using up my egg whites part IV: Lavender Angel Food Cake

Another attempt at baking angel food cakes. Not a successful attempt definitely, but a HUGE improvement from the previous one. This time, i had enough to fill up 3 moulds nicely, no more volcanic eruptions and nicely browned top.

I sorta knew what went wrong the first time judging on this time's results.

1. the batter was highly highly overmixed. which also explains why i could only fill up 2 tins.

2. the egg whites were most likely a little overbeaten

However, having said all that, the results this time was not satisfying at all! The insides were still little tough, though much better than the first.

Troubleshooting the cause has led me to 2 conclusions:

1. slightly overbeaten egg white leading to,

2. slightly overmixed batter

This is one important "realisation" for me. the "batter" is unlike anything that we're (or normal, novice bakers which ever you wanna put it) familiar with. not like a normal cake batter, nor like any muffin/cupcake/pancake/etc etc batter.

essentially, it very much looks like the beaten egg whites! i.e. not much change when you fold in the flour. therefore, it is super important that the whites are beaten to perfection! smooth, yet stiff and glossy and not stiff, and dry. stiff but dry peaks kinda make folding in the flour pretty tough and end up with a blotchy "batter".

The cake was soft on the outside, but yielding a very very slight chewy texture on the inside. For more details on troubleshooting angel food cake, please refer here.

A pretty extensive write up on angel food cakes can be found in the link given above. Almost everything essential to know when baking one.

I hope i can master it soon..