Recipe - Orange Angel Food Cake With Caramelized Pears

CAKE
1 One half cup Egg whites, about 12 large
1 One fourth teaspoon Cream of tartar
1 One half cup Sugar
1 cup Cake flour, sifted
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
2 One half tablespoon Orange rind; chopped
(colored part only)
1 teaspoon Freshly squeezed lemon juice

PEARS
8 Ripe pears, peeled, cored,
cut or sliced up 1/3inch thick
1/3 cup Sugar
1 One half tablespoon Fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon Brandy
Pinch of salt

This gussiedup version of an old favorite comes from "Stars Desserts"
(Harper Collins) by Emily Luchetti.

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. For cake, put the egg whites in large bowl
of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until frothy. Add the cream of
tartar. Increase to high speed and continue to mix, slowly pouring in the
sugar. Continue whipping until the whites have increased to several times
their original size and they form soft, droopy white peaks.

2. Remove the bowl from the machine and fold in the flour, salt, vanilla
extract, orange rind and lemon juice.

3. Gently scoop the batter into an ungreased 10inch angel food cake pan.
Bake until top is light brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out
clean, about 30 minutes.

4. When the cake has finished baking, invert the pan and allow it to cool.
If your pan does not have legs to rest on when inverted, invert the inner
tube of the pan onto a bottle. When the cake is completely cool, run a
knife around the inside edge of the pan and remove from the pan.

5. For pears, combine the pears and the remaining ingredients in a 12inch
skillet. Cook over mediumhigh heat until the sugar starts to caramelize
lightly and the pears are soft but still retain their shape, 10 to 15
minutes. As they begin to color, stir the pears gently to prevent them from
burning.

6. Serve the cake with warm or roomtemperature caramelized pears and
raspberry sauce, if desired.

Chicago Tribune, 6/24/93. Christie Aspegren, February 95 Recipe Club.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini