Recipe: Cherry Berry Cake

When the weather turns hot, a light dessert is the perfect choice. Blueberries add a fresh flavor to this angel food cake, and the addition of cherries creates a red, white and blue theme that’s perfect for Independence Day.

Making an angel food cake from scratch is not difficult, and the flavor is far superior to a boxed mix. If your egg whites are well whipped, your cake will be light and airy, so it’s very important to prevent even a spot of yolk from getting into the egg white mixture. To be safe, separate each egg white into a small bowl before adding it to the large bowl; that way if a yolk breaks, you won’t ruin the whole batch. If you begin with room temperature eggs and spotlessly clean utensils, you will be pleasantly surprised by how well the cake turns out.

If you prefer, melted white chocolate can be drizzled over the cake instead of the glaze, or you can skip the glaze entirely and fill the cavity of the cake with sweetened whipped cream. Decorate your cake with sprinkles, popping candy, or cherries and berries.

This batter also works beautifully as a cupcake batter. Fill each liner 2/3 full and bake at 350 F. until golden brown 

Cherry Berry Cake Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 jar (10 oz) maraschino cherries
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
12 egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze Ingredients

2 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon clear vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon powdered meringue or egg whites (optional, for firmer glaze)

1. Heat oven to 350 F.

2. Prepare angel food cake pan by cutting a circle the size of the bottom of the pan out of parchment. Cut a hole out of the center and place in the pan. Do not grease the pan.

3. Rinse the blueberries, drain, and roll up in several layers of paper towel to dry them. Set aside.

4. Reserve 6-8 of the cherries for decoration and chop the rest into small pieces. Roll up in several layers of paper towel, squeezing to extract any extra juice. Set aside.

5. Make sure the cake flour is sifted before measuring out 1 cup. Put measured flour in a sifter along with 1/2 cup of the superfine sugar and sift 5 times. The easiest way to do this is to move the mixture back and forth between two sheets of waxed paper or two thin paper plates. Set aside.

6. In a large bowl with a wire whip, mix the egg whites until foamy. Sprinkle the cream of tartar and the salt over the eggs and beat until soft peaks form.

7. Add the remaining sugar 1/4 cup at a time, beating well between each addition.

8. Add the vanilla and beat until thick, but stop before stiff peaks form. When a beater is dipped in the mixture and lifted up quickly, a peak should form and then the top of the peak should droop over.

9. Combine the blueberries, cherries, and flour mixture until fruit is completely coated. Gently fold approximately 1/3 of the mixture at a time into the egg whites, being careful not to stir.

10. Carefully distribute batter evenly in the prepared pan. Place on the middle rack of the oven, close the oven door, and immediately turn the heat down to 325 F. 

11. Bake for approximately 1 hour, or until the top of the cake is a rich golden brown.

12. Turn upside down over a glass bottle and let the cake cool completely. Remove pan from bottle, run a knife or thin spatula around the sides of the cake, turn upside down and press down on the bottom of the pan to release the center piece. Lift the center piece off of the cake, remove the parchment, and add glaze and decorations.

13. To make glaze, combine the powdered sugar, milk, salt, vanilla, and powdered egg (if using). Beat well until completely smooth. Add a little more milk if necessary to make the glaze just thin enough to pour. Pour or drizzle with a spoon over the cake.  Decorate with cherries and blueberries if desired.

Enjoy!

Check out my other recipes in the food section of Celeb Baby Laundry.