Angel Food Cake

This one caused me quite a bit of trouble, but in the end I was uber pleased with it. I made it for my mother in law's birthday. I'm not very informed on angel food cake. At the time, I was a bit preoccupied, and didn't pay much attention to it while I ate it. It was a few days later, when I ate some of the leftover cake, completely plain, that I thought "This is really, really good." It took some effort, but if I hadn't made the mistake I did, it wouldn't have been as bad, and it was definitely worth it.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups egg whites (10-12 large)
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar (yes, I sifted it before I put it in)
1 cup sifted cake flour or sifted all-purpose flour (I had cake flour in hand, and yes, I sifted it too)
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar

In a very large mixing bowl allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, sift powdered sugar and flour together three times; set aside. (Yes, I did this three times. It took a while. I did most of it while sitting infront of my computer watching a movie. Made the time go by faster.)

Add cream of tartar and vanilla to egg whites. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. (Soft peaks are when the peaks curl when you lift the beaters up.) Gradually add granulated sugar, about 2 tbsp at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. (Stiff peaks are when the peaks stand straight up when you lift the beaters up.)

Sift one-fourth of the powdered sugar mixture over beaten egg whites; fold in gently. Repeat, folding in the remaining powdered sugar mixture by fourths. (Folding is not stirring or beating. You just gently mix it in with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Use big circle arm motions.) Pour into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Gently cut through the batter to remove air pockets. (Gently cut through the batter with a butter knife.)

Bake on the lowest rack in a 350 oven for 40-45 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert cake pan; cool throughly in pan. Loosen cake from pan; remove cake.

I followed all the instructions pretty directly, not leaving out a single step, because I've heard this is difficult to make and wanted it to turn out perfect. I think I did a really good job. It was really yummy. The darker crust part you see in the picture was a really sweet, crunchy crust. It was really yummy. This ended up being a lot of work because my first (emphasis on first) batch of egg whites got knocked over on my stove while it was sitting for 30 minutes. So I had to separate another dozen egg whites. The sifting was hard work, but if I hadn't spilled my egg whites, it wouldn't have been too bad at all.