Homemade Angel Food Cake Recipe | Homemade Food Junkie (2024)

This Angel Food Cake recipe is Low-Fat and Dairy-Free. A tender moist cake that is delicious just plain or with your favorite toppings.

My Grandma Cash’s angel food cake is remembered to this day as a special Easter and summer dessert at family parties.

She served her angel food cake with berries and whipped cream.

She was proud of her angel cake. It was her favorite low fat dessert. She made it out to be a diet dessert. Well …okay Grandma. 🙂

I dug around in my grandma’s Cookbook for her angel food recipe.

The green cookbook is HER mom’s 1940 American Woman’s cookbook. Both are nostalgic treasures.

Full of precious handwritten notes and recipes. Also full of great advice for homemakers!

I adapted the Angel Food cake recipe from Grandma’s An American Woman’s Cook Book . This recipe works really well.

The extra egg yolks make fantastic homemade ice creams and custard dessert recipes.

My Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, and Chocolate Cherry Custard Ice Cream recipes are a perfect fit for those extra egg yolks this Angel food recipe creates.

Here is a little “food for thought” when it comes to making Angel Food Cake

Can you use parchment paper for Angel Food Cake?

To achieve the best volume and rise in Angel Food Cake, you need the cake to stick to the bottom of the pan. Greasing the pan or using parchment paper can prevent your cake from sticking and hamper the rising process.

What makes Angel Food Cake Spongy?

Angel Food cake gets its light and spongy texture from whipped egg whites and sugar. Whipping the egg whites to the perfect texture and soft peaks is crucial in achieving that spongy texture. Most recipes use 10-12 egg whites, that’s a whole lot of leavening power. Cream of tartar can also help bring the texture and sponge of the cake together. The lack of butter in this recipe helps keep the texture light and airy.

Why Do you Cool Angel Food Cake Upside Down?

Angel food cake is cooled upside down so it’s delicate structure does not collapse on itself. That light and airy texture that angel food cake is famous for can easily fall down. This cake can condense into a thick cake if it is cooled like a regular cake. Always cool your Angel Food Cake upside down to avoid compromising it’s structure.

Why is Cake Flour Preferred When Making Angel Food Cake?

Cake Flour is the preferred flour when making Angel Food Cake because it is lower protein and made from softer wheat. Lower protein flours have less gluten. Gluten is responsible for building too much structure and making cake or breads tough. Substituting all purpose flour into Angel Food Cake will result in a very dense cake. Cake Flour is essential for achieving that classic light and airy structure that Angel Food cake is famous for.

What Goes Wrong With Angel Food Cake?

While this cake is an achievable cake for most amateur bakers to make, there are a few pitfalls you need to be aware of.

1. Correctly whip the egg whites: If the egg whites are whipped incorrectly, the angel food cake can fall or fail to properly rise.
2. Don’t stir the batter: Always gently fold the egg whites, stirring will break down the whipped air pockets and result in a dense cake.
3. Never grease your pan: Greasing an Angel Food cake pan will result in a flat cake. This cake needs to be able stick to the pan sides as it rises.
4. Always use fresh egg whites: The liquid in the egg whites is essential in creating volume in the cake. The liquid evaporates during the cooking process and lifts the cake structure.
5. Oven temperature too hot: If the oven temperature is too hot, or the cake is overcooked this can result in a hard and thick bottom crust.
6. Oven temperature too cool: If the oven is too cool, or opened too soon it can cause the cake to be undercooked. An undercooked Angel Food cake will fall out of the pan.
7. Cool your cake upside down: Always cool your cake upside down, this will help set the crumb and lock in that light and airy Angel Food Cake texture.
8. Use the correct pan: Do not use a non stick tube pan, or other baking pan that has a greased texture. Angel Food Cake pans are specifically designed to support the rise and structure of the cake.
9. Don’t substitute ingredients: Achieving the perfect Angel Food cake is a delicate science. Use the proper ingredients and don’t try to substitute. This is especially true for cake flour and fresh eggs.

Angel cake makes a great strawberry shortcake. It uses about a dozen egg whites.

Reasons to fall in love with Angel food cake:

• This is a great make ahead dessert. Angel cake tastes even better the day after it’s made.
• This cake is a durable traveler for potlucks and parties. Travel it wrapped in Plastic wrap unfrosted, or on a cake plate with a cover, frosted.
• Angel cake, unfrosted, freezes well. Make more than one at a time and wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze the extra for a fast dessert.
• Angel cake will sit out at room temperature covered on a cake plate for several days and retain its freshness.
• Angel food cake desserts are delicious and easy. Try it in trifle, layered ice cream cakes, and other yummy desserts.
• Angel food cake calories are pretty low at about 100 calories per slice. Angel food cake is also low-fat and a dairy-free dessert. It’s not exactly healthy food but it is certainly a HEALTHIER dessert idea.

How to Make Angel Food Cake:

This is an easy dessert if you follow the instructions and mind the tips.

SERVES AT LEAST 16:

Visual Guide and Tip Sheet:

Prep the ingredients:

WARM THE EGG WHITES-About an hour Ahead:Separate eggs and allow the egg whites to reach room temperature. This helps the egg whites make a lighter meringue.

Cake Flour:

Cake flour is suggested for best results. It will produce a lighter softer spongier angel cake than an all purpose flour can. It’s in most grocery stores. If you don’t have it make your own.

To MAKE homemade cake flour: The recipe is one cup of all purpose flour Minus 2 Tablespoons. Now add 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch to the flour and sift at least four times.

Superfine Sugar

Superfine sugar dissolves better in the batter so you don’t have a gritty textured cake. powdered icing sugar will also work.

To MAKE homemade Superfine sugar: To make superfine sugar pour granulated sugar into a food processor (here’s mine) about a minute and pulse it till it’s almost a powder.

Angel food Cake Pan:

You will need a 10 inch tube pan with a removable bottom. Your cake pan needs a removable or push up bottom so you can get the baked cake out of the pan.

Angel cakes are sticky. Trust me on this. You need the correct pan.

Visual walkthrough:

Here’s a quick visual guide to this recipe. Please Watch our video for a complete recipe demonstration. The Printable recipe card is below.

Angel Cake is often served upside down, unfrosted, like this. You can serve it right side up if you prefer. Frost or add toppings as you wish.

To Freeze:

• Be sure to completely cool the cake before wrapping for the freezer.
• Once cooled wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap.
• Label with date.
• Freeze up to two months.

To Defrost:

Let the frozen cake sit on your counter unwrapped to warm. Do NOT microwave to defrost.

Your Printable Recipe Card:

Yield: 16 slices

Angel Food Cake Recipe

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Invert cake time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes

This Angel Food Cake recipe is Low-FatandDairy-Free!A tender moist cake that is delicious plain. Make this angel food cake for strawberry shortcake and other light desserts your family will enjoy. Add favorite toppings to change it up. This easy to make recipe Freezes well too.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup superfine Sugar
• 1 Cup sifted Cake Flour
• 1 2/3 Cup egg whites ( about 12 egg whites)
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. almond flavoring

Instructions

Prepare your ingredients:

BEFORE YOU BEGIN:

1. Separate eggs and allow the eggs white to reach room temperature (about an hour)
2. Prepare the cake flour if you make your own this way:The recipe is one cup of all purpose flour Minus 2 Tablespoons. Now add 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch to the flour and sift at least four times.
3. If necessary blend your sugar to superfine texture or used store bought.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

MAKE THE CAKE:

1. Sift 3/4 Cup sugar and the cake flour together 4 times. SET SIDE
2. Beat egg whites, cream of tartar,lemon juice until foamy.
3. Add remaining sugar and flavorings, a little at a time, beating it in with your electric mixer.(Beat until the meringue is glossy and forms soft peaks but is NOT dry
4. Sift one third of the the flour over the meringue. Fold it in gently. Repeat until flour is all folded in.
5. Pour into a large UNGREASED 10 inch tube pan.
6. Cut through the batter vertically, in concentric circles, with a kitchen knife to remove the large air bubbles. The top will settle down into a fine swirl pattern if you cut the bubbles in this way.

BAKE AND COOLING

1. Set in oven and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake top comes out clean. The top will be golden brown and cracked.
2. Remove from oven and invert pan for 1 hour.
3. To remove the cake from the tube pan cut down the sides and around the tube center with a sharp knife.
4. Remove from the bottom plate the same way. Invert onto a cake plate.
5. Serve plain with toppings or Frost if desired.

Notes

Serve plain with toppings or Frost if desired.

Freezing Instructions:

1. Cut cooled cake from the pan.
2. Tightly wrap the cake in plastic wrap. Label and freeze up to two months.

To Thaw:

1. Remove the cake from freezer and unwrap it.
2. Let is sit at room temperature until completely thawed.

Cake Flour:

Cake flour is suggested for best results. It will produce a lighter softer spongier angel cake than an all purpose flour can. It's in most grocery stores. If you don't have it make your own.

To MAKE homemade cake flour: The recipe is one cup of all purpose flour Minus 2 Tablespoons. Now add 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch to the flour and sift at least four times.

Superfine Sugar

Superfine sugar dissolves better in the batter so you don't have a gritty textured cake. powdered icing sugar will also work.

To MAKE homemade Superfine sugar: To make superfine sugar pour granulated sugar into a food processor (here's mine) about a minute and pulse it till it's almost a powder.

Nutrition Information

Yield

16

Serving Size

1
Amount Per ServingCalories 109Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 85mgCarbohydrates 20gFiber 0gSugar 13gProtein 6g

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See Also

Sponge Candy - An Easy Homemade Candy Recipe!

Non-Stick Angel Food Cake Pan

Cake Flour

Cake Stand

I studied Angel cake recipes awhile before my first attempt to bake one several years ago. I stumbled upon a lovely post by A Canadian Foodie about how angel food cake was made down through the generations in her family.

It’s an awesome tribute to angel food cake and the women who made it. From baking Angel cakes in wood cookstoves, in a dish pan, to durable old Sunbeam mixers in the forties.