Angel Food Cake

• Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Place oven rack in the lowest position—this cake needs room to rise to heaven.
• Pulse granulated sugar (1 Cup) in the food processor or blender until it is super fine (like you!)
• Set aside half of the fine sugar.
• Add cake flour (2/3 Cups) and salt (1/4 tsp) to food processor with remaining fine sugar. Pulse 5-10 times until mixture is well aerated and light.
• Trick for Egg Whites:

  You want to be sure to use room-temperature eggs and not get ANY yolk in your egg-whites. A trick for separating egg yolks from whites is to crack all the eggs into a bowl and simply use your hand to remove the egg yolks. (Set aside 7 egg yolks and make vanilla bean frozen custard with them.)

  Add 9 egg whites to a large bowl or your stand mixer bowl. Use either a hand-mixer or your whisk attachment for your stand mixer.

  Whip egg whites, Cream of Tartar (1 tsp), and Vanilla Extract (1 tsp) together on medium-low until foamy, about 1 minute. (Add optional Almond Extract (1/4 tsp here if using.)

  Switch to medium-high and slowly add the fine sugar that you set aside.

  Whip until SOFT peaks form, about 5-6 minutes. (More like thick whipped cream than merengue.)
• Remove bowl from stand mixer
• GENTLY fold the sugar/flour/salt mixture by sifting it through a fine-mesh sifter a little bit at a time into the egg white mixture while gently folding it in with a rubber spatula. DO NOT OVERMIX and deflate the angelic fluff!
• Spoon batter into an UNGREASED 10-inch TUBE pan. (Ungreased is key—the batter needs to grip the sides and climb like it’s ascending to dessert heaven.)
• Bake on the bottom rack (it's tall!) 25–30 minutes, until golden and springy. (If your oven runs hot, check it at 20 min.)
• Remove cake from oven and immediately flip pan upside down on a cooling rack and let cool completely upside down.
• Let cool for at least an hour, then run a butter knife or thin spatula along the inside walls of the tube pan to gently release your angel cake from its tin halo. Let cake cool for another 30 minutes.

Optional - Strawberry and Whipped Cream Topping (Make Strawberry Topping Before Baking Cake!)

• 1 pound of fresh strawberries, washed, sliced, stems removed
• 1/4 granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 Cups heavy whipping cream
• Make strawberry topping by combining sliced strawberries with granulated sugar, mixing well. Cover bowl and refrigerate while making cake.
• Place bowl of stand mixer (OR mixing bowl, preferably metal) in the freezer for 10 min.
• Remove from freezer and add:

  heavy whipping cream (1 1/2 Cups)

  powdered sugar (1/2 Cup)

  vanilla extract (1 tsp)
• Using hand mixer or stand mixer, beat ingredients on low speed, gradually increasing speed to high and beat until cream reaches a thick, billowy consistency.
• Top Angel Food Cake with a thick layer of whipped cream and strawberry topping (try to avoid any liquid, just strawberries, otherwise the cake will get soggy.)
• Serve with leftover whipped cream and strawberries!
• Other Serving Suggestions

  Keep it classic with powdered sugar (aka edible fairy dust).

  Or drizzle chocolate sauce, because even angels like to misbehave sometimes.