Angel Food Cake

This weekend, I actually made two of these cakes. I was worried that the tube pan I'd purchased barely fit inside my toaster oven - the metal "tube" actually touched the top of my oven, so I wanted to do a "test" cake before I actually baked for my co-workers. Fortunately, I discovered that the center of my oven is slightly taller than the opening, so the pan didn't actually touch the oven's roof - but it was very, very close! The top did burn a little during baking, but I was easily able to trim the burnt pieces after cooling.

As for the actual recipe, it is fairly straight-forward. The only aspect that posed any challenge is beating the egg whites to a stiff peak - which is quite the workout without the aid of an electric mixer! I was also a little curious as to why the dry ingredients needed to be sifted so many times (the original recipe called for 5 siftings - I only did three and had no issues.) Although the cake is a little denser than what I'd have in the States, it was still very tasty. (I believe the denseness might the be result of overmixing the dry ingredients into the egg whites - less is more when it comes to stirring with whipped ingredients!



Angel Food Cake
(yields one 6-7" tube pan)

¾ c. egg whites
½ c. plus 2 T. flour
¾ c. plus 2 T. sugar
&frac18 t. salt
½ t. cream of tartar
¼ t. vanilla
¼ t. almond extract*

Beat the egg white until they form stiff peaks. Add the cream of tartar, vanilla (and optional almond extract) and mix well. Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. Re-sift two to three additional times. Gently combine the egg whites with the dry ingredients and pour into an ungreased tube pan. Place cake in a cold oven, and set temperature to 325°F (165°C). Bake for approximately 55-60 minutes or until golden brown. Invert pan and allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the pan.

I omitted this since I didn't have almond extract and don't think of angel food cake as having an almond-y flavor.

Easter Chicks

Last year, I had made these cupcakes when I was still living in the States - and had a regular oven. I wanted to replicate them again this year (especially since I had brought a small bottle of leftover yellow sugar crystals with me.) I didn't really have much issue with the cake recipe (though it's not the greatest of cake flavor-wise.) Still, the original recipe was for one 9-inch square cake, so I didn't have to alter anything to get the right size for my cupcake batch.

For the actual decoration, I found that it was far more work than I remember (though I do remember it being more time-consuming than it would appear.) I made a basic buttercream frosting from the Wilton website - though I found that I had to add several additional tablespoons of water to get the correct consistency! I iced the cupcakes with yellow and the added the yellow sugar. (I was actually surprised at how much more yellow sugar I used this time. I had only used &frac13 of my bottle last year...this year I used all the remaining sugar!)

After frosting and sugaring the cupcakes, I used a piping tip to make the wings. I know the original design called for a 102 tip (which is shaped somewhat like an elongated teardrop.) Sadly, the decorating kit I purchased at my local Home Plus did not have anything similar, so I had to improvise with a leaf tip, which didn't give me as nice of shape as the 102. After coating the wings in additional sugar, I used my remaining yellow frosting as the base for my orange (for the beaks and feet.) Unfortunately, the second I added the red food coloring to the yellow frosting, I got a nasty salmon color rather than the bright orange I'd hoped for. Since I couldn't use the hideous salmon, I had to think of a quick substitute. Since I had made previously made owl cupcakes that used yellow M&Ms as beaks, I decided to copy that idea with orange M&Ms. I finished the cupcake with chocolate chip eyes with white frosting for the midle. Although I prefer the design with frosted beaks, my co-workers thought they were extremely cute. I think they spent more time photographing the cupcakes than they did actually eating them; they especially like how each chick was looking a different direction and seemed to have a unique expression.


Vanilla Cupcakes
(yields 16 cupcakes)

1 c sugar
½ c butter
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
½ t. salt
1½ c. flour
1¾ t. baking powder
¾ c. milk

Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter and mix completely. Add the milk to complete the batter. Pour into a lined muffin tin (I used individual silicone cupcake molds.) Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25-30 minutes.

Apple Walnut Bundt Cake

In Korea, the larger grocery stores are forced to closed two days/month so that smaller stores have a chance to compete. Sadly, most of these smaller stores are a bit lacking in their baking departments (you can get the basics, but nothing too fancy!) Because of this, I was somewhat limited to what I already had in my kitchen last night (though I did manage to find walnuts at a local corner store.)

For the actual baking process, I found this to be one of the more challenging cakes (though not because it was difficult, but simply because it dirtied a million different dishes so my small kitchen was very cluttered!) I did discover that I didn't reduce the original recipe quite enough - I again had the cake overflow and make a huge mess inside my toaster oven. I also found that my oven might be a tad small for the 7-inch Bundt pan I purchased; the top always seems to burn against my oven's roof (though that might only be because I overfilled the pan!)

Fortunately, the final result was a great tasting cake that was well-liked by my Korean co-workers (in fact, they preferred this to my 7-Up Cake last week. I think the fruit and nuts gave it a richer taste - and is more similar to the cakes you typically find in bakeries in Korea. It was a moist, delicious cake that I would definitely try again!


Apple Walnut Bundt Cake
(fills one 7-inch Bundt Pan)

1 heaping cup apples, pealed and diced
1¾ t. sugar
½ t. cinnamon
1¾ c. flour
1¾ t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
1 c. plus 3 T. sugar
½ plus 1 T vegetable oil
2 T. plus 1 t. orange juice
2 eggs
¾ c. chopped walnuts

Dice apples and mix with sugar and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. In a mixing bowl, mix sugar, oil, orange juice and eggs until smooth. Add the flower mixture to the liquid in three equal parts. Fold the walnuts into the batter. Pour &frac13 of the batter into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Top with half the cinnamon apple mixture. Add another &frac13 of the batter and top with the remaining apples. Add the final third of batter over the apples. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hours (or until a knife comes out clean.)

7-Up Cake

After a shopping outing in Seoul this past weekend for cake pans, I have been excited to try my skill at toast oven baking again. I had originally planned to make a chiffon or angel food cake; unfortunately, I discovered that both those recipes require cream or tartar (something that I passed up in Seoul because I couldn't think of a single recipe that used it!) Instead, I went on a quest of find a good recipe to test my new Bundt pan.

In my search, I found a recipe for 7-Up Cake that looked both easy and delicious (and since I spent the past year in the American South, I thought it would be a nice fit.) The recipe proved to be incredibly easy (though the original recipe was written for a 12-inch pan, so I got some rather odd measurements.) I also discovered halfway through the baking process that I lack a liquid measuring cup - so I had to guesstimate on the amount of soda.

During the baking process, my apartment was filled with the most amazing scent - for the first 20 minutes. Then, I smelled something burning (which shouldn't have been my cake since it was still far too early.) I discovered that the cake had risen to the point where it was pressed against the roof of my toaster oven, and the top was slowly burning! Fortunately, I was able to take the cake out and merely cut the top part away so that it fit inside my oven and could finish baking. This also allowed me to taste the burnt parts - which were quite good. After another 30 minutes or so, my cake was finally finished (and looked perfect!) My only advice would be to hold back a little on the batter. I had saved enough for four cupcakes when I first poured the cake; if I could go back and start again, I probably would have saved enough for six in hopes that the Bundt pan wouldn't overflow!


7-Up Cake
(fills one 7 inch Bundt pan with batter left for 4-5 cupcakes)

¾ c. plus 2 Tablespoons softened butter
1¾ c. sugar
3 eggs
1¾ c. flour
1 t. vanilla*
¼ c. plus 3 T 7-Up (or any lemon-lime soda)

Cream butter and sugar until very well mixed (the original recipe stated 20 minutes, but I only mixed for about 10 and had no problem.) Add the eggs one at a time. Add flour and vanilla. Fold in 7-Up. Bake at 375°F (165°C) for about 50 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean.)

* The original recipe called for lemon extract, but I substituted vanilla since I didn't have any lemon. I considered just using lemon juice or zest (as recommended for substitution online); however, I have found that Korean aren't fans of lemon-flavored desserts - so vanilla became my substitution of choice.