Chocolate Orange Angel Food Cake – Recipe
I have been a bit of a baking fool lately and that baking has left me with a lot of extra egg whites. This happens often as many recipes end up yolk heavy or I make pasta. I save all of the whites in a little container until I have enough and then I make meringues or an angel food cake. This time I went the cake route only I decided to mix it up a little with a twist on an angel food cake recipe.
The husband and I had gone to the store and I was really in the mood for oranges. Shockingly, navel oranges were $2 each! I did buy one as a treat but at that price I was going to use as much of that orange as I could! So, when making the angel food cake I used the zest to flavor it. A bit of chocolate always goes well with orange and that is how this cake came to be.
Oh, and that orange – it was delicious! Worth every penny.
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Chocolate Orange Angel Food Cake Recipe
Serves 10 – 12
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 12 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of one orange, preferably organic
- 1/2 oz piece of semi sweet chocolate, grated
- powdered sugar if desired, for dusting
- Preheat oven to 375°
- Have a 10? angel food cake pan ready.
- Combine the flour and powdered sugar in a bowl and set aside. Whisk in the orange zest being sure to keep it separated and well distributed.
- Grate the chocolate into the flour mixture and whisk to combine
- In a bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attached place the egg whites and cream of tartar.
- Whip on med-high until the whites are foamy. Start adding the granulated sugar a tablespoon at a time. After the last of the sugar has been put into the whites, add the salt and vanilla extract.
- Continue whipping until the whites are at stiff peaks.
- Add about 1/4 of the flour/sugar mixture to the whites and gently fold in.
- Repeat, being careful not to deflate the whites until all of the flour/sugar mixture has been incorporated
- Spoon the batter into the angel food cake pan.
- Cut through the batter with a knife to remove any large air holes. Smooth over the top and then drop the pan onto the counter (from a height of about 6 – 8″) to settle the batter.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes, checking at 30 and letting the cake bake until the top is brown and any cracks appear dry.
- Rest upside down until completely cool. Carefully remove from pan.
- Dust with powdered sugar before serving if desired
How Was the Chocolate Orange Angel Food Cake Recipe?
I love angel food cake – let me just put that out there. But adding the orange zest and chocolate shavings took it to a whole other level. The chocolate is not the dominant flavor – the orange is, but the chocolate is there. I would be concerned with adding too much more so as to not weigh down the cake.
If you wanted to punch up the chocolate flavor you could sub out some of the flour for cocoa powder I think…might have to experiment with that next time. Now I will have to make a bunch of yolk based recipes so I can do that! Perhaps some ice cream. Yum!
This cake has been getting more flavorful as it sits. I love cakes/cookies/baked goods that do that. It’s not that they are bad on the first day, it’s just that the flavors get stronger and more developed as time passes.
This recipe is definitely a keeper for me.
