Strawberries & Cream Angel Food Baby Cakes

STRAWBERRIES & CREAM ANGEL FOOD BABY CAKES

6/1/2018

Have you ever seen anything that screamed 'SUMMER" more than these? Sweet and easy, light and perfectly wonderful - my family loves these much more than a traditional shortcake.

A perfect mini angel food bundt cake, topped with a cloud of sweetened whipped cream, dazzling with sliced fresh strawberries, and drizzled with fresh and sweet strawberry sauce. Pretty, petite and perfect!

Strawberry Angel Food Shortcake

If you prefer, you can bake these up as Angel Food Cupcakes, but I love any chance I get to use my Nordic Ware Bundlette & Heritage cake pans. Unlike a traditional Angel Food Cake that needs to be baked on an angel food or tube pan with a removable bottom, with no greasing allowed, these sweet little cakes bake up perfectly in these premium non-stick pans with only a light spray of Baker's Joy non-stick baking spray. You can literally just pop these out of the pan after they have cooled for ten minutes. So easy!

Strawberries & Cream Baby Angel Food Cakes

Homemade sweetened whipped cream is perfect on these, but if you're in a hurry, Cool Whip or Reddi Whip work just fine too. Some days it just about getting things done as quickly and easily as you can!

And sweet and red strawberries are now in season here, but you could also use fresh raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, or a combination of your favorite fresh berries on these cute little cakes.

Perfect for Memorial Day, the fourth of July, or any time you need a sweet little treat that will make everyone happy.

Go ahead...you know you want to taste one of these!

Strawberries & Cream Angel Food Baby Bundt Cakes

STRAWBERRIES & CREAM
ANGEL FOOD BABY CAKES

Have you ever seen anything that screamed “SUMMER” more than these? Sweet and easy, light and perfectly wonderful – my family loves these much more than a traditional shortcake. A perfect mini angel food bundt cake, topped with a cloud of sweetened whipped cream and drizzled with fresh strawberries and the perfect strawberry sauce. Pretty, petite and perfect!

Snowflakes & Coffeecakes Strawberries & Cream Angel Food Baby Cakes

INGREDIENTS:
Angel Food Baby Cakes:
1-1/2 cups egg whites (about 12 large or 10 extra large eggs, room temperature)
1-1/4 cup (140g) cake flour (sifted, spooned & leveled if not using grams)
1-1/4 cup powdered sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup super fine sugar
1 teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract
1/8 teaspoon pure Almond Extract

Whipped Cream:
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract

Strawberries: As many as you prefer! You can also substitute fresh raspberries, blackberries or blueberries, or combine your favorite fresh berries.

Special Equipment:
Nordic Ware Bundlette/Muffin Pans
(I use and recommend both the Commercial & Heritage premium non-stick pans)
Fine mesh stainless steel strainer
Baker’s Joy Non-Stick Baking Spray

HOW I MAKE THESE:

Remove your eggs from the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature. Use an egg separator to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks – make sure there isn’t a speck of egg yolk that gets in with your egg whites, because it will prevent them from whipping up light and frothy. As you separate the eggs, place the egg whites in the bowl of your stand mixer and let sit at room temperature for another 30 minutes.
Adjust the oven rack to the center position and preheat oven to 350°.
PREPARE THE CAKES: In a separate large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, powdered sugar and salt.
Sifting (or aerating) the powdered sugar and cake flour fluffs the dry ingredients and allows them to dissolve quicker and more easily into the egg whites. Using a stainless steel fine mesh strainer, gently shake and sift the flour & sugar mixture into another large bowl; throw away any large lumps that remain in the strainer. Then gently shake and sift one more time into the bowl you just emptied out; set aside.
Now it’s time to whip the egg whites and cream of tartar, which make the base of angel food cake. Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar together on medium low until foamy, about 1 minute. Switch to medium-high and slowly drizzle in the 1/2 cup of superfine sugar. Whip until light and fluffy and soft peaks form, about 5-6 minutes. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat just until combined.
Next, using a fine-mesh strainer again, sift and shake 1/3 of the flour mixture into the egg white mixture. Sift slowly in 3 additions, while gently and slowly folding it in with a spatula. Dumping all of the dry ingredients into the delicate whipped egg whites will deflate them – and the fluffier and puffier your angel food cake batter, the fluffier and puffier your baby angel food cakes.
Now is the time to spray the wells of your bundtlette pans with Baker’s Joy non-stick baking spray. If you spray the wells too early, the non-stick spray will slowly slide down into the bottom of the well and you won’t have even coverage.
Gently spoon the fluffy batter into your prepared angel food bundtlette pans, as evenly as you can, filling each well all the way to the top, but not overflowing; smooth the tops evenly and gently.
Bake the baby cakes for 15-20 minutes or until the top is a very pale golden color and the cake tops spring back when touched.
Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and cool completely. If you need to, run a thin knife around any edges that may be sticking and gently tap the pan on the counter until the cakes release – they usually pop right out!
Store covered in an air-tight container.
PREPARE STRAWBERRIES: Rinse, core and cut into pieces or slices. Place into a bowl and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Cover and give them a gentle shake, then refrigerate for 30 minutes, which will cause the berries to sweeten and create a light strawberry sauce.
PREPARE THE SWEETENED WHIPPED CREAM: Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 3-4 minutes. Spoon or pipe onto baby cakes.
Right before serving, place cakes on a serving platter or individual plates. You can either spoon some of the sweetened berries on the plate/platter before placing the cakes on top, or spoon the sweetened berries on top of the whipping cream. Garnish with additional fresh berries if you’d like.
Best enjoyed within a few hours after making so that the angel food cakes don’t get soggy!

YIELD: 10 mini-bundt cakes

RECIPE NOTES:

If using a regular-sized bundt pan, bake 30 minutes or until golden brown and cake springs back when touched.
Cake flour is crucial to this recipe. All-purpose flour produces a dense angel food cake, and we don’t want that – we want light and FLUFFY!
Aside from just being fun to use, an egg separator is critical because you don’t want even a single speck of egg yolk in the egg whites, as the fat in egg yolks will prevent the egg whites from whipping properly. And make sure to separate each egg over a small bowl separately before adding the egg whites to your mixing bowl – you don’t want to ruin an entire “batch” of egg whites because the last egg added has the yolk break and has a spec of egg yolk in the egg white…
Cream of tartar plays a VERY important role in these little cakes. It holds the air bubbles in place, ensuring that the angel food cake batter maintains its fluffy volume when baked. If you leave it out, or if you use stale cream of tartar, the whipped egg whites will deflate.
I recommend Baker’s Joy non-stick baking spray for this particular recipe, which seems to work better than Pam Baking Spray for the angel food cakes.
Make ahead tip: Prepare the angel food baby cakes one day in advance, cover tightly and keep at room temperature overnight. The berries can also be prepared in advance; cover and keep in the refrigerator overnight.

© SnowflakesandCoffeecakes. All images, attachments & content are copyright protected. All rights reserved. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to www.snowflakesandcoffeecakes.com for the recipe.