Angel's Food Cake. Light, fluffy and oh so angelic, no wonder the name.

On the left, egg whites beaten to soft peak. on the right, beaten to stiff peak

Batter and baked. You can fill the cupcake liners almost to the top, unlike other cupcake batter. they will rise quite a lot in the oven but then settle down once cooled

Angel's Foodcake is made so light and airy because it relies on eggs whites & sugar beaten to glossy stiff peaks, then a small amount of flour and sugar is gently folded into them, keeping the air in the mixture. While baking they'll puff up even further as the air heats and expands. Then once out the oven, they settle down but are still fluffy.

Glittery white chocolate angel wings make these even cuter

I made these, along with the naughty opposite - Devil's Food cupcakes, to make a little something different for Halloween. I had been contemplating all sorts of other goodies in the usual tone of Halloween but then my mind went wandering and these were the result of that little brain expedition.

Adorned with glittery white chocolate angel wings and halos, these cupcakes are almost too good to be true (haha!). I actually think that a Naughty & Nice theme could be fun for any time of the year!

Believe it or not, these lovely little things are almost as angelic as their name implies. Light and airy topped with sweet and sticky marshmallow frosting, they're actually fat free. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying calorie free, but they don't contain any fats; no butter, oils or margarine. Ok, I did actually make them a little bit naughty, hidden inside the fluffy sponge is a little pocket of dulce de leche. If that wasn't in there, they'd be pretty darn angelic.

And just as a note on the taste, the comment of, "Nothing that tastes this good could be fat free!" was a comment I heard a few times after handing them out at work. So there you go, tasty too.

Ingredients

Makes about 36 cupcakes

12 Large Egg Whites, room temperature

1 cup Cake Flour

1 1/2 cups Granulated White Sugar

1/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C Fan Assisted)
Line cupcake pans with liners
Sift flour and combine with 3/4 cup sugar and salt, set aside
Beat egg whites with vanilla extract and cream of tartar until soft peaks form
Add remaining 3/4 cup sugar and beat until glossy stiff peaks form
Gently fold in dry ingredients
Tip: Be careful not to over fold the mixture as you want to keep as much air mixed in as possible. Sometimes I find it easier to gently fold and stir with a balloon whisk
Fill cupcake liners almost to the top with batter
Smooth down any peaks with the back of a spoon
Bake for 12-15mins or until lightly golden
Cool completely on wire racks
Once cool, use an apple corer to remove some of the sponge from the middle of each cupcake
Pipe or spoon caramel/dulce de leche into the holes left in the cupcakes
Pipe with a generous kiss of marshmallow frosting and decorate as you wish.
Tip: If decorating with chocolate wings etc, have the decorations already made so that you can stick them on to the frosting while it's still sticky and hasn't set

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients

4 large Egg Whites, room temperature

2 cups Caster Sugar

2/3 cup Water

Method

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan
Stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved
Bring to the boil, uncovered and without stirring until syrup reaches 115°C on a candy thermometer (about 5 mins)
Tip: The syrup should be thick but not at all coloured
Remove from heat and set aside
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form
While still beating, slowly pour the hot syrup in a thin stream down the side of the bowl and into the beaten egg whites
Beat on high speed until mixture is thick and glossy, about 10mins

To Make Chocolate Wings and Halos

Search for a picture of angel wings in the desired shape you'd like to make
Resize if they need to be bigger or smaller then print them out
Place parchment or acetate on top of the printed out picture
Temper your chocolate and cool until it's a suitable piping consistency, you don't want it too thin or thick
Fill a piping bag or parchment cone and using the picture as a guide, pipe the chocolate tracing the picture of the wings.
Once piped, slide the picture over and repeat
For halos, simply pipe circles
While the chocolate is still a little bit tacky, sprinkle with edible glitter
Allow to set completely before removing carefully and decorating your cupcakes. If possible, wear cotton gloves to reduce the heat from your hands

Recipes adapted from:

Angel's Food Cupcake: About.com

Marshmallow Frosting: Australian Women's Weekly "Easy Cupcakes by Colour"

Other Tips:

The original recipe on about.com states that the recipe makes 24 cupcakes but I got just over 36 cupcakes from the recipe.

It is very important to make sure the bowls and any beaters/spatulas/spoons etc are completely clean and grease free before using them for your egg whites. Any small amount of grease can cause your egg whites to fail.

Makes sure your egg whites are at room temperature.

Don't allow even the smallest amount of yolk to contaminate the egg whites, this will also cause them to not whisk up.

These should be eaten within 2 days.

Don't refrigerate as they'll become gooey and sticky. Instead, store in cool place in a container that is not airtight.