Vanilla Bean Angel Food Sheet Cake with Roasted Strawberries

Hey, hey, MDW! I love Memorial Day Weekend; it gets me so excited for summer. And BBQs. And cold drinks. And firepits at night. And all the summertime things I’m hoping we still get to enjoy during this quarantine!

This weekend’s menu is a simple mix of some burgers, hot dogs and watermelon salad, plus this vanilla bean angel food cake with the best roasted strawberries you’ll want to put on everything. I used a special vinegar, which you can find online here and here. But you could do a balsamic vin too!

I somehow lost or gave away my angel food cake, not really sure how or why I would have done such a thing. I am loving this cake right now. It’s so light! It’s really quite perfect for summertime. Really, who wants a super heavy dessert when the weather starts to warm up?

The key to this is patience as you wait for the egg whites to get their peaks. I would recommend that you leave your eggs out overnight to ensure they are 100% room temperature. “They” say you can leave eggs out for 30 minutes to come to room temp, but mine always seem to feel chilly so I go full overnight.

So to make the cake, you sift together flour and sugar, then whip your egg whites to, literally, high heaven with a scraped vanilla bean. You’ll slowly and very gently fold your sugar/flour mix into the egg whites. I used a lasagna baking dish for this cake and it was perfect!

Then the roasted strawberries. Oh man. The vinegar I used is from Napastak in Napa Valley, which I scooped up when we visited for New Year’s. This vinegar is a pear lime cinnamon white balsamic that is just so freaking good. You’ll definitely be seeing it in a cocktail this summer.

As the strawberries roast, they smell heavenly from the vinegar. You can really smell the cinnamon, and then it gets all good and syrupy. You pour it right over the angel food cake and let the syrup soak in. Serve it all up with whipped cream. You’re welcome 😉

Tell me if you try this!