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Angel Food Cake with White Chocolate Mousse and Strawberries

Ingredients

Angel Food Cake

  • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar divided
  • 1 3/4 cups egg whites 10-12, at room temperature
  • 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 recipe White Chocolate Mousse recipe below
  • 1 pint fresh strawberries leaves removed and thinly sliced
  • 1 recipe bittersweet chocolate sauce and/or 1 cup of fresh strawberry puree recipes below

White Chocolate Mousse

  • 2 egg whites at room temperature
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 6 tablespoons extra-fine granulated sugar
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • Optional: Whipped cream stabilizer *see notes at end of recipe
  • 6 ounces white chocolate Baker’s packages this … be careful to not get the white, vanilla chips, but rather the white chocolate bar.
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce

  • 1 cup of bittersweet chocolate chips
  • 1/4-1/3 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons agave syrup
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Angel Food Cake

  • In a medium bowl, mix together sifted cake flour with 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar.
    Set aside. In a large bowl combine egg whites, cream of tartar and salt.
    Beat on high speed of an electric mixer until soft peaks form.
    Slowly add remaining 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition.
    The egg whites will become shiny and very fluffy and stiff at this point.
    Stir in vanilla and almond flavorings.
    Gently, fold flour into the batter, 1/4 cup at a time.
    Carefully mix, but do not beat.
  • Preheat oven to 375⁰. Pour batter out into an un-greased 9 or 10-inch removable bottom tube pan and bake 30-35 minutes for a 10-inch pan, or 35-40 minutes for a 9-inch pan.
    The cake will turn golden-brown and a bit crackly on top and will spring back when touched.
    Remove from oven and cool in pan, upside down for 30 minutes to an hour. (The points on the top of the tube pan are designed for resting the cake upside down, but if you don’t have that kind of pan, simply invert it over a nice heavy wine bottle.)
    Once cooled, carefully slide a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen cake and remove from pan.
    Then slide the knife between the cake and the bottom of the pan and all around the tube part of the pan.
    Remove cake from pan entirely. Rest on cooling rack.
    When ready to fill, cut cake in thirds, horizontally for filling.

White Chocolate Mousse

  • In a large metal or glass bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form.
    Slowly add sugar, and continue to beat until shiny and stiff meringue peaks form.
    Set aside.
  • Melt white chocolate in a saucepan or the microwave.
    Cool to room temperature.
  • Beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
    Slowly fold cooled white chocolate into whipped cream. Gently stir in vanilla.
    Then fold whipped cream mixture into the meringue mixture.
    Cover and chill until ready to fill the cake.

To Assemble Cake:

  • Remove angel food cake from the pan entirely, tube and all, and orient the cake with the widest part at the bottom or upside down.
    Then slice it into 3 equal layers horizontally.
    Remove the first two layers and set them aside.
    Place the first layer on your cake plate.
    Spread 1/3 of the filling on top of the bottom layer, and place thinly sliced strawberries over the entire layer.
    Place the second layer on top of strawberries and repeat the process ending with the top layer of cake.
    Reserve final third of mousse for garnish.
    Dust the top of the cake with sifted powdered sugar and decorate with fresh flowers in the cavity.
    Serve with a spoonful of reserved white chocolate mousse and either or both the bittersweet chocolate sauce and/or strawberry purée.

Bittersweet Chocolate Sauce

  • Place chocolate chips in a small sauce pot.
    Add water, agave and vanilla.
    Heat over medium heat until all is melted.
    Bring to a boil and stir until well-incorporated.
    Remove from heat.

Strawberry Purée

  • Remove stems from 1 pint of fresh strawberries and wash berries.
    Place in a food processor and purée.
    Add a dash of sugar if berries are not very sweet.

Notes

NOTE*When using whipped cream in desserts it is a good idea to add a stabilizer if you want the cream to hold up for any length of time. If you plan to serve the cake within a few hours, no need to worry about this, but whipped cream begins to wilt or weep after several hours. However, with the addition of a stabilizer, it will hold up for days. I used a powdered stabilizer that I purchased at a cake decorating supply store for a wedding cake I made a couple of years ago, but you can also use bloomed plain gelatin to stabilize the whipped cream. Here is a link that illustrates how to do that: https://ourbestbites.com/2015/11/how-tomake-stabilized-whipped-cream/.