Whip this cake into shape

OF ALL the world’s famous dishes, there are but a few whose very existence seem to defy logic.

Indeed a small handful remain sufficiently mysterious that the most important question probably remains — who on earth thought this up, and how?

To bakers like myself, angel food cake is just such an enigma. Made correctly it should lack sufficient structural integrity to continue upright. It is, after all, no more than a lightly stabilised vanilla-scented meringue. By rights it ought to collapse in on itself. And yet it doesn’t.

As such, there are a few handy tricks pastry chefs employ to tame this batter that make all the difference between success and fiasco.

For starters, although meringue is traditionally made with week-old eggs as they form a smoother foam, angel food cake requires the freshest eggs you can acquire.

For this recipe it is the strength of the eggs’ protein, not its ability to be whipped that is most important. To get around the reluctance of fresh egg whites to unfold and rejoin, we need to make the mixture acidic.

Traditionally vinegar would be used, but cream of tartar is significantly more effective, and avoids the sour aftertaste.

Never over-whip the meringue. Under-whipping will yield a smaller and denser cake, but over-whipping means the egg whites lose their elasticity and the cake collapses as it tries to grow.

Lastly, you need a specially designed tin, a ring mould whose centre sticks out.

This is essential because while warm, the cake cannot stand.

After baking it has to cool in the tin, upside down.

‘‘

THERE ARE A FEW HANDY TRICKS PASTRY CHEFS EMPLOY TO TAME THIS BATTER ...