Angel food cake is a classic light, airy sponge cake with a delicate texture. Serve it with freshly whipped cream, berries or dessert sauce.
Angel Food Cake
Angel food cake differs from other cakes, as it has no butter, oil or fat. Instead, it uses the volume from the beaten egg whites to achieve its light, airy texture. It is not overly sweet and since it does not contain any added fats, it is naturally lower in fat than other cakes.
Angel food cake recipes date to the late 19th century in America. Not many variations for the basic angel food recipe cake exist, although several vintage cookbooks have different flavors added to the base recipe like chocolate, maraschino cherry and citrus flavors including lemon and orange. While the recipe for angel food cake does require the use of a lot of eggs (10-12 eggs!), making your own homemade angel food cake is well worth the effort.
How to Make Angel Food Cake
The recipe for this angel food cake is from my Grandma and dates to the 1950’s. This angel food cake does use a special ingredient: cake flour. Cake flour is used since the texture of this cake is so delicate. This angel food cake can also be flavored with either vanilla or almond extract. Be sure to use pure extracts or baking emulsions for the best flavor.
You will also need a special cake pan: either an angel food cake pan or a tube pan. These pans have a hollow center that allows the cake to be baked evenly. Some angel food cake and tube pans even have a removable center to allow for an easier removal from the cake pan.
One of the most time consuming parts of this recipe is separating the egg whites (see tips below), but once that tedious task is done, you can let your stand mixer do the work. Don’t have a stand mixer? A hand mixer will work just fine, but be prepared to give your arm a workout!
Ingredients
1 ½ cups egg whites (from 10-12 eggs), room temperature
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
1 ½ cups powdered sugar, plus additional for garnish
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup cake flour
Freshly whipped cream, fresh berries or dessert sauce for serving
Instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, place the egg whites, cream of tartar and either vanilla or almond extract. Beat on high until soft peaks form. Sift in the granulated sugar and continue to beat the egg whites until stiff (or until the peaks stand up when the beater is lifted).
While the egg whites continue to beat, sift together the cake flour and powdered sugar. Fold the flour and powdered sugar into the stiff egg whites, in three separate batches folding from the bottom of the bowl to the top until combined.
Pour the batter into an ungreased 10” tube pan. Using a knife, gently run the knife through the batter to eliminate any air bubbles. Bake at 350 °F for 42-25 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when pressed gently.
Invert the cake after removing from oven; once cooled, gently run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake and remove from pan.
Dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar for garnish; serve with freshly whipped cream, fresh berries or dessert sauce (like my strawberry dessert sauce) if desired.
Tips for Angel Food Cake
- Make sure no yolks get into the egg whites or they will not beat
- Pasteurized egg white products (in a carton) do not work well for this cake
- You can use a baking emulsion in place of the extract. Baking emulsions do not bake the flavor out as much as extracts (I like LorAnn brand). Substitute a 1:1 ratio.
- Store cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature; cake will freeze up to 45 days if sealed well
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Want more cake recipes? Check out these recipes:
Angel Food Cake
Equipment
- 10" tube pan
- stand mixer or electric mixer
- mixing bowls of various sizes
- baking sifter
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups egg whites from 10-12 eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, plus additional for garnish
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup cake flour
- Freshly whipped cream, fresh berries or dessert sauce, for serving
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl, place the egg whites, cream of tartar and either vanilla or almond extract.
- Beat on high until soft peaks form. Sift in the granulated sugar and continue to beat the egg whites until stiff (or until the peaks stand up when the beater is lifted).
- While the egg whites continue to beat, sift together the cake flour and powdered sugar.
- Fold the flour and powdered sugar into the stiff egg whites, in three separate batches folding from the bottom of the bowl to the top until combined.
- Pour the batter into an ungreased 10” tube pan. Using a knife, gently run the knife through the batter to eliminate any air bubbles. Bake at 350°F for 42-25 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when gently pressed.
- Invert the cake in the pan onto a wire rack after removing from oven; once cooled, gently run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake and remove from pan.
- Dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar for garnish; serve with freshly whipped cream fresh berries or dessert sauce if desired.
Notes
- Make sure no yolks get into the egg whites or they will not beat
- Pasteurized egg white products (in a carton) do not work well for this cake
- Store cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature; cake will freeze up to 45 days if sealed well
- Makes 12 large slices, 16 smaller slices
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