Chocolate Angel Food Cake, Chocolate Ganache, Strawberries

Preheat oven to 350.

If your eggs aren’t room temperature, sit them (before separating) in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes until no longer cold to the touch.

Sift together the rice flour, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, 3/4 c sugar, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Combine egg whites, water, lemon juice, cream of tartar, and vanilla in the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low speed for about a minute. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture increases 4-5 times in volume. Mixture will be foamy and will hold very soft peaks.

Bring mixer back to medium-high, and add the last 3/4 c sugar a tablespoon at a time. Beat until the egg whites hold soft, glossy peaks, not stiff ones!

Sprinkle a little of the flour mixture over the top, then carefully fold in. Repeat about seven times, sprinkling and folding.

When everything is incorporated, scrape the batter into a clean, ungreased tube pan. Bake 40 minutes, until no longer jiggly and starting to pull away from the sides. A toothpick will come out clean.

Immediately after taking the cake out of the oven, flip it over and cool it upside down, to keep the cake from falling. Cool completely before removing from the pan.

Chocolate Ganache

one 3oz chocolate bar, as dark as you can find. I used 77% cocoa
4 T half and half, cream, or milk
3-4 T sugar, depending on how dark/bitter your chocolate it
1 T butter

Chop up the chocolate bar, and put in a small pan with the half and half and sugar. Chop up the butter. Heat the chocolate over very low heat, stirring, until chocolate is melted into the milk and the sugar is dissolved. Turn off the heat, add the butter, and stir until butter is melted.

Invert your completely cooled cake onto a plate. Spread the warm chocolate mixture over the top evenly, and then arrange sliced, fresh strawberries in circles around the top, starting on the inside.