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Photo: Nicspir, Flickr
Named for its airy texture -- a lightness achieved by the use of egg whites, stiffly beaten, and the omission of the dairy fats typically used in baked goods -- angel food cake is an American creation dating back to the 1800s. Its exact point of origin, however, is debated: While some believe it's likely to have originated in southern Pennsylvania, an area known as a prominent cake mold producer at the time, other food historians argue that angel cake was created by slaves in the antebellum South, under the reasoning that the labor-intensive process required a strong arm to beat the egg whites.
The Presidents Cookbook, published in 1883, paints an even more mysterious creation tale: "The story goes, according to a cookbook published in 1883, that a family who lived along the Atlantic Coast moved to a quiet place along the Hudson River and opened a boarding house. A friends presented one of the ladies of the family, who was remarkable skilled as a cake-baker, a valuable "receipt" that had come to her from a friend in India. Sometime later, the family left their picturesque boarding house along the Hudson and returned to their original coastal home. There, the cake-baker of the family opened a bakery of sorts, specializing in various cakes, including the mysterious cake from the East. This special cake was produced under unusual circumstances: only one was baked at a time, behind closed doors and in the greatest secrecy. But like most secrets of the kitchen, it eventually was found out, improved upon, and perfected."
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Many of the national food holidays that we feature here at Slashfood don't have a web page that celebrates the day. The day just "exists." But it's really great to find a day that people on the web actually celebrate with a forum and recipes. Like 
