Raspberry Rose Angel Food Cake

I had to empty out the freezer, and since I still had a lot of egg whites left, I made another angel food cake, this time, flavored with raspberries and rosewater. This one was really good, and it looked great! 

I love rosewater, and I used the amount recommended, but I felt like I could barely taste it in the cake. This was disappointing to me, so I’d definitely use more next time. I also changed the frosting recipe: the original blog post said to cook (and cool) 2 cups of raspberries, then fold that into the frosting, but I went with 4 tablespoons of freeze-dried raspberry powder instead, and that just seems so much easier to me that it’s what I’m writing below. 

For the cake 

1 cup (120 g) cake flour, sifted 

1 ¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar, divided 

¼ tsp. table salt 

12 egg whites, at room temperature (I used 16 oz.) 

1 ¼ tsp. cream of tartar 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

zest of one lemon (optional) 

2 tsp. rose water (see note above) 

For the topping 

2 cups lactose-free cream 

4 Tbsp. freeze-dried raspberry powder 

¼ cup (50 g) packed light brown sugar 

1 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract 

a handful of fresh raspberries, for garnish 

For the cake 

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. 

Sift the flour, half the sugar and salt, set aside. 

Whip the egg whites until foamy. Add 1 tablespoon water, the cream of tartar and vanilla, whip until it begins to form soft peaks. Add the remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time until incorporated. Add the lemon zest and rose water and continue whipping until it is medium stiff peaks. 

Sift 1/3 of the flour over the whites and gently fold it in using a rubber spatula. Continue with another 1/3 and then the final flour. Transfer the batter into a 10-cup tube pan. Run a knife around the batter to get out any large air pockets, then smooth the top. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or just until a tester comes out with moist crumbs. 

Turn the pan upside down to cool. If your pan has feet, then you're all set, if not, you'll need to set it over a bottle of wine or balance it on soda cans. Once the cake is completely cool, run a paring knife around the outer edge and the middle. Invert the cake onto the serving plate. 

For the topping 

Whip the cream, raspberry powder, and brown sugar on medium speed until it just starts to thicken, add the vanilla and continue to whip until medium/soft peaks. 

Top the cake as desired (I put the frosting on top, but you could also slice the cake in half and put some in the middle as well as on top, or put some on the sides too.) Decorate with fresh raspberries as desired.