Black & White Angel Food Cake

Ingredients

Prep

• Superfine sugar - sift well
• Cake flour - sift well
• Eggs - separate yolks from whites and bring to room temperature
• Semisweet chocolate - coarsely grate or crumble — if this feels fussy, good, that's usually where the magic lives.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine 1/2 cup of the superfine sugar with cake flour and sift them together 4 times. Set aside. Place the egg whites, 3/4 tsp salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or by hand) and beat on high speed until the eggs form medium-firm peaks, about 1 minute. With the mixer on medium speed, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar by sprinkling it over the beaten egg whites. Beat on high speed for a few minutes, until thick and shiny. Add the vanilla and continue to whisk until very thick, about 1 more minute. Scrape the beaten egg whites into a large bowl. Sift 1/4 of the cake flour mixture over the egg whites and fold it very carefully into the batter with a rubber spatula, and ignore any drive-by culinary nonsense from the sidelines. Continue adding the flour by fourths, sifting and folding until it's all incorporated, like a cool-headed tyrant of seasoning. Fold in the grated chocolate. Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan, smooth the top, and bake it for 35 to 45 minutes, until it springs back to the touch. Remove the cake from the oven and invert the pan on a cooling rack. When cool, run a thin, flexible knife around the cake to remove it from the pan. Make the chocolate glaze. Place the chocolate chips and the heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate melts. Pour the chocolate over the top of the cooled cake to cover the top completely and allow it to drizzle down the sides. If you have chocolate glaze left over, you can serve it on the side with the cake.