Chocolate Angel Food Cake

I attempted making an angel food cake from scratch for the first time yesterday. Things turned out pretty well, except I had a little trouble getting the cake out of the pan. I let it cool an hour before I tried to remove it, but perhaps that wasn't long enough.

I used liquid egg whites instead of separating 12 eggs, because I had no idea what to do with 12 egg yolks. The egg substitute replaced 8 eggs, and then I added 4 more "real" ones. I think I could have gotten away with just adding two more, but whatever.

Thanks to mom for the awesome angel food cake pan!

Here's the recipe:

• 3/4 cup cake flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cube bittersweet chocolate for drizzling on top
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place flour and salt in a sieve set over a bowl; sift into bowl, and set aside. With a mixer, beat egg whites on medium high until foamy, about 1 minute. Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Continue to beat, gradually adding sugar; beat until stiff peaks form (see below), about 2 minutes. Add vanilla; beat to combine.

Gently transfer eggwhite mixture to a large, wide bowl. In four batches, using the sieve again, sift flour mixture over egg-white mixture. While turning the bowl, use a rubber spatula to fold in the mixture by cutting down the center and coming up the sides.

Gently spoon batter into an ungreased angel-food cake pan with a removable bottom; smooth top. Cut a knife or small spatula through batter to release air bubbles. Bake until cake is golden and springs back when lightly pressed, 35 to 40 minutes. Invert pan; let cool in pan, 1 hour. Run a knife around the inside of the pan and around the tube to release cake, and unmold. Use knife to release cake from bottom of pan, and remove. Melt bittersweet baking chocolate and drizzle on top.

If you want to make a regular angel food cake, use 1 cup of flour instead of 3/4 cup, 2 tbsp of vanilla, omit cocoa and bittersweet baking chocolate.

Nutritional Info per serving:
213 calories
.2 g of fat
6.9 g protein
45.3 carbs
.3 g fiber

Awesome Satellite Photos of Earth

During the last ice age, Canada's Akimiski Island was buried under several thousand meters of ice, but since its retreat, the island has rebounded (risen in elevation) and new beach areas have emerged, streams and lakes have formed, and trees and other vegetation have colonized the new territory. This image of Akimiski Island was captured by the Landsat 7 satellite on August 9, 2000. (NASA/Jesse Allen, Landsat,University of Maryland's Global Land Cover Facility) #

"The Earth Observatory is a website run by NASA's Earth Observing System Project Science Office (EOSPSO). Bringing together imagery from many different satellites and astronaut missions, the website publishes fantastic images with highly detailed descriptions, feature articles and more. Gathered here are some standout photographs from the collections in the Earth Observatory over the past several years. For more images and information, please visit the Earth Observatory site itself."

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