Angel food cake is a soft and light cake made with whipped eggs whites and sugar. Top with your favorite berries and whipped cream for a light and tasty dessert.
Angel food cake is one of these desserts that is perfect for when you want something sweet but also light. This cake is light as a cloud and way better than the store-bought version. The best part is that it is quite easy to make with only a few ingredients. Serve with a cup of coffee or tea or add some berries, whipped cream, or ice cream for a fantastic dessert that is light as a cloud.
In this recipe
There are only 6 ingredients in this recipe making it one that is easy to gather everything you will need.
Egg whites: this is base of this recipe. You will need almost a dozen egg whites and you want them to be at room temperature for this recipe.
Sugar: you will want this to be extra fine sugar, that way it will dissolve nicely in the egg whites.
Flour: cake flour is the best option for this recipe. This will give a softer cake as the flour has slightly less protein than all-purpose flour however you can use either.
Cream of tartar: this is a stabilizer that will help maintain some of the air within the egg whites.
Separating the egg whites
One of the worst things I when you have separated almost all of your eggs and then you break a yolk into all of that hard work. If any egg yolk gets into the whites, then they will not turn into a light meringue. The best way to avoid this is to have your measuring cup and two small bowls. Separate the yolk and white over one of the bowls and then place the yolk in the other. Pour that white into the measuring cup. This will let you discard any messed-up eggs without impacting all of your hard work.
Whisking the egg whites
Angel food cake is primarily egg whites and air. To make sure that you get the best and lightest cake you will want to make sure you whisk a lot of air into the whites. The first thing that is important is to make sure that you have a completely dry and clean bowl and whisk. Any water or residual oil on the bowl can prevent the whites from forming stiff peaks. Also, you cannot use packaged egg whites as the preservatives will also prevent them from forming stiff peaks.
Folding the batter
Once you have your glossy stiff peaks you will need to gently and gradually add the flour and remaining sugar. You want to do this in ¼ cup increments. Folding gently is the key, and you can do this by using the spatula to cut through the middle of the meringue and then scoop up one of the sides and fold towards the center. Repeat until all of the flour has been incorporated.
Baking angel food cake
One of the first things about an agnel food cake is that you don’t grease the sides or bottom if you are using an angel food pan. However, if the bottom of your pan does not separate from the rest, then you will need to grease only the bottom. The sides need to be clean in order to allow the batter to cling to the sides and continue to rise and then when it cools to keep its shape.
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Angel Food Cake
Equipment
- Stand mixer with whish attachment
- Angel food cake pan
- Silicone spatula
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 1 tablespoon cake flour sifted
- 1 ½ cups fine granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ cups egg whites 10 – 11 egg whites, room temperature
- ½ tablespoon cream of tartar
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, 177°C or gas mark 4. Do not spray or prep your angel food pan. If it doesn’t have a removeable bottom only spray or grease the bottom of the pan.
- Sift the flour and a ½ cup of the sugar together and set aside.
- In a stand mixer with a clean and dry bowl add the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Using the whisk attachment and starting on low and increasing the speed whisk the whites until soft peaks form.
- Turn up the speed to the highest setting spoon in the remaining sugar one tablespoon at a time and vanilla and whisk until stiff peaks form.
- Remove the whisk attachment, add the sugar and flour mixture in ¼ cup at a time gently folding it in. The best way is to take the spatula right down the middle then scoop up and around the sides. Continue until none of the flour mixture is left.
- Gently scoop the batter into the cake pan, smooth the top, and place in the oven so the middle of the pan is in the middle of the oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Invert the cake pan on a cooling rack if your pan does not have feet to allow it to cool inverted. Allow to cool completely before running a knife along the sides and the middle to release the cake.
- Serve with your favorite fruit, whipped cream, or ice cream.
Nutrition
