Treble Clef Chef: Thyme and Lemon Angel Food Cake with Strawberry Coulis

Wow...that title sounds fancy. What's a "Coulis", you ask? It is a French word for "thick sauce". See! Not so fancy after all.

As for the cake, I thought I might have an original idea when I thought of this flavor combo, but alas and alack, this recipe was created by someone else. The Coulis is my idea though, so I feel a bit of originality here.

I've posted about Angel Food Cake before, under the title, "Let Them Eat Cake". As I said, Lee loves Angel Food and I'm glad because it is one cake I feel less guilty about eating, than others. The only fat in it comes from the egg whites. There is no other fat or oil. There's very little flour and sugar so the protein count is higher than the carb count. Since I can't count, I have no idea what those numbers would be. I'm sure it's on the Internet somewhere.

Here's the cake:

Ingredients~

1 C cake flour (very important...it is milled much finer than all-purpose)
1/2 C powdered sugar
10 egg whites, room temperature
1 tsp cream of tartar (this helps give volume to the egg whites)
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBL lemon juice
1 C granulated sugar
3 TBL stemmed thyme leaves
2 TBL finely grated lemon zest

Directions~

1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. Sift flour and powdered sugar together.

Lumpy before...

...Smooth after.

3. Beat egg whites with a mixer (or if you want a Popeye arm, you can do this by hand with a whisk) at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt. beat until soft peaks form.

4. Beat in lemon juice, then beat in granulated sugar in 2 TBL increments, allowing each to become incorporated before adding the next.

5. Beat in thyme and lemon zest.

6. Fold flour mixture, by hand, into egg mixture with a rubber spatula. (Don't know how to fold? There are a ga-zillion how-to videos on YouTube!).

Spoon batter into an un-greased 10-inch angel food or tube pan. Do not smooth or pat the batter down.

7. Bake for 35 minutes or until cake is lightly browned and springy to the touch. Invert pan, cool completely. (If you pan doesn't have "feet", you can balance the pan on a soda bottle). Loosen cake from sides of pan using a narrow spatula or long knife. Serve with Strawberry Coulis.

For the Coulis~
1/2 pkg frozen strawberries (about 1 1/2 C), thawed.
1/4C sugar
1/8 tsp almond extract

In a small saucepan, combine the strawberries and the sugar. Over medium high heat, bring to a boil, then transfer mixture to a blender. Puree until smooth. Add the extract and whirl a few seconds more. Strain and let cool. Store in refrigerator for up to one week.