Absinthe Long Pepper Angel Food Cake : World Spice Merchants

Absinthe Long Pepper Angel Food Cake

It's time to celebrate Absinthe Day! The illustrious Parisian liqueur is noted for its exotic spicing and hallucinogenic effect, but instead of concocting a deadly drink we've decided to make a cake! More user friendly, an Angel food cake makes an ideal sponge for the warm herbal-anise flavor of absinthe.

To take it over the top, we added long pepper to elevate the mind-bending flavor. This exotic Balinese pepper tastes a little bit like cardamom and ginger, with a floral top note. This rustic cake is full of flavor and has a heavenly texture. For toppings, we chose a citrus salad with clove simple syrup, along with a dollop of whipped cream for an enchanting bite. So enjoy this magical cake to celebrate Absinthe Day and if you have a nip on the side, we won't tell....

Ingredients

For the Cake

1 cup cake flour, sifted
1-1/2 cups white granulated sugar
12 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon

Diamond Crystal - Kosher Salt

Diamond Crystal - Kosher Salt

Diamond Crystal is our go-to all purpose kosher salt. Developed in 1886 using a special process which creates a unique, hollow, multi-faceted crystals, this all-purpose salt is free ...
1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 ounce absinthe
6

Long Pepper

Long Pepper

Once hailed by Romans as the ultimate peppery spice, these wild long peppers disappeared into culinary obscurity with the domestication of their cousin, the black peppercorn.Their fl...

For the Clove Simple Syrup

6

Cloves

Cloves

The compelling flavor of cloves is hot and tingly, and leaves a lingering aftertaste. Native to the spice islands, demand for these buds helped fuel the Age of Discovery and they rem...
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup water

For the Citrus Salad

6 oranges, segmented
3 blood oranges, segmented
1/2 cup kumquats, thinly sliced

Preparation

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Don't grease or flour a 10" round angel food cake pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour and 3/4 cup of the sugar. Set aside.

In a standing mixer, combine the egg whites and salt. Beat on medium until the mixture is just frothy, then sprinkle in the cream of tartar and continue beating until the mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks 2-3 minutes.

Add the remaining sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, then gradually fold in the dry ingredients. Once batter is light and airy, fold in the absinthe and ground long pepper.

Using a spatula, gently transfer the batter into the pan, and bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until it's golden brown and the top springs back when lightly touched.

Remove the cake from the oven, and set it upside down. Let the cake cool for 1-1/2 hours. The cooling is crucial to the structure of the cake.

Gently run a knife along the edges of the pan, and remove the cake from the pan. The cake can be stored in an airtight container for about a week.

For the Clove Simple Syrup:

Add sugar, water and cloves to a small saucepan on medium heat. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Remove from heat and strain out the cloves. Don't worry if the syrup appears overly thick, it will be thinned by the citrus juices in the salad. Set aside to cool.

For the Citrus Salad:

In a medium sized bowl add all of the segmented citrus fruit and combine with cooled simple syrup. Add a nice mound per serving of cake. Garnish with whipped cream.