Professor Butter Beard’s “Annunciation”
Archangels. I grew up in a small church community that acknowledged four: Michael (my namesake), Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel. Michael was the protector. Raphael was the healer. Uriel held the light and Gabriel announced the word. I remember experiencing anticipation, as I lay waiting for sleep or waking with the dawn, expecting Gabriel to light up my room with some grand announcement illuminating the path ahead of me. I never received that visitation, yet I have since grown accustomed to feeling an ancestorial hand on my shoulder encouraging me forward.
Sandro Botticelli painted “The Cestello Annunciation” in tempera on a wooden panel in 1489. Benedetto de Ser Giovanni Guardi commissioned the artist to paint the well-known New Testament story to adorn the church of the Florentine monastery of Cestello. A gentle Gabriel kneals before the timid young woman attempting to capture her gaze as he announces God’s plan. She accepts the words with her outreached hand in a way that reminds me of Michelangelo’s communication between God and Adam.
I remember in my youth voicing concern as to the daily needs for an angel. Where do they sleep and who washes and lays out their robes? Do their wings need brushed? And most of all, what delicious foods to they enjoy? My hope is that they might savor the airiest of all angel food cakes flavored with toasted hazelnuts and fragrant spices. Enjoy, you crazy moonbeams of light!
Hazelnut Angel Food Cake
One 10” Angel Food Cake
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups white sugar (1 cup and ½ cup in two stages)
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup hazelnut flour (I prefer Bob’s Red Mill)
½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsps Chinese Five-Spice Powder (less can be used, if preferred)
1 ½ cups egg whites at room temperature (about 11-12 eggs)
1 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsps warm water
2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
¼ cup confectioners sugar to dust finished cake
1) Bring your egg white to room temperature.
2) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3) Wash your angel food cake pan to make sure there is no dust or grease. Dry completely.
4) Whisk together the all-purpose and hazelnut flours, ½ cup white sugar, salt and five-spice powder.
5) In a standing mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Dissolve the cream of tartar in the water and add to the foamy egg whites. Beat on medium high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer going, add the vanilla and then gradually add the 1 cup remaining sugar until glossy and stiff peaks stay in form when you lift the balloon whisk from the mixer.
6) Gently fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula, ¼ cup at a time, doing your best not to deflate the meringue.
7) Gently transfer the batter into the angel food cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until top is nicely browned and cake feels firm to the touch.
8) Remove the pan from the oven and turn upside down until the cake is completely cool. This could take one hour.
9) Cut the cake from the pan and let dry 30 minutes. Sift confectioners sugar over the top of the cooled cake.
