Spiced Angel Food Cake // S1E7 Ghost in the Machine
File deleted.
This episode didn’t give us much food inspiration, but Scully’s field notes revealed that it’s set on October 24, 1993, which would have been Kayla’s 8th birthday. So to celebrate the appearance of Kayla’s birthday in the show, we decided to make an angel food cake, which was her favorite birthday dessert request. Our version is a spiced angel food cake that also incorporates some warming fall flavors.
While we don’t consider this to be an especially bad episode, it’s apparently not exactly memorable. Kayla only recalls an evil elevator, and Reegan can only recount the first five minutes. And mostly only because the opening is so perplexing: why is this Fortune 500 CEO who is friends with the Attorney General trying to unclog his own office bathroom sink? He definitely has someone to do that for him. And why does he keep a phone in his bathroom? Does he not have a receptionist? Have all the people at Eurisko been replaced by the COS?
Snark aside, it’s always fun to watch an X-Files episode where they’re concerned about technology that seems really dated 30 years later. But still, after watching this, don’t you find yourself side-eying your google home? We also meet one of Mulder’s more dubious “friends”, the desperate, slightly shady Jerry Lamana, who meets a bad end in the evil elevator. Their interaction makes Mulder’s turn toward investigating the X-Files seem less motivated by his sister’s abduction and more by his unfortunate Bureau coworkers. Also, this episode starts off feeling like a Monster of the Week, but takes a sharp turn into mythology territory, with the government disappearing a tech genius, and Mulder calling in Deep Throat.
We also get an iconic scene where Scully crawls through a vent and shoots a fan. Mulder is oblivious to any of the danger she’s in, and he’s also oblivious to the obvious impending betrayal from the undercover defense department agent. Luckily, Scully emerges from the vent system just in time to save the day. We end on a Twilight Zone homage with an ominous shot of the system booting back up. And then we never hear from it again.
Final thoughts– we’re promised a character nicknamed the Iron Maiden, but her appearance is completely missable.
Opening the Recipe File|
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine 3/4 C sugar, cake flour, ground cloves and ground cinnamon and set aside. Note: angel food cake bakes better if you use cake flour, because it is a low-protein, lighter flour. Scully would consider this an oversimplification of the baking science, but essentially you don’t want to weigh down your egg whites.
Separate eggs until you have a total of 1¼ C of whites. You can use the yolks in another recipe.
Beat the egg whites in the standing mixer with the balloon whisk attachment and a medium low speed until they are frothy, about 4 minutes. Add the zest from one orange, salt and cream of tartar. Beat at medium high speed until soft peaks begin to form, about 5 additional minutes.
Continue to beat the mixture and add in the remaining 1/2 C sugar, one tbsp at a time, until the sugar is completely incorporated and firm (but not stiff) peaks form.
Using a spatula or spoon, fold in the flour mixture, a third at a time. Stir, very gently, until the flour mixture and egg mixture are combined.
Pour the cake batter into an ungreased angel food baking tin. It’s important to use a pan with a center tube (angel food cake pan or a Bundt cake pan) without any grease, because the batter needs to cling to the sides of the pan as it gains height. Run a butter knife around the middle of the cake to pop any large air bubbles.
Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until the cake looks brown and a toothpick inserted in it comes out clean.
Immediately run a knife around the edge of the pan and the center edge of the pan. Turn the cake pan upside down to allow the cake to cool. If the pan has feet, you can rest it upside down on its feet. Otherwise, you can invert it on the neck of a wine bottle, or upside down on a cooling rack. Make sure that there’s some space for airflow under the cake tin, which will help the cake cool.
Allow cake to cool completely. Remove from the pan by running the knife around the sides again and then tapping the bottom of the cake pan with a knife.
Serve with fresh fruit and whipped cream.
Spiced Angel Food Cake Recipe
Spiced Angel Food Cake
Equipment
- Standing mixer with balloon whisk attachment
- angel food cake pan
- lemon zester or microplane
Ingredients
- 1¼ C egg whites you'll need around 9 – 12 eggs total
- 1¼ C sugar divided
- 1¼ tsp cream of tartar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- zest of one orange (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 C cake flour
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Combine 3/4 C sugar, cake flour, ground cloves and ground cinnamon and set aside.
- Separate eggs until you have a total of 1¼ C of whites. Use the yolks in another recipe.
- Beat the egg whites in the standing mixer with the balloon whisk attachment and a medium low speed until they are frothy, about 4 minutes.
- Add the zest from one orange, salt and cream of tartar. Beat at medium high speed until soft peaks begin to form, about 5 additional minutes.
- Continue to beat the mixture and add in the remaining 1/2 C sugar, one tbsp at a time, until the sugar is completely incorporated and firm peaks form.
- Using a spatula or spoon, fold in 1/3 third of the flour mixture at a time. Stir, very gently, until the flour mixture and egg mixture are combined.
- Pour the cake batter into an ungreased angel food baking tin. Run a butter knife around the center of the pan.
- Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until the cake looks brown and a toothpick inserted in it comes out clean.
- Immediately run a knife around the edge of the pan and the center edge of the pan. Turn the cake pan upside down to allow the cake to cool (If the pan has feet, you can rest it upside down on its feed, otherwise, you can invert it on the neck of a wine bottle, or upside down on a cooling rack).
- Allow cake to cool completely, and remove from the pan by running the knife around the sides again and then tapping the bottom of the cake pan with a knife.
- Serve with fresh fruit and whipped cream.
