Angel Food Cake with Lime Curd and Blackberries
Angel food cake, a divine fat-free confection, is almost as easy to make from scratch as it is from a mix. And the flavor is infinitely better. Chef Anderson kisses this cake with creamy, tart lime curd and dollops it with a blackberry compote. We think it's heavenly.
Ingredients
- Egg Whites - 1-3/4 cups (about 12), at room temperature
- Sugar - 1-3/4 cup
- Cream of Tartar - 1-1/2 teaspoons
- Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon
- Citrus Zest - 1 tablespoon (lemon, lime or orange) zest, minced
- Cake flour - 2-1/3 cup
- Sugar - 3/4 cup, divided
- Lime Curd - (recipe follows)
- Blackberry Compote - (recipe follows)
- Mint sprigs - garnish
- Lime Curd
- Eggs - 10
- Fresh lime juice - 1 cup
- Lime Zest - 1 tablespoons, minced
- Sugar - 1-1/3 cup, divided
- Unsalted Butter - 1 cup (8 ounces, or 2 sticks), softened
- Blackberry Compote
- Fresh Blackberries - 1 pints, divided
- Sugar - 1 cup
- Water - 2 cups
Instructions
Place egg whites in a clean, grease free bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Combine cream of tartar and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Beat egg whites until frothy, then add the tartar-sugar mixture. Continue beating until soft peaks form. Slowly add 3/4 cup of sugar, beating constantly. Sift the cake flour together with the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar three times. Whip egg whites to stiff peaks; add vanilla extract and finely chopped citrus zest. Remove bowl from mixer. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold flour-sugar mixture into whites until fully incorporated. Pour batter into a clean ungreased angel food tube pan. Bake at 350 F for 20 to 25 minutes, until cake is puffed slightly on top and golden brown. When cake is fully cooked, remove pan from oven and invert over the neck of a bottle and allow to cool completely. If your pan has "extensions" protruding from the top rim, you may invert the pan onto a cake plate. When cake has cooked completely, run a long thin metal spatula carefully along the edges and invert the cake onto a platter.
To serve: For each serving, place two thin slices of angel food cake on a
dessert plate. Spoon lime curd at 7 o'clock, spoon blackberry compote over
top. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig.
Lime Curd
In a non-reactive pan, combine line juice, zest and 1 cup of the sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. In a bowl set over a pot of simmering water, whisk together eggs and the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar. Whisk constantly and be careful that eggs do not overcook and curdle. To temper eggs, pour a little of the lot lime juice mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly. Add the remaining juice and continue to cook, whisking, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove bowl from heat, and from the pan of simmering water. Whisk in the soften butter. Allow to cool.
Blackberry Compote
Wash berries. Combine 1 pint of the berries with the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook until sugar is dissolved and mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and cool. Puree cooled berry mixture in a food processor. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Discard seeds. Place remaining pint of blackberries in a glass baking dish.Pour berry puree over blackberries. Let sit for 30 minutes.
