Phew! I didn't even think I'd make this Ratio Rally, I sadly had to miss the last one since I was out of town for three quarters of the month! This month's rally is being hosted by Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] - so make sure to stop over there and look at her delicious cake. I've also included a list of everyone else's at the very bottom of this post.

I've never made an Angel Food Cake before and frankly, I haven't had much luck making any kind of gluten free cake - they always seem to sink or shrivel up. So anyway, when I got back from all my travels I was craving bagels. My recipe leaves me with a whole bunch of extra egg whites - which I prefer not to waste. So I decided just to give an angel food cake recipe a try.

My first one came out pretty great, but it was way too sweet for me. On my second attempt, I went for a vanilla orange flavor with coconut palm sugar. It came out way too dense and with too much flavor for my liking. So on my third attempt, I went back to regular cane sugar but reduced it down to 8 oz and tried to replicate some of my favorite chocolate flavor. My final ratio ended up being 3 parts egg whites, 2 parts sugar, and 1 part flour.

I don't know how normal this is, since I have never made angel food cake before, but this cake definitely stuck to the pan. After letting it cool completely, I carefully ran a butter knife around every edge before removing the cake.

Cacao Spice Angel Food Cake

Ever So Slightly Adapted from Michael Ruhlman's Recipe in Ratio

Ingredients

12 oz egg whites (about 11 large eggs)
8 oz cane sugar
4 oz all purpose gluten free flour mix (60% starch & 40% whole grain)
1/2 oz cacao powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 pinch ancho chili powder
1 pinch salt

Make

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Crack your egg whites into the bowl of stand mixer, weighing them until to get to 12 oz. Set the bowl back on your stand mixer.

Pour half of the sugar (4 oz) into a small bowl or cup and set aside.

Pour the other half the sugar and the flour mix into a food processor with the blade attachment in it. Pulse a few times.

In a small cup, combine the cacao powder, cinnamon, cream of tartar, ancho chili powder, and salt. Whisk together.

Add the vanilla bean paste to the spice mixture and set aside.

Whisk the eggs whites on medium speed for about a minute until they begin to get frothy.

Add the spice mixture and whisk on medium high speed until the mixture begins is quite foamy and begins to grow. (You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl right after adding the spice mixture.)

Gradually add the 4 oz of sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture holds a weak peak.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and sprinkle in the flour and sugar mixture, folding it into the batter as you add it.

Pour into a 9-inch tube pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Invert the pan onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely before gently removing it.

Makes 1 9-inch cake.