Vanilla Angel Cake with Cinnamon Coffee Drizzle & GROUNDHOG DAY
Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, and while it may not be a widely celebrated holiday, it’s a fun one to reference mainly because of the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray.
In this movie Bill Murray is a weatherman named Phil who finds himself living the same day over and over again. The concept is simple, and the plot and character interactions are absolutely hilarious.
In one scene at a diner – after Phil has realized that he relives the same day repeatedly – he learns not to care about cholesterol, lung cancer, or love handles. As a result of knowing he will start at the beginning each day, he stuffs his face with doughnuts, coffee, strawberry milkshakes, chocolate pudding, cake, and pancakes. When his love interest and co-worker, Rita, questions him about his health, he responds, “I don’t worry about anything anymore.” He then proceeds to stuff an entire slice of Angel Cake into his mouth.
This Angel Cake, covered in a Cinnamon Coffee Drizzle, is worthy of being stuffed into your mouth as an entire slice. I wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s that good. It was my first time making any type of dessert like this, and while it wasn’t perfect, it was still delicious. My biggest mistake was using a nonstick one-piece pan. Instead, use a two-piece pan. Do not grease or butter the pan because the mixture sticks to the sides when it rises.
Angel Cake is all about technique, and practice makes perfect. It’s fun to make – the whipped egg whites turn into a fluffy cloud-like mixture. It’s pretty surprising to see the egg white liquid turn into what resembles foam. The Cinnamon Coffee Drizzle is a simple way to cover this spongy cake. The shot of espresso will give you an extra caffeine kick, on top of the sugar high.
Even if you don’t pay attention to whether the groundhog sees his shadow or not, take a moment to celebrate this holiday with Angel Cake, Cinnamon Coffee Drizzle, and Bill Murray. Am I right or am I right or am I right?
Vanilla Angel Cake with Cinnamon Coffee Drizzle
Serves: 4-6 | Cooking time: 1.5-2 hours
Angel Cake
Ingredients
1 cup cake flour
¾ cup sugar
12 egg whites, room temperature
1½ tablespoons cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ sugar
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour and ¾ cup sugar.
In the bowl with the egg whites, add cream of tartar, vanilla extract, and salt. With a high speed hand-blender, whisk everything together until soft peaks form. Add the remaining ½ cup of sugar and blend until a stiff peak forms. This process takes about 10-15 minutes on a high speed - the egg whites will get foamy and puff up.
Once the eggs are beaten, add the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time. Fold the flour mixture in with a spatula. Don't stir quickly, but instead gently combine everything until smooth. Be sure not to overwork the batter.
Pour the foamy batter into the Angel Cake food pan and shake until even. Use the spatula to cut through in a circle to get rid of any air bubbles.
Bake for 30-35 minutes.
Allow the Angel Cake to cool for 1 hour, and then remove from the pan. Use a flexible spatula or knife to cut around the edges of the cake if it won't come out right away.
Cinnamon Coffee Glaze
Ingredients
1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons dark espresso, or dehydrated coffee with three tablespoons of water until concentrated
5 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
Pinch of salt
Method
In a small mixing bowl, add brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, dark espresso, confectioner's sugar, and salt. Mix together with a whisk or fork.
Drizzle over the cooled Angel Cake, cut into slices, and enjoy!
© A Dash of Cinema
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Food Images by Lauren Jessen; Film Stills of Groundhog Day from Columbia Pictures