23 Mar Lemon Poppy Seed Angel Food Cake
My grandmother makes a delicious Angel Food cake. We used to eat it with 7 minute frosting for my grandfather’s birthdays. That was his favorite. So, I don’t know if I love the cake or the memories more, but Angel Food is something special to me.
Angel food also happens to be a recipe that is easily made to be gluten free because it relies on the eggs whites, not the gluten, for leavening. I used arrowroot starch and maple sugar in this recipe to take it paleo. It worked quite well, great flavor and the poppy seeds are a nice contrast to the spongey cake.
I think this cake would be great for breakfast with coffee or dessert. Here, I show it served with maple-coconut whipped cream and blueberries, but the possibilities for toppings are endless.
There are some important steps to take in the cooling and handling process to try to preserve the lightness of the cake. Cooling is important, and the trick is to do it upside down so gravity doesn’t work against you. Your tube pan should have a hole in the center of the round divider in the middle. This will fit over a wine, or some other kind of bottle nicely and allow you to cool your cake upside down. It will look like you are pulling quite the balancing act for your precious egg whites.
This recipe is adapted from Flourless by Nicole Spiridakis, a great book and a great concept: focus on the recipes that are naturally gluten free when you are choosing desserts, instead of trying to make other things act like gluten.
Lemon Poppy Seed Angel Food Cake
- Category: Dairy Free, Dessert, Gluten Free, Sugar Free
Ingredients
- 12 egg whites (430 grams), at room temperature
- 2 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. warm water
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 c maple sugar
- 1 c arrowroot starch
- 3 tbsp. poppy seeds
- Grated zest of one large lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
- Add egg whites, 1 tbsp of the lemon juice and the warm water to the bowl of an electric stand mixer (a hand mixer works as well) and beat on medium-high speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla and keep beating until soft peaks form.
- Once you have soft peaks, add 3/4c. of the maple sugar a little bit at a time while still beating. Beat until whites hold stiff peaks and are glossy, not dry.
- Stir together the arrowroot starch with the remaining sugar and gently fold it into the egg whites, trying to not defeat them too much, but folding until combined. Then fold in the poppy seeds, lemon zest and remaining lemon juice.
- Pour the batter into a clean tube pan. line the bottom with parchment paper if yours does not have a removable bottom. This will help a lot to get the cake out of the pan without sticking.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, until cake is puffed and the surface is lightly browned and cracked.
- Remove from oven and turn the pan upside down to cool. You can put the hole in the middle of your tube pan over a bottle, or your tube pan might have feet.
- Carefully remove the cake from the pan, using a long knife to separate the cake from the sides of the pan if necessary. To serve, cut the cake carefully with a serrated knife, cleaning the knife as needed when it starts sticking.
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