, well…let’s just say the groaning and gasping and happy sighing did not stop as we licked the plate clean.
M A K E T H I S and listen to your happy friends and family exclaim with guttural glee!
I’ve never seen two pieces of cake disappear so quickly. And yes, there were moans and groans along the way. They were happy campers.
Oh I can’t wait! I know what I want my birthday cake to be. Thanks for sharing.
Your wish is my command. Not sure how I can ship slices of this cake to you but maybe fate will bring us closer together on your birthday.
Well, you got your wish! You have lacquered angel food cake coming your way!
Well my goodness! Now I must find out all about Amy Thielen! With such a voluptuous Angel Food Cake recipe I’m compelled to add another dozen eggs to my shopping list!
I promise you Deb, this cake is worth a trip to the market, 20 miles from home, in the middle of the night,just to pick up the supplies needed to make these addictive crackly, crunchy, slices of heaven.
Adore this! I’m from Montana, so I have really enjoyed watching her show. Have the book and have not tried anything yet, but you have reminded to pull it off the shelf and look at it again.
There are so many things I want to make from her book. If you try a recipe that you particularly love, please let me know.
And now I’ll have one more recipe to try from my growing list of recipes I’ve earmarked in her cookbook. I just bought my copy this week when I met Amy Thielen at a local book talk and signing event. Haven’t been able to put it down and can’t wait til the weekend to dive into my top picks…so many great stories and recipes.
Please let me know which recipes you make and what you thought of them. I’m looking forward to trying more of her recipes as well. When I read her book I feel as though I have traveled home.
Ahh! This sounds AMAZING, Mary!! I can already imagine the crunchy caramelized crust! I wish I could lick my computer screen to get a taste of this!
Oh Lynna, wouldn’t that just be great if we could taste on our screens all the beautiful food we see on blogs!
What a fantastic idea. I use to sprinkle and brulee the Angel Food Cake and it was hard but it works as long as you use a light hand. This is so much better, kudos to you!!! I am going to try this. I make my own angel food cake since I always have more egg whites left over from some of my recipes. Thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to try it. I have apples!
I don’t think I will ever be able to bake an angel food cake again without stealing away a piece to crisp up in a pan of butter and sugar.