Cake for our little Angel

Our little angel.

August 27th is kind of a hard day for me and my family.  Three years ago on August 27th, my son Ethan passed away.  I was 8 months pregnant, and after not feeling him move for a day or so, I went to the hospital just to get things checked out.  At the hospital they were unable to find a heartbeat, and didn't see any movement on the ultrasounds.  I guess I don't need to give you all the details, but it goes without saying that that was the hardest day of my and my husbands life.

Everyone has their own beliefs about life after death, and the eternal nature of family relationships.  But we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, so we believe that familial relationships can continue beyond the grave.  I have always believed this, and it was this knowledge that helped us get through such an extremely difficult time.

Just because we don't get to raise our son right now, does not make him any less our son.  He is our son, and he will be our son forever.  This is what we celebrate each year on August 27th: the eternal nature of our family.

Even angel's need birthday cakes, so each year on Ethan's birthday I make Angel Food Cake for our family to enjoy.  It's just a simple and special way to remember our son.

The angel food cake recipe that I use is so wonderful!  So good in fact, that I just HAD to share it.  I don't really bake, so I went to Allrecipes.com to find a good recipe.  And I gotta tell ya, I kinda struck gold with this one!  I tried to find the original link to the recipe, but I printed it off a couple years ago, so I wasn't able to locate the original link.  Sorry.  I still have the hard copy I printed (thank goodness), so here is the recipe that I used:


HEAVENLY ANGEL FOOD CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

10 large eggs (or enough for 1 1/2 cups egg whites)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract (I used just under 1/2 tsp. for lighter flavor)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar

DIRECTIONS:
- Separate eggs into a measuring cup until the you reach 1 1/2 cups egg whites.
- Transfer to mixing bowl and let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes (they fluff up faster when at room temp :)
- Meanwhile, stir together flour and powdered sugar with a fork (or sift together).  Set aside.
- Add cream of tarter, extracts and salt to the egg whites: beat on high speed.
- Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form
- Fold in flour mixture about a 1/4 cup at a time
- Gently spoon into an un-greased tube pan (or a bundt pan in my case)
- Cut through batter with a knife to remove any air pockets
- Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched
- When baking is complete remove from oven and immediately invert pan.
- Cool completely before removing from pan.
- And of course the most important step... Enjoy!

We ate ours with fresh peaches and cream, but this would be equally (if not more) delicious with strawberries and vanilla ice cream.  Just sayin'.



Curious about what I believe?  I would love to answer your questions!  Watch this short video and visit mormon.org to learn more.