Angel Food Cake - Part I

I recently shared a story with some friends here about my misadventures as a teenager trying to bake an angel food cake from "scratch". I could tell by the looks on their faces, and by the comments afterward that at least some of them had never heard of angel food cake. I was surprised by this, but after thinking about it for a while, realized I'd never seen it for sale in the grocery store, and I've not seen "cake flour" in the store, either. Was this one of those situations where the thing in question is known by some other name?

As it turns out: probably not.

I did a little "web research" and found that angel food cake is, apparently, an American invention. There's some disagreement on whether it was first made by the Pennsylvania Dutch, or by slaves in the deep south - but it's invention in the US does not seem to be disputed.

Surprisingly, cake flour - a main ingredient for angel food cake - isn't readily available here. You can get it, but it's not sold in the average grocery store. I say that is "surprising", because I've always thought proper cake flour was essential for good cakes - and, believe me, there are some gals here who can turn out spectacular cake! A quick search on the internet turned up quite a few message boards discussing "cake flour" and offering substitution recipes (such as 2 tablespoons of cornstarch sifted with 3/4 cup of general purpose flour). After reading up on what cake flour actually is, I'm not sure that the results would be the same with a substitution recipe - at least not where angel food cake is concerned.

There's an American foods store in Melbourne which is currently advertising (on their website) that they have cake flour in stock, so I have at least one source for it. I suspect that it's can also be found at specialty shops (and a friend told me last year about a shop not too far from where I live that sells lots of baking supplies - so they may offer it).

The more I think about it, the more intrigued I become.

I've located and bought an angel food cake pan on eBay. I'll see if the shop my friend told me about has cake flour or (if not) may just order it from the American food store. And then I'll take a stab at making 2 cakes: one with proper cake flour and one using a substitute recipe. My Aussie friends have introduced me to loads of Australian culinary inventions such as Lamingtons (oooOOooo!) and Pavlova (Ahhhhhh!), so it only seems fair to reciprocate.

Will my friends like angel food cake? Or will I find that it's something of an acquired taste?

And... when they see and taste it, will they say "Oh, yeah! We know what this is, and it's called (fill in Aussie word here)!"

I'll let you know.

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WASSUP?

• What I’m listening to: "The Good Life" by One Republic
  
• What’s for tea: Oh, hell... Let 'em eat CAKE! ;-)
  
• What I’m reading: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
• Wine recommendation: what wine to serve with angel food cake? Hm.....
  
• What's the season?: summer in Oz, winter in the U.S.