Spring is a happy time. The trees explode with flowers; life sprouts everywhere.
I love the Spring fruits and vegetables. One of my favorite desserts in the Spring is a piece of wonderfully light angel food cake with brown butter served with cold berry soup. Sometimes I finish the soup with a splash of Prosecco. Delicious!
Angel Food Cake with Brown Butter
For a
10" pan
Ingredients:
½ tsp Salt
140g All-purpose flour, sifted
½ tsp Baking
powder
300 g Egg whites
2 tsp Cream
of tartar
200 g Sugar
142
gm (10TBSP) Beurre noisette (browned butter)
1 Vanilla
bean
Instructions:
1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Make
the Beurre noisette: In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Continue
cooking the butter until it boils. After about 5 - 10
minutes the butter will start to brown. It is best when it is darker brown and
has tiny dark specks. The specks give the browned butter its flavor. Once you
reach this phase, remove from heat and let cool.
3. Make French
meringue: In a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip egg whites and
cream of tartar until medium to stiff peaks.
4. Carefully fold the
sifted dry ingredients in the French meringue in thirds. Folding it in all at
once will deflate the batter.
5. Mix (sacrifice)
a large spoonful of batter with cooled beurre noisette. Add this to the rest of the batter and fold in to
fully incorporate.
6. Pour batter
into an ungreased 10” angel food cake pan and bake for 15 minutes. The cake is done
when it springs back when touched and skewer comes out clean. It will not pull
away from the sides of the pan. Invert angel food cake over a baking rack until
cool.
Variations:
●You may
pipe batter on greased small 4oz pans or ramekins. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Berry Soup
Serves 8
455g Strawberries, cleaned and hulled
295g Blueberries, cleaned
365g Raspberries
170g Blackberries
1 Mint sprig
125mL Red wine, dry (I prefer cabernet)
90g Sugar
1. In a large pot, combine the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, mint, wine, and sugar.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Lower heat and simmer for 30 min.
4. Chill in refrigerator overnight.
5. The next day, strain the mixture through a cheese cloth. Be careful not to disturb the fruits to ensure a clear soup. It's a slow process but worth it. Discard fruits when finished straining.
Note: You can use whatever berries you can find according to the seasons. If you choose to add rhubarb, use the following amounts:
428g Rhubarb
304g Strawberries
197g Blueberries
244g Raspberries
113g Blackberries
You may wish to increase the sugar by 30g to offset the tartness of the rhubarb.
