Jun 17, 2010

Saturday Night Baking with Lisle

Since the beautiful Charleston weather has arrived (or should I say hot and sticky?), I haven't been doing much baking. In case you haven't ever turned on an oven, they get hot. And Charleston humidity + more heat in the kitchen = sweaty mess. Not only that, but who wants to be indoors when you can be on a boat! Last Saturday, I was out on my sweet friend Lisle's boyfriend's boat. Lisle and I were chatting about how she wants to become more domesticated, and poof, my blog came up! Lisle and Kevin recently migrated to a lovely castle condo downtown. She told me that their new kitchen would be great to have a cooking session in, and since everyone was coming over that night, we should make something!

We needed something healthy and delicious. I suggested angel food cake -- fat free and, with the addition of strawberries, a very summery dessert! I picked up the goods from Publix and we all met back at the castle. The boys played around with expensive electronics while Lisle and I fancied ourselves and broke out the alcohol and cake ingredients (not to be mixed!). In the words of Ashley, "you can never be too fancy" and fancy we were for baking a cake.
As Lisle sipped her white wine and I chugged my vodka cran, we got to work. I taught her how to crack eggs, separate the white from the yolk, and hull strawberries. As Lisle separated her first egg, a little of the yolk got into the bowl. "Oh, it's totally fine! We're doing all 12 eggs, so a little bit can't hurt....right?" WRONG.
After we combined the egg whites, water, vanilla extract, and cream of tartar, it was time to beat. To properly make an angel food cake, you must beat with a hand mixer until you reach medium peaks. Forming peaks is when you beat egg whites to the stage where the mixture forms soft, rounded peaks when the beaters are removed. For a great visual guide on peak stages, please visit this link. I remembered the last time I made angel food cake it took quite a while to form medium peaks, but this was taking forever...The boys kept coming in and making crude jokes asking, "You've been beating for 35 minutes and you can't get any foam?" Heh.

Lisle and I took turns because it felt like our hands were going numb from holding the mixer so long! In the mean time, we had a photo shoot with Alison!
Eventually we gave up, incorporated the dry ingredients, poured it all in a fluted cake pan, and popped that sucker in the oven!
We all know how I have little to no patience, so we sat by the oven and stared at it:
Thirty-five minutes later, I was one proud little chef and pulled the perfectly-risen masterpiece out of the oven:
Julius was angry for having to wait so long:
 
We topped the cake with fresh strawberries and fat free cool whip....
and sliced it up for everyone to enjoy!
 
While we were enjoying the light and fluffy cake, I googled "why peaks won't form" on my Blackberry. Apparently if you get the slightest amount of yolk in your whites, it makes it really difficult to form peaks. Having any oil in the bowl or on the mixers will also create this problem! Who knew? Luckily, the cake turned out great and everyone was happy.

Happy Housewarming to Kevin & Lisle! :)

Question of the Day: What's your favorite cake to eat? What's your favorite cake to bake?

45 comments:

  1. What a fun night. The cake looks like it turned out pretty dang good despite the issues! I'm not much of a cake girl...I like crisps/crumbles better! Hope you're having a sweet week. Is it Friday yet?

    ReplyDelete
  2. "And I chugged my vodka cran" hahaha a girl after my own heart! You ladies are all so gorgeous! Angel food cake with strawbs is soo yummy. My favorite is probably carrot cake though!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lady, you are crazy beautiful. I wish I could hang with you sometime!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm totally gonna answer your questions here...Favorite cake to eat: CARROT (without a doubt...If carrot cake were a man I would marry it and have babies with it and then divorce it and take half). Favorite cake to bake: Chocolate turtle cake...Mostly because everyone I make it for oooh's and aaaaah's and has a complete freak out. And what do you mean you shouldn't mix alcohol with cake? Ummm, my chocolate rum cake is TO DIE FOR...And it's even made with a rum frosting...Drink. Drank. Drunk.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, and PS - If you blend raspberries with a little sugar and pour it over the angel food cake it is ridiculous-good.

    ReplyDelete
  6. looks like such a fun night!! U girls are hotties!!!! I wish I had my friends closer so I could have them over for fun nights!

    My fave cake is icecream cake!!!!!! Love icecream cake!! I have never had a flavor I didnt like, i love them all!

    Have a great night! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  7. I do love the serious baking in party dresses! How very Mary Tyler Moore of you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. YUM. Angel food cake is so good in the summer (or anytime!). Aren't boys funny with their silly jokes :P

    You girls are all so pretty!

    PS- my favorite cake is carrot cake... buuuuut I'm pretty sure it's just because of the cream cheese icing ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bahaha LOVE this post. Just your "typical" Saturday night, hey? PS adding you to BBM ASAP!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, pretty ladies! Looks like a blast! I'm glad the cake still turned out! :)

    My favourite cake is triple chocolate cheesecake. Mmm chocolate heaven!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That is funny, I was just thinking of making angel food cake the other day since it is "light." I love red velvet cake, my absolute favorite. Get this, I requested it for my wedding but the damn bakery in NJ said they didn't know how to make it. I wanted to be like really, open a cookbook, it's not rocket science!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Looks like you had a great time!!! Can you believe I have NEVER made a cake?!?! I love cooking, but I rarely bake.

    ReplyDelete
  13. looks like a fun night - they really do have a gorgeous kitchen!
    i've never made angel food cake from scratch, but you're right - perfect summer food. and with all these strawberries we now have, i think making one seems like the right thing to do!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love this post!! Looks like you girls had so much fun:))

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a fun night! Looks like so much fun!

    xo

    ReplyDelete
  16. my favorite cake to eat is grand marnier my friend use to make it all the time. My favorite to make it Rum Cake.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am totally ready for this humidity to be gone. I just took out my dog and came back all sticky---umm it's 10P! Gross.

    Anywho, your cake looks amazing and loving the dress!! My favorite cake is ice cream cake, I figure if I am going to have cake, I'm going all out! I burn brownies, make scones instead of cookies so I try to stay away from the baking world :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. YUM! Angle food cake is probably one of my favories... but with tons of cool whip :)

    My all time cake would have to be between CostCo's sheet cakes and funfetti cake. Oh man, Now I'm craving cake... this is NOT good

    ReplyDelete
  19. It looks like you guys had so much fun! I love the baking in pretty dresses!!

    My favorite cake is a cake that someone else has taken the time to bake!!! :) I love all cake!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. SO much fun - you are gorg and the cake turned out perfect!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a fun evening! Girls' baking nights are the best!

    I love to bake cakes from scratch, but angel food is the one and ONLY cake I make from a box! You don't have to worry about yolk slipping into the mix!

    Favorite cake to eat: toss up between cheesecake (if that counts) and ice cream cake

    Favorite cake to make: any cake that requires that it be frosted! Liking the beaters is the best part! :-p

    ReplyDelete
  22. beautiful housewives style, baking in glam clothes. LOVE IT!!

    fave cake: carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting.

    ReplyDelete
  23. You girls all look so pretty! Way to brave the over during the summer! :) Heh. 35 minutes and no foam? I caught that.

    My favorite cake to eat happens to be the Red Velvet Cheesecake I had tonight at the Cheesecake Factory. Sooo good! I haven't made it yet, but I'd like to try to make a raw chocolate cake!

    ReplyDelete
  24. this is so stinkin cute! that cake turned out great! hope you have a fab weekend!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. My favorite cake is frosting cake. It's a vanilla cake cut where you cut it in half, toss the other half and replace it all with frosting so it's just a little layer of cake and a HUGE layer of frosting. I invented this.

    I like the snazzy baking duds!

    ReplyDelete
  26. This looks like so much fun girlie! I'm lovin that blue dress. Perhaps I need you to come dress shopping with me! My favorite to make would have to be chocolate with my grandma's seven minute frosting. Have you ever had that? It's made over a double boiler and is so fluffy and ahhhhmaazing!

    ReplyDelete
  27. How fun! Dressing up and cooking?! I'm SO going to have to try that :) I'm normally in my PJ's by the time I start to cook. Ha!

    Favorite cake? ANYTHING WITH SUGAR! Give me a sweet bread and I"m a happy little bug.

    yeah!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Cute outfits ladies!!! Oh, the food looks great too :)

    ReplyDelete
  29. You look so pretty in that outfit!! I love the dress + heels combo :) My favorite cake is chocolate mousse cake with TONS of frosting. I usually just bypass the cake in flavor of the frosting, actually!!

    ReplyDelete
  30. You are always so gorgeous in all of your pictures!

    My favorite cake lately is carrot cake.

    ReplyDelete
  31. i would have loved to be there! that looks like it wouldve been more fun to be around u girls than baking! so many laughs and fun convos <3

    hehe

    ReplyDelete
  32. Okay so I just have to say that AGAIN you have the most adorable outfit on and those shoes are so super cute! If my hubby weren't so short than I would wear heels like that more often! LOVE THEM! Oh and I'm such a girly girl so I appreciate that you and all your friends dress up. We are going to a wedding tonight so I can't wait to wear a dress!!
    I'm not a huge fan of angel food cake, I know it's a light and summery dessert but when I eat dessert it's DESSERT! Nothing light about it lol. My favorite kind of cake is strawberry cake with white or cream cheese frosting. My mom makes the best!

    ReplyDelete
  33. I need to know where you got this dress as well as the orange dress in the post below. Adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Oooh cake. A food so close to my heart! I love to bake white cakes with white frosting and pour mushed up berries over the top so everything gets berry soggy and beautiful. My favorite cake to EAT is raw chocolate cake. It only takes about 3 minutes to make - so the fun part is eating. :-)

    Also, you all are so gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  35. I love ANY cake (especially chocolate).... But let's just be honest - I love ANY dessert... especially chocolate :D

    BTW - love the dress!

    ReplyDelete
  36. You look gorgeous in your pictures! Now that's what I call baking in style. I'm always cooking in heels haha.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Alright I found your blog because I'm a foodie, but I bc of these pics I am really jealous of you and your friends' tans! You ladies need to put me on your tanning schedule! Also baking with friends is the best. And I am getting a new place in a month, I can't wait to break in my kitchen with my girls :)

    ReplyDelete
  38. Well you are too cute girl!!

    Yes Anthony likes Indian food, we all love it!! I like him to experience eating different foods from different cultures!

    Love you!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Love the outfit, I love cake, looks delicious. It's always fun getting together with friends and cooking or baking.

    ReplyDelete
  40. haha at least you girls had fun baking the cake- it still turned out fabulous! :)

    ReplyDelete
  41. ahh angel food. i looove angel food cake- so fluffy and like eating air!
    im not much of a cake girl, but i do prefer chocolate cake over vanilla. and i love to bake, so, i think any cake is good for me to bake!!

    ReplyDelete
  42. Too cute! :) I Love the looks of that cake! :) I love angel food cake..almost too much! It's dangerously good!

    ReplyDelete
  43. HOLY FOOD!!! Give me a mimosa right ....now. I saw that episode of the food network, they look delicious!

    ReplyDelete