Cupcake Envy

Last week, I was asked to twist an angel food cake recipe and make it ‘exciting.’ Well I must say that I love angel food cake and every time I’ve ever eaten it, it sure as heck has been exciting. I mean, a fat free cake topped off with luscious summertime strawberries with a magnificent dollop of homemade whipped cream pilled as high as Mt. Fuji! Yes! Ahhh that is just pure summer to me. So making this twist on a classic dessert was not only intriguing, but downright exciting.

I decided to go with cupcakes. After all, if I want to control my cravings for sweets, I might as well put them into the form of a cupcake so I maintain some sort of portion control. Cupcakes just seem so innocent, and the guilt seems less intimidating. As for the frosting, it was kismet that I make a traditional ‘seven minute frosting’ but give it a spin and call it ‘seven minutes in heaven frosting.’ (get it… angel food cupcakes and seven minutes in heaven frosting? Genius!) Memories swooned from long ago when my 6th grade crush, Alex Wellerman, and I got to play seven minutes in heaven with him and received my very first kiss. Yuck. It was weird and sloppy and I couldn’t wait to get out of Missy Neffington’s mom’s coat closet that reeked of moth balls.

Below is a simple classic morphed into a small cupcake topped off with the most delightful marshmallow frosting. It all makes sense, it will melt in your mouth and you will feel almost no guilt when indulging. Almost. But why not just enjoy this and for once today, think about a fantastic memory that you might have hiding in your closet.

Angel Food Cupcake Recipe (adapted from howsweets.com)

• 12 large egg whites (1 ½ cups)
• 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups sifted powdered sugar (sift before measuring)
• 1 ⅛ cups sifted cake flour (sift before measuring)
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Let egg whites sit at room temperature for about one hour before beginning. While eggs are resting, measure out powdered sugar and flour, then sift powdered sugar, flour and salt together on a large piece of parchment paper. Set aside. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in the bottom third of oven.

Using a stand mixer beat egg whites until frothy. Once frothy, add in cream of tartar, then beat at medium speed until soft peaks form. About 5–6 minutes. Gradually add granulated sugar with the mixer still on medium speed, continuing to beat until egg whites thicken a bit more with opaque, soft, droopy peaks. Once there, beat in vanilla extract.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and sprinkle ¼ of the dry ingredients over the egg whites. Fold gently with a spatula until combined completely. Continue with the rest of the dry ingredients until combined.

Once batter is smooth, use a ¼ cup measure to pour heaping scoops of batter into each liner. Bake for 18–19 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Let cool completely, then frost with marshmallow frosting. Recipe follows.

Marshmallow Frosting

• 4 large Egg Whites, room temperature
• 2 cups Caster Sugar
• ⅔ cup Water

Method

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil, uncovered and without stirring until syrup reaches 115°C (225 F) on a candy thermometer (about 5 minutes.) Tip: The syrup should be thick but not at all colored. Remove from heat and set aside. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. While still beating, slowly pour the hot syrup in a thin stream down the side of the bowl and into the beaten egg whites. Beat on high speed until mixture is thick and glossy, about 10 minutes.