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<p>Is there anything dreamier than the tender crumb of a light-as-air angel food cake? I&#8217;ve loved angel food cake ever since I first tasted it as a child. It reminded me of cotton candy. No wonder: angel food cake is essentially a fluffy blend of a super-sugary meringue laced with just enough flour to give it a little structure. In other words, there was very little to get in the way of the pure-sugar flavor that my childhood palate adored!</p><p>In the &#8217;80s, low-fat became the &#8220;healthy&#8221; battle cry, and angel food cake came into vogue, with no fat weighing it down, but plenty of white processed sugar fluffing it up. In fact, fat-free-but-sugary baked treats were practically a diet fad unto themselves for well over a decade. Of course, modern science (and let&#8217;s just say it: common sense) tells us that we could all benefit from cutting down on processed sugar.</p><p>So how to bring back the flavor and texture of the angel food cakes I adored as a child without throwing our blood sugar levels out of whack? Today&#8217;s recipe is the solution.</p><p>First, I cut the sugar down by about 25 percent over typical recipes and it worked great. Secondly, I skipped purchasing &#8220;superfine&#8221; white sugar, and tried less-processed organic versions. I pulsed the coarser sugar in the blender myself to make it powdery-fine. (It&#8217;s still sugar, but even baby steps toward healthy eating count!).</p><p>Instead of using super-starchy, lower-protein cake flour, I pulsed up regular flour in the blender to mimic the lightness. Also, I made the cake in a loaf pan, which resulted in us eating smaller slices versus tube pan versions by some visual trick of nature that I don&#8217;t fully understand, but have proven multiple times with my own family.</p><p>For flavor, since I&#8217;m not a huge plain-sugar fan anymore, I added lemon zest and lovely-speckled vanilla bean. I served it with a quick lemony glaze made from Greek yogurt that my family loves, but you can consider optional, if you are an angel food cake traditionalist. Or, try a slice of this cake with a tiny square of dark, bitter chocolate for a perfect pairing.</p><p><strong>Lemon and vanilla bean angel food loaf cake</strong></p><p>Servings: 12</p><p>Start to finish: 2 hours, including inactive cooking and cooling time</p><p>2/3 cup organic sugar</p><p>1/2 vanilla bean, grains scraped from pod</p><p>2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely grated</p><p>1/2 cup all-purpose flour</p><p>1 cup egg whites, from approximately 7-8 eggs</p><p>1/4 teaspoon table salt</p><p>3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar</p><p>Glaze (optional):</p><p>1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt</p><p>1 teaspoon lemon zest</p><p>2 tablespoons lemon juice</p><p>1/4 cup organic powdered sugar</p><p>Preheat the oven to 325 F (310 F if using convection heat).</p><p>Place the sugar, zest and vanilla bean in a dry blender and pulse until well-blended and sugar is fine and fluffy. Pour about half the sugar into a small bowl and set aside. Add the flour to the remaining sugar in the blender and pulse again a few times to create a fine flour mixture. Pour into a small bowl and set aside.</p><p>In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar on medium speed just until frothy (under a minute). While mixing, carefully add the fine sugar (without the flour) to the egg whites, a tablespoon at a time. Continue beating the eggs until soft peaks form. Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, place a sifter or sieve over the bowl and sift in half the flour and sugar mixture, and fold gently five or six times with a rubber spatula.</p><p>Sift in the remaining flour mixture and gently fold until no flour streaks remain. Scrape batter into a standard sized ungreased loaf pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until top is golden.</p><p>Remove from oven and place the loaf pan upside down, resting on two cans on the counter to cool (upside down, not touching the counter) completely (45 minutes).</p><p>Once cooled, remove the cake by sliding a knife around the edges of the cake. Whisk the glaze ingredients in a small bowl and drizzle on the cake when serving, if desired.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Lemon and vanilla bean angel food loaf cake is a delicious dessert that won&#8217;t throw your blood-sugar levels out of whack. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_AngelFood.jpg</photo0><caption0>Lemon and vanilla bean angel food loaf cake is a delicious dessert that won&#8217;t throw your blood-sugar levels out of whack. </caption0><photoCredit0>Melissa d&#8217;Arabian via AP </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Melissa d&#8217;Arabian</p><p>The Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Nutrition information per serving:</strong> 84 calories; 1 calories from fat; 0 g fat (0 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 84 mg sodium; 18 g carbohydrate; 0 g fiber; 14 g sugar; 3 g protein</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Food Network star Melissa d&#8217;Arabian is an expert on healthy eating on a budget. She is the author of the cookbook, &#8220;Supermarket Healthy.&#8221;</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Healthier angel food cake still has plenty of flavor