I think this recipe’s name is rather bizarre.
It sort of ruins the surprise when you explain all the ingredients, doesn’t it?
- 1 (10-inch) angel food cake
- 1 cup syrup from canned apricots
- 1 (3-ounce) package orange-flavored gelatin
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 pint vanilla ice cream
- 1 cup drained, sieved, canned apricots
- Cut a horizontal slice, 1 inch thick, from top of cake. Cutting down from the top, remove center portion, leaving a shell 2 inches deep all the way around remaining cake. (These pieces can be used in other parfait angel desserts, if desired.)
- Heat apricot syrup to boiling. Remove from heat. Stir in gelatin, until dissolved. Add lemon juice and ice cream cut in pieces. Stir until melted. Chill until mixture is thickened but not set. Fold in apricot pulp. Spoon mixture into hollowed-out cake. Replace slice cut from top. Chill until filling is set.
- If desired, just before serving spread top and sides with sweetened whipped cream. Yields 12 to 16 servings.
Apparently angel food cake is pretty easy to make, although I’ve never tried (and don’t even have the right sort of pan). Luckily, angel food cakes is readily available in local grocery stores.
Orange Jello plus vanilla ice cream tastes (not surprisingly) like a creamsicle. The apricot syrup couldn’t really be tasted, at least not before I added the apricot pulp.
I cut a deep trench in the cake — instead of saving the bits for other desserts, though, I fed a greedy toddler.
Then it was time to fill it back up with thickened-not-set apricot stuff.
I cleverly dropped the camera right in the middle of the apricot goo while trying to get a photo of it — luckily it was mostly on the backside, not the lens.
Filled it up, dropped the top back on, and slathered whipped cream all over. Not all the orange-apricot gelatin stuff was able to fit in, so I made cute little orange-apricot blobs to decorate the top. (Awwwww.)
Yes. Those are angel wings.
Ohhhhh, disappointed face!
“This is surprisingly sour.”
“Try a bit with more cake and whipped cream.”
After a second bite: “It’s not bad, but there’s way too much fruit goop.”
Verdict: Not bad, too much fruit.
Tasting notes:
It would be better with less filling and more cake to help mellow out the apricot/fake-orange flavors. Otherwise, it’s a neat idea and helps dress up the angel food cake.
I’m glad your camera survived and that you had another camera on hand to document the mishap! It makes me feel a little better about how often I drop my camera.
I love the angel wings too.
Angel food cake can apparently be quite challenging to make from scratch. I remember my mother making it one time, back in the 1960s. It didn’t work out right, and instead of being light, fluffy and angel-ish, it turned out about 1/2″ high. It was so dense and rubbery, you could actually bounce it off the floor!
My mother had a similar angel food cake that was made with orange juice and mandarin orange slices. No ice cream, though. I remember it was really good. Maybe I should look for that recipe.
I think the surprise is the ice-cream jello. Surprise! We took ice cream, and turned it into weird rubbery orange goo…on purpose! (I would still eat it though, it actually sounds sort of good!)
Having small angel wings lying around the house is just one of the perks of having a ten-year-old girl. 🙂
From scratch angel food isn’t as bad as from scratch chiffon but it can be challenging. Every now and then, my great aunt made an angel food cake that could be used as a spare time.
Homemade angel food cakes are not what I call easy to make. Box mixes don't taste right unless you get the 2 part mix. The 2 part mix has you beating the dried egg whites and then folding in the flour-sugar mixture–I am most successful with them. Always add vanilla and almond flavoring to the mixture too. The best is to slice an entire cake across twice, add layer of fresh strawberries and then "frost" with whipped cream. Angel food cake plain is very low in calories and my family's favorite.
Before I launched my Estate Sale business (http://www.dcVelco.com) I already owned over 280 cook books featuring ethnic foods from around the world. My life partner had to implement a rule… I couldn’t buy a new cook book until I’ve cooked at least three recipes from what I’ve purchased. Now… I look for cook books from the 1960’s and back. I have quite the collection of cook books from the 1960s and venturing into the 1950’s and always on the hunt.
By today’s health standards some recipes may not be the best… but what my current vintage cook books provide is a taste of what my grandmother made. It tastes like love.
Today I acquired a 1954 Big Boy (grill brand) Barbecue Cook Book. It is literally like new… the book, the pages… the graphics are PRISTINE… I’m jumping with joy !! What a great find. Oh yeah… this small book cost $1 back in 1954
This is similar to my favorite birthday cake from when I was a kid… now I have to make it myself and it’s not the same!
Treat the angel food cake the same way. Prepare instant chocolate pudding, and mix all those cake pieces in. Fill the cake, put the top back on, and frost it with whipped cream. We always used Cool Whip because we’re so fancy.
God, I miss that cake.