I thought I had covered the pan sufficiently with butter, but apparently I did not. When I brought the cake out of the oven the dough had gone through the bottom of the pan where the two pieces detach. This also resulted in some angel cake cooked to the bottom of my oven. I have learned to accept that anything I cook or bake will leave a mess or potentially catch fire-but hey, everything so far has still been tasty so what’s the harm in having a little mess? A full-blown fire might be a different story, so fingers crossed it doesn’t turn into that.

Luckily to stop myself from eating the entire cake, I have my younger cousins and friends to share with. True friends tell it like it is, whether you want to hear it or not. This applies to everything: relationships, if your outfit is unflattering, if you need to get off your ass and do something, and if your cooking is edible. So far the cakes have all gotten good reviews. That just goes to show that messes are simply set-backs; if you are able to clean up those messes, chances are you will enjoy that cake even more knowing that learned from your mistakes.

Here is the recipe, courtesy of my favourite cooking website, Epicurious.

http://www.epicurious.com:80/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Angel-Food-Cake-with-Fruit-and-Maple-Yogurt-230816#ixzz1njJtgFmp

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 egg whites (or 1 1/2 cups prepackaged egg whites)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups fresh strawberries
• 4 cups fresh raspberries
• 1/4 cup peach nectar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup plain lowfat yogurt
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

*Add any berries you like! I was short on raspberries so blueberries were added to the mix.

Directions

-Transfer the oven rack to the lowest level. Preheat oven to 325°F.

-Sift 1 cup sugar with flour, cocoa, and salt; set aside. Using an electric mixer set at medium-high-speed, whip egg whites, lemon juice, and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl until peaks form. Set mixer to high speed and whip in remaining 1/2 cup sugar until semistiff peaks form (do not overbeat).

-With a plastic spatula, slowly fold in the remaining dry ingredients, 1/4 cup at a time, until flour mix disappears. Scoop batter into a 10″ ungreased tube pan and spread evenly.

-Bake until cake springs back when touched, 45 to 55 minutes. Remove from oven, invert cake pan, and place upside down on a cooling rack.

*Photos of my struggle with this have been added to the gallery. An embarrassing attempt that caused a slight panic.

-Thoroughly wash and dry berries. Combine berries, nectar, and honey in a small bowl. Mix slowly, being careful not to crush the berries.

In a separate bowl, combine yogurt and syrup until blended. Remove cake gently from pan and cut into 8 slices. Serve each slice with fruit and a dollop of maple yogurt.

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Buon Appetito.