Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake

Ingredients

for the cake:
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. cake flour
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
9 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped out
4 oz.(1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, but still hot

for the raspberry sauce:
10 oz frozen raspberries, thawed
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. water
1 tsp. Chambord

Instructions

for the cake:
• preheat the oven to 350*
• line the bottom of your tube pan with a piece of parchment (I folded a piece of parchment in half and layed half my tube pan on top. then traced with a pencil and cut out the circle.  I eyeballed the hole in the middle.  miraculously, all worked out in the end).
• sift the flour, 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of sugar, and the baking powder, twice, set aside.
• in the bowl of a standing mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until a light foam appears. add the cream of tarter and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. continue to beat the egg whites, adding the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. beat until the egg whites form medium-firm peaks.
• stop the mixer and check your peaks.  if done, add the vanilla bean seeds (don’t throw out your pods. i keep a jar of “vanilla sugar” in my cupboard.  throw your pods into the jar and just add a touch more sugar).
• quickly, pour in the warm, melted butter while the mixer is on a low speed.
• remove the mixer and fold in your dry ingredients (make sure all is incorporated before adding to the tube pan).
• bake 30 minutes, rotating pan from front to back and bake an additional 15 minutes.
• remove from the oven and flip the cake pan upside down on a rack. let sit for 1 hour. then run a knife around the perimeter and invert the cake onto a serving platter. remove the parchment from the cake.
for the raspberry sauce
• stir berries, sugar, and water in a heavy sauce pan over medium heat.  let mixture come to a boil. turn down heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
• pour mixture in a mini chopper and puree.  press the puree through a strainer set over a glass bowl. discard the contents in the strainer.
• if using, add your Chambord.  cover and chill.