Mama was something! She had a Dormeyer! Yes, it's true. My Mom, early on, was a small appliance aficionado. This hobby of collecting kitchen gadgets most likely began before I was born and was probably due more to my Dad's fascination for modernization than my Mom's desire to have one more thing to clean. But she did enjoy them and was particularly proud of her Dormeyer.
The Kitchenaid of its time, the Dormeyer was doing things her Sunbeam didn't. It came with attachments- some at purchase and some had to be bought separately.
I remember when she got it. Several of the neighbor ladies stopped by to see it and watch her show off its power. Mom wasn't normally a showy person but she did bake for others and this was a matter of baking pride for her.
Years later I would learn that this wasn't a brand new Dormeyer. It was bought second-hand at a small appliance shop. Back then Dad couldn't afford the new ones but this was "newly used" meaning the person bought it to give as a gift and the receiver decided they didn't want it. Today we call it "regifting".
Now there are some tricks to a good Angel Food cake:
Sift, Sift and Sift again! Skipping this step will ground your angel!
Beat those whites!
Use a non-stick aluminum angel food cake pan (yes, its a one-trick pony for the kitchen but worth it!)
Use only Caster sugar (you can make your own by putting regular sugar in your high-power blender and whizzing the heck out of it)
Follow the cooling and extraction to the letter!
- 1 cup Swans Down Cake Flour
- 1 1/2 cups Caster sugar
- 1 1/4 cups egg whites- room temperature (keep the yolks for custards!)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- Sift the flour once
- Then add 1/2 cup of the sugar and sift another three times
- Beat the whites until foamy on medium-high-speed
- Add the cream of tartar and beat until stiff but not dry
- Lower the speed to low and add the remaining sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, quickly.
- Beat only until sugar is well blended (put some on your finger and rub thumb and finger together- if it isn't gritty its ready)
- Remove the bowl from stand and fold in flavorings
- Sift in the dry ingredients in small amounts, folding each time (gently)
- Turn out into an ungreased tube pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour (10" pan)
- Invert the pan until its cold
- Flip back, loosen if need be and reverse to extract.