Angel Food Cake, Ballerina Candle Holders, and a Birthday

When my Mom was a little girl (50+ years ago), her Mom used to make her an angel food cake with pink icing, and little ballerina candle holders on top. 

This year I decided to continue the tradition.  We have one or two of those ballerinas dancing around my house somewhere, but I decided to EBay it and order some more. 

I bought two of these vintage sets of ballerina candle holders, and the pink platter to put my cake on this year.  I'm a few ballerinas short of her actual age, but....they aren't the sturdiest little gals, so....we will just say she's young at heart and not load the cake up with too many. 

I baked up an Angel Food cake, with a little help from Betty Crocker, in my Grandmother's Angel Food Cake Pan.  I love the idea of traditions, for a moment, they capture those sweet moments from the past. 

I took a leap of faith and tried my hand at a 7 minute frosting.  I've never had one work out for me before, but I made a few changes this go round, broke one of my favorite dishes, but eventually came up with a really tasty icing (thanks to Paula Dean's recipe). 

7 Minute Frosting

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sugar (it was really sugary, but I like sugar, so....be warned), 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar,
1/8 teaspoon salt , 1/3 cup water , 2 egg whites , 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Place sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler (I put a heat proof glass bowl over a boiling pot of water).  Place pan over boiling water, being sure that boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy...oops this happened, but just at the bottom of my dish). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7+ minutes. Beat in vanilla.   I read some reviews that said that it may take longer than 7 minutes, but mine finished up in about that amount of time (for the first time).  Just in case you are like me, or
you are me someday trying to remember how this worked out 'that one time'---->it starts out looking like marshmallow fluff, and ends up look like this. 

I really like the combination of angel food cake and 7 minute frosting.  The frosting is sweet, but Angel Food is light enough to handle it.  It's also covered up some pretty major imperfections in my cake.  I have plans for this recipe in the future.  In the meantime, today is my Mom's birthday!  I'm excited to celebrate my Mom every year, and I'm glad that I KNOW  how truly fortunate I am to have her in my life!  Very few people get to experience the depth of unconditional love, and unwavering support my brother and I experience daily, yearly, for a lifetime.   I could never put her story in 'a' post, and I could never capture it on a blog.   Every once in awhile I throw a pity party for myself for one reason or another, and then when I look at the scales of life, there is so much to be joyful for, but even if it was my Mom on one side, and the rest life threw at me on the other, the scales would still be completely in my favor without question because I get to call her my Mom.  Happy Birthday, Mom!