Market basket: Chiffon, angel food and sponge cakes so light and lovely

Foam. Just the word invokes thoughts of light fluffiness that is as close to air as can be. This is the perfect description of foam cakes. While angel food is certainly classified as a foam cake, I have been concentrating on the others in that category: chiffon and sponge cakes.

By definition, all foam cakes contain beaten egg whites. This creates the texture that is characteristic of these delicacies. Foam cakes are baked in ungreased tube pans because you want the batter to in essence “cling” to the pan as it rises and bakes. This increases height but also serves another purpose.

Foam cakes are also cooled in the pan upside down so that the cake doesn’t collapse on itself. You don’t want to grease the pan or the cake could slip out while cooling. Many tube pans have three legs around the edge of the pan for this purpose. If yours doesn’t, it will need to be inverted on a bottle to hold it while cooling.

Removal requires a narrow metal spatula or knife that is run along the edges of the pan after it has completely cooled. Cooling takes around 45 minutes.

Chiffon cakes were created in the 1940s. They not only contain vegetable oil, but unlike angel food cakes, they utilize the egg yolk as well. This gives it a rich tenderness that enhances the mouth feel. It can be flavored with any number of items, from coffee to any number of extracts such as almond, lemon, orange or vanilla.

Sponge cakes use the whole egg too but unlike chiffon, they contain no oil or shortening. These cakes are often topped with sliced seasonal fruit or flavored whipped cream. Both sponge and chiffon cakes rely on cream of tartar for leavening. Chiffon frequently has baking powder added as well.

Lizzie Reynolds of Savannah writes, “I am going through my Grandmother’s hand written recipes and have come across one for broiled fish fillets. At the end of the recipe, it says to ‘rust’ the fish before serving. Could you help me decipher this?”

Lizzie,

My guess is that your Grandmother wanted it to be dusted with a rust colored spice like paprika before serving. “Rouille” is the French word for rust and it is a sauce made of red chilies, garlic, olive oil and bread crumbs. It is frequently a garnish for fish and sometimes has a bit of fish stock added to the sauce to thin it before serving.

Tammy Algood is the author of five cookbooks and can be seen on “Volunteer Gardener” on PBS stations in Tennessee. Follow her at www.hauteflavor.com.