Another Ridiculous Cake: Almond Angel Food Cake With Amaretto Cinnamon Figs and Honey Amaretto Cream

It was my friend's birthday and she made a joke that someone should make her a cake. I never joke about cake.

So I needed to find a recipe for a cake that was large, but traveled well. So layers were out, and icing would be tricky. I've always thought of angel food cake as nothing special, but Bonnie Stern proved me wrong. Add some toasted ground almonds and lemon zest as well as some amaretto and vanilla flavours, soak some figs in cinnamon syrup and add a tangy crème fraiche...and voila, the food of angels. Not something you buy in a grocery store. The texture is soft and light without being all air. It's practically without fat (it would be completely without fat except for the addition of the ground almonds and my use of a high-fat yogurt for the small drizzle of cream) and it's completely, amazingly delicious. Almost enough to make me want to convert to something. If it promised this cake as a reward (in writing) I'd consider it. Probably more likely that if someONE promised me this cake (again, in writing, or the form of a ring or band) I'd go along with him too.

Ingredients:
1 cup cake and pastry flour (I used Première Moisson, which is all-purpose but works very well for baked goods)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided (I used real, granulated sugar here to get the right texture. I was worried cane sugar would be too coarse)
1/4 cup almonds, toasted and ground (without skin. You can use sliced or whole and just grind them after you toast them in a small skillet or saucepan over medium heat until they start to turn golden brown and aromatic)
1 1/2 cups egg whites (the recipe says "about 12" so I just used 12. Not a great idea sometimes, but it worked. I hate fussing with egg whites since they don't like to be fussed with once separated from their yellow brothers)
1 tsp cream of tartar (a whole teaspoon! I've never in my life used a whole teaspoon at once!)
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp lemon peel (I assume this is the same as zest?)

Amaretto Cinnamon Figs
3 cups water
2/3 cup honey or sugar (cane sugar is fine here since it melts. Honey is better)
2 cinnamon sticks
1/4 cup amaretto (or orange liqueur or orange juice concentrate, but why would you use those unless you don't drink alcohol and don't want to get stuck with finding something to do with the rest of the bottle? I think you can get a little taster bottle of Disaronno at the liquor store. The alcohol gets cooked off anyway)
1 1/2 cups dried figs, stems removed - just twist them off (you could also use dried, sulphur-free apricots - the darker ones - and the cooking time will be less in that case)
1 tbsp lemon juice (or to taste)

Amaretto Cream:
1/2 cup thick, unflavoured yogurt, strained through a fine-mesh sieve lined with a cheese cloth or paper towels...or just a thick yogurt. Low-fat if you want, but the higher fat ones are generally creamier (pinehedge!). I personally hate the zero fat Greek-style yogurt from Liberté but you could use that if you so chose to keep the fat down. Come on, though, it's an angel food cake. Reducing the fat even more is like overkill, and killing is hardly angelic. MORE killing is even less so)
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp amaretto (or orange liqueur or orange juice concentrate. I have a feeling you could also just use a tiny bit of almond extract)

So this takes an age, but it's SO worth it. It's elaborate and a little difficult, but the end result is heavenly, so to speak. You can do it.

Directions:
 1. Step one is to make a pan. Yes, make a pan. If you don't own an angel food cake pan or a 10 inch (4L tube pan) that is. I used an aluminum 8 inch cake pan and some aluminum foil.

The aluminum part is important because it's a whole lot easier to remove the cake from the pan if you can tear the pan apart. It's kind of like a quasi-removable bottom. I toyed with the idea of doing two 8 inch cakes and then putting a frosting between the layers, but that doesn't travel well. If you wanted to do this, cut the baking time down to 18-25 minutes, or there about. Check it and be brave.

2. Toast the almonds and grind them in a blender or food processor or coffee grinder. Or just chop very finely. Add it to the flour and 3/4 of a cup of the sugar in a medium bowl and sift together. The almonds won't sift incredibly well, but don't worry. 

3. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Put on some music while you do this to keep yourself entertained...Put the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in a large heatproof bowl (not aluminum) and don't get any water or yolk in the bowl. That will stop the whites from rising as much. To save the yolks from the garbage, add 4 1/2 teaspoons of sugar to them in a freezer-safe container, shake the container to mix, and put it in the freezer. Now you have lots of yolks for your next dessert. You can also do this with a certain quantity of salt if you want the yolks for savoury dishes such as mayonnaise. They'll also keep in the fridge for 2 days but 12 yolks in two days? There goes your heart. You can also freeze the egg yolk mixture in ice cube trays and then transfer to a freezer bag to have them in small quantities instead of struggling with a block of egg yolks the next time you want 2 yolks for a custard.

4. Set up a double boiler and bring a saucepan of water to a simmer. Place the bowl of egg whites on top and stir until they're warm (3-5 minutes). No need to stir for the entire time, just don't let them cook on you. So don't forget about them. Apparently if the egg whites are warm (at least room temperature) they'll triple in size. Cold whites won't do such a good job of expanding. Please, please, please, don't forget about them and let them cook. You just separated 12 eggs. You don't want to do that again. In fact, by now, you probably want to invest in an egg separator or use horrible liquid egg white products.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

6. When the whites are warm start beating them on low speed until they're opaque (if you beat on high they get too much air too fast and they're more unstable). Turn the mixer to medium and slowly beat in the 3/4 cups of sugar. Beat until the elusive soft peaks stage. Then beat in the almond extract and vanilla extract. Now get the bowl off the heat! You've come this far. No messing it up now!

7. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the egg whites as you fold it in. You can do this in 3 stages (add 1/3rd flour, fold; add 1/2 remaining flour, fold; add remaining flour, fold) but I like the pouring it in with one hand as you fold with the other because it keeps the flour separate. You can use a dry measuring cup to pour the flour if the bowl is heavy.

 8. Fold in the lemon peel (zest). Now you've got to work fast since the egg whites aren't getting any fluffier.

9. Gently spoon (I poured...gently) batter into the pan you created (or had) and lightly smooth the top before sticking it in the oven for 40-45 minutes. The recipe says check it with a cake tester to make sure it's done...does this mean a toothpick? I've never made an angel food cake before so maybe a cake tester is a fancy gizmo that I don't own. The mythical "cake tester" should come out clean and dry. Sure sounds like a toothpick to me. I don't know...so I went with the other indication: when the cake springs back when gently touched.

10. Now a little bit of a scary part. Turn the cake upside down on a rack and let it cool for an hour. I had to cut down the sides of the aluminum foil. I was not about the have the centre of my cake fall out onto a rack. So I put a towel under the bottom of my cooling rack and placed the rack directly on top of the cake. Then a deep breath...and flip! Phew! Leave it in the pan for now unless you know it's going to come off easily and you don't need to travel with the cake. I just wrapped it up in its own aluminum foil and traveled with it as it was after cooling.

11. Now you have a plain white fluffy cake, but what are you going to put on that cake? Bring the water, honey and cinnamon to a boil in a large saucepan (large is better than medium since there will be more surface area and the figs will spread out more evenly). When it comes to a boil add the amaretto, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

Then add the figs and cook about another 30-35 minutes, stirring every few minutes to saturate the figs. When they're soft and tender add the lemon juice to taste (I liked more than a tbsp) and cook for one more minute. You're not going to serve the cinnamon sticks but leave them in there for now to let them keep infusing the syrup. If the syrup is too thick add more hot water.

12. For the drizzle, combine the strained or unstrained yogurt with the honey and amaretto.

13. The assembly: Peel the aluminum foil and aluminum pan off your cake or somehow remove it from the pan. A removable bottom is a good thing, but so are scissors. Turn the cake upright on a plate or serving platter. See how it's already sinking in the middle? Be careful with weighing it down and saturating it with liquid.

14. Place the figs in a pattern you like (I liked it kind of like a flower, but I'm not that artsy I think, and it was all I could come up with), and let some of the syrup drizzle down the sides. If you get too much of it in the middle the cake will collapse, so be careful not to weigh it down with the syrup or the figs.

15. Then spoon the amaretto cream over top. You can use a squeeze bottle but who has one of those? Just don't pour it or, again, the cake may collapse, and that would be a disaster. You made it to the end! Take a picture. Then dig in to an angelic dessert.