Angel Food Cake with Raspberry Layers

June is birthday month! It was my friend Jeanette’s birthday and she requested angel food cake. I have never made an angel food cake before, so I was pretty excited to use the pan hanging out in my Mom’s cabinet. Finally a use for a pan with legs! I had no idea that you needed to let the cake rest upside down, so I had a great time documenting this:

The cake is marvelous – it has a perfect sponge-y texture and I love Martha’s addition of raspberry layers. They add a nice fruity contrast to the cake. The layers are very easy to make – all those egg whites make the batter extremely stiff, so you can easily spread the raspberry mixture onto the batter without a problem, making you appear to be some sort of cake layering genius.

I rarely pay attention to recipes that tell you to sift, but I highly recommend it here. The batter is very light and fluffy and if there are any lumps in the sugar or flour, it will be readily apparent in the cake. So sift away! I used my Mom’s sifter, which is wonderfully old school and works far better than my newer one.

Finally, don’t toss those egg yolks! I am saving mine to make a super batch of ice cream that will be so creamy, I will probably die of happiness. I had a fantastic salted caramel ice cream a few weeks ago that I would love to replicate, so if you know of any good recipes, leave a comment. Otherwise I might make ice cream with my second favorite ingredient, creme fraiche!

Unfortunately for the purpose of blog photos, we ate the cake on a bar patio, lit by candlelight. Great for ambiance, terrible for photos. So this was the sole focused, best lit photo of the cake. It is a bit hard to tell, but check out how awesome the raspberry layers look! Very delicious, angel food cake is now officially in recipe circulation.

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Baked Raspberry Brie

I mentioned I was obsessed with puff pastry these days right? Well this recipe should bring you over to the puff pastry world if you aren’t already there. I made this as a Superbowl appetizer and it was delicious. Really delicious. I am looking for an excuse to make it again, so can someone please throw a party and invite me?

There isn’t too much cooking going on here, just some stirring, rolling and wrapping. Simple stuff. If you can’t find a big enough brie, check out Costco or your nearest wholesale food store. I got mine there in a weak cheese moment (along with the biggest bag of Baby Bell cheeses I had ever seen).

Best of all, this is a highly variable recipe. Don’t have rosemary? Use thyme. Or candied ginger. Don’t have raspberries? Use frozen mixed berries. Or fresh blackberries. Or figs! Skip the fruit and top with pecans and brown sugar. Experiment! With a base of brie and puff pastry, you really can’t go wrong. As Barefoot Contessa says, how bad can that be?

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Chocolate Tart

I foolishly thought that this was not a common recipe.  Then I went to a baking class sponsored by King Arthur Flour and learned that this is just a ganache tart.  *Smacks head*

Regardless of how many people are making this, you should!  It is very simple and looks very professional.  And did I mention that this is basically all chocolate?  Delicious!

Chocolate Tart with Raspberries

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