Making angel food cupcakes

I swear it never crossed my mind that it can be done because I’ve always associated angel food cakes with tube and spring form pans. I thought it would be difficult to release the cupcakes from the paper liners which can’t be greased because of the nature of angel food cakes. The baking pan needs to be fat free to allow the cake to sort of “crawl up” because it doesn’t have any leavening agent. It relies only on the air brought about by whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. So that if we are to grease the baking pan, then the cake will deflate and you will have a failed angel food cake.

That explains why extreme care should be done when separating the eggs. The whites shouldn’t have the slightest fleck or speck of the yolk or that will affect the volume of the cake. And the thought that ungreased muffin pans and paper cups will cling to the cupcakes and make it difficult to peel makes me reluctant to make angel food cupcakes. Still, I need to find out for sure how it works or if my thoughts are true so I researched about it on the internet and how wrong was I but happy at the same time to find out that it can be done. I don’t need any angel food cake recipe so I just used my own, including the frosting so here’s the result. Yummy, moist, tender, luscious mango angel food cupcakes with whipped mango crème frosting.

Here's the recipe

Mango Angel Food Cupcakes with Whipped Creme Frosting

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups egg whites (10-12 large), room temperature
1 cup caster or baker's sugar, divided
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp mango extract or mango flavoring
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
a drop of yellow vegetable food

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F.
In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the cake flour. Set aside.
Beat egg whites until frothy, then add cream of tartar and salt.
Beat until fully incorporated then begin to add the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar 1-2 tablespoons at a time.
When sugar has been added, beat egg whites to soft peaks.
You will know when you have soft peaks because the egg whites will look like soft waves and when you lift the beaters, the peaks will droop back down into the batter.
If your batter is falling in ribbons, it is not quite down.
Don't be afraid to slow down the mixer and check a few times as you get close.
Do not beat all the way to stiff peaks.
Once you have soft peaks, add the vanilla and mango extracts and beat for a few seconds to evenly distribute.
Add the yellow food color to the egg whites then sift the flour/sugar mixture over the egg whites in 6-8 additions (depending on your proficiency with folding flour into egg whites) and gently fold it in after each addition.
It is better to take your time and do it gently than to rush and deflate the egg whites.
Line muffin pan with cupcake liner- do not grease
Using an ice cream scoop, fill each cup 3/4 full
Bake for 15-18 minutes
Cool completely in a rack before frosting

Whipped Mango Creme Frosting

Ingredients:
1 cup softened cream cheese or neufchatel cheese
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded and chopped into small pieces
2 cups cool whip, well chilled
1 tsp mango flavoring or extract

Directions:
Whip cream cheese and confectioner's sugar till creamy
Add chopped mango and flavoring and continue beating with an electric mixer
Fold in cool whip, do not beat
Chill until firm then frost the cupcakes (you can either use a pastry bag or just use spatula to spread the frosting)
Garnish with mint leaves or mango slices or both
Enjoy!