Angel Food Cake: A Homecoming

It's been months that I've been reading the recipe of the Angel Food Cake. Just like the chocolate cake, I believed that making the Angel Food Cake was a challenge because this is the cake that brings back childhood memories in Iloilo.

I got acquainted with the cake when I was spending one of my many summer vacations with Lola and Naytons in Lapaz. When the panaderia goodies are gone and batchoy with pan de sal was too hot for the summer weather, Lola would send a helper to the Burgos bakery to buy Angel Food Cake for merienda. Unwillingly, the helper would need to bring me with her because I made sure Lola would hand me the money so I can go to the bakery - it was my insurance that they would let me go with them. Of course, the trip to the bakery was a dream for me because other than the cake, I would be sent home with other goodies- a piece of bread to nibble on until I reach home. (The Burgos bakery owners are our relatives which is why I have free goodies and it also helped that I looked like my Mom. When I reach home and give Lola the cake and her money change, she would set it down on the table and start slicing the cake. I would look at it with amazement because the cake looked so fluffy and soft. As my teeth sink into the cake, it felt like I was eating something as soft as cotton candy yet as filling as bread. To top the whole experience, Lola would hand me a glass full of ice and softdrink. Yes, a beautiful merienda experience I wanted to relive.

I read different recipes for the cake and I finally decided on one. As I pored through the text, I realized it called for 12 egg whites! I was ambivalent in making the recipe because I did not want 12 egg yolks to go to waste but I was steadfast in making the cake. In short, I did break and separated a dozen egg whites from the dozen egg yolks (which I kept for later use). Finally, I found myself focused and intent on the mixer as it whips the egg whites into white, fluffy, soft-peaked mixture of goodies. My brain was going on hyperdrive saying, "Do not overbeat!". Everything seemed okay until I had to transfer it to the pan. (Finding and deciding on the pan is another story!) The recipe called for it to be spooned to the pan. And since I was too tired to find the baking definition of spooning to the pan (because it was almost midnight by then), I took it literally to the letter. Thus the picture (still uncooked).

The success of the whole endeavor did show the sweet, fluffy fruit of my labor. The cake rose as it should and was cooled down as instructed in the book. The only instruction that I did not follow was to eat the cake a day after it was baked. I took a slice immediately as it cooled down and decided that it was salty. After a goodnight's sleep, I awoke seeing my unwilling experiement subject (named Raniel) having a slice of the cake and telling me how good it tasted. I was curious as to what happened to the salty taste I had last night, I took a bite of the cake and it made me travel back in time to when I was a child buying this treat from the local bakery. Now if only I can click the heels of my "tsinelas" (ala Dorothy in Wizard of Oz)...

Merienda Special: Mamon

Mamon is the Filipino version of a yellow sponge cake. For me, it brings me back to Merville where I would buy one-peso mamon from the local bakery. The mamon from the local bakery would have the sides a little toasted and the center raised. Crumbly and tasty with flour, I enjoyed this treat immensely in the afternoon for merienda but enjoyed it even more after it gets refrigerated and served the day after. Another version of the mamon is the softer, buttery cake- the kind that is more expensive and is the "pasalubong" from relatives going to Iloilo. (It becomes the "pasalubong" because the airport has a kiosk of a local, famous bakery chain that serves mamon as one if its signature cakes.)

Mamon is all about eggs, milk and sugar. It is soft and spongy, and the original mould is a fluted pan but since all I have is a muffin pan, hence the shape. Raniel (my unsuspecting research subject) enjoys partaking this with coffee while I enjoy it with an ice-cold cola drink.

My thoughts do not just stop at the finished product. Inspired by the ice-cold cola drink, I am thinking of ways to toast the mamon and re-create the toasted mamon- another merienda staple served by a local bakery. I always remember Mommy and Lola Bedad buying the toasted mamon and dip one in the ice-cold cola during the summer months. As the mamon becomes soft from the liquid, they take that one perfect bite and the taste of the cola and the mamon sizzles in your mouth enough to quench your thirst. (By the way, this also reminds me of the hojaldres that we also dunk into cola to have the same effect!)

To infinity and beyond- my next adventure would be the toasted mamon.