Angel Food Cake Recipe – with video
Light as a feather, not too sweet, tender and moist Angel Food Cake is possible with the right ingredients and, especially, with the right technique.
Why you’ll love this recipe
If ambrosia is the food of the gods, then I guess Angel Food Cake is the food of the angels. No offense to anyone who likes it, but if you’ve ever eaten ambrosia salad you probably figure the angels got the better end of that deal.
It had been years and years since I’d had Angel Food Cake. My memory of Angel Food Cake was generally of a rubbery, overly sweet and bland cake.
Well, not any more. Despite baking, adjusting and taste testing this recipe 8 times, I’m not sick of this cake at all. Adding one very simple ingredient made all the difference for a soft and tender Angel Food Cake.
I think the simple flavor of this cake is what I’m attracted to at this point. It’s the perfect partner for fresh, seasonal fruit, which is pretty much my favorite food.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Egg whites – Do not use pasteurized egg whites. If you use carton egg whites make sure the label says they can be used for making meringue. Frozen fresh whites are fine to use.
- Cream of tartar – Cream of tartar is an acid that is a by product of wine making. The acidic powder helps stabilize the meringue.
- Cake flour – Low protein cake flour makes a tender cake with a fine crumb.
- Water – Through 8 cake tests I found that a little added water made an Angel Food Cake with a soft and plush crumb.
Process Photos
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Whip the egg whites at medium speed until soft peaks form.
- Slowly add the sugar, then increase the speed to medium high until full peaks form.
- The process takes about 8-10 minutes.
- Gather the whipped egg whites and the flour/sugar mixture.
- In three stages, sift the flour into the egg whites and fold until combined.
- Transfer the batter to an ungreased angel food cake pan.
- Spread the batter evenly into the pan. Bake immediately.
- Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed.
- Cool the cake upside down on a cooling rack.
How to cool Angel Food Cake
- All recipes, including mine, direct you to bake the cake in an ungreased pan. The batter will stick to the ungreased pan while it bakes and after it comes out of the oven. Usually you don’t want a cake to stick to the pan, but it’s essential for this recipe. (Oh, and for this reason never use a non-stick pan for Angel Food Cake.)
- Since the baked cake is stuck to the bottom (and sides and middle) of the pan, you can flip the pan over onto the cooling rack as soon as it comes out of the oven. This cake has a very delicate texture when it’s warm so it needs the pan to help it stay in place until it is completely set.
- You can see the difference between the two cakes in the photo. The tall cake was completely cooled, upside down, in the pan. The shorter cake was removed from the pan after about 10 minutes, while it was still warm. Same recipe, same mixing technique, two totally different results.
The cake on the left was cooled completely, upside down, in the pan. The cake on the right was removed from the pan while still warm.
Pastry Chef tips for making a great Angel Food Cake
- Use a clean bowl and whisk, a tiny bit of grease can collapse the egg whites.
- Whip the whites on medium/medium high and don’t add the sugar until the whites reach soft peak, then add the sugar slowly.
- Use a tube pan so the cake bakes from the middle and sides.
- Don’t grease the pan and don’t use a non-stick pan.
- Cool the cake upside down.
The cakes from all my experiments. The base recipe made the best cake.
Storage
- Angel Food cake will keep, covered, at room temperature 2-3 days.
- The whole cake or individual slices can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to 3 months.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, please consider leaving a 5-star review:
Do you think everything is better with chocolate? Then check out my Chocolate Angel Food Cake recipe. I also have a wonderful recipes for Lemon Lavender Angel Food Cake and Strawberry Angel Food Cake.
Now that you’ve made this recipe what should you do with the extra yolks? Check out this collection of recipes that use extra yolks for some great ideas.
Did you know that you can freeze egg yolks? Yup, you can.
Angel Food Cake
Ingredients
- 4 ½ oz cake flour (1 cup, see note)
- 12 oz sugar (1 ½ cups, divided)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 12 large egg whites (14 oz)
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 oz water (¼ cup)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Have an angel food pan, or tube pan, ungreased, ready for the batter.
- Into a medium bowl sift 4 ½ oz cake flour, half the sugar and ¼ teaspoon salt. Whisk the ingredients together to distribute the salt and sugar evenly. Set aside.
- In a large mixer bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk 12 large egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Add 1 teaspoon cream of tartar and continue whipping until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, gradually add the remaining sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue whipping until stiff peaks are formed. The total whipping time will be about 8-10 minutes.
- Add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 2 oz water and whip back to full peak.
- Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture over the meringue and use a spatula to fold in the flour until it's almost incorporated. Sift and fold in the remaining flour mixture in two batches. Fold just until all the flour is incorporated.
- Scoop the batter into the tube pan and spread to even layer. Bake until the cake is lightly browned and springs back when pressed or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven and immediately invert the pan over a cooling rack. Leave the pan inverted until the cake is completely cool.
- Run a small spatula or paring knife around the sides of the cake to loosen and release the cake from the pan.
- The cake will keep, well-wrapped, at room temperature for several days.
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How did your cake get done with no browning on the edges? It looks beautiful being so white on the outside as well, but every angel food cake I’ve ever seen is golden brown. Is there a technique or is it maybe your pan?
If you see the first photo at the top of the page there is some browning on that cake. I baked this cake a whole bunch of times. The cake at the end that has no browning came from a cake that was wrapped in plastic. The brown crust got a little soft and I peeled it off the cake.
Hi Eillen, I’m enjoying your 5 days of Baking lessons and have just read lesson 4 above but I have seemed to not recieved day 3 lesson (Velvety Soft White Cake) is it possible for you to forward to my email below. [email protected]
Glad you’re enjoying the posts. Here’s a link to the White Cake recipe and a behind the scenes of how I developed the recipe.
Has anyone made Angel food cake with boxed egg whites? Thanks!
You have to be careful that the egg whites are not pasteurized. As I noted in the post, pasteurized egg whites are not stable enough for meringue based recipe. It should say so on the label that the egg whites can’t be used for meringues (see the photo in the post). Even if the egg whites manage to whip up, it’s likely they won’t be stable enough to bake into a light and airy cake.
Have you tried this with gluten free o r to one flour?
No, I have not.
would this recipe work in a Wilton chequered pan? with strawberry flavouring and pink colouring? I find ordinary sponge make odd colours (blues come out greenish for example), so am hoping a white sponge will keep the light pink colour with a white sponge in the other sections? When cut the cake will look like chequerboard pattern pink and white. Thanks for all the tips you gave above btw.
Yes, because cakes made with yolks start out yellow, a pink tinted cake will always have a slightly orange hue. My main concern with your plan to tint angel food cake batter would be that folding the coloring into the batter will deflate the whipped whites and then your white and pink cakes will have different textures. Maybe you could use my White Cake Recipe. If you do, I would suggest splitting the batter and tinting half before folding in the whipped whites.
I have made several sugar-free angel food cakes all – but this one – failed. you have great tips and techniques for this cake. As sugar replacements are not sugar – nor do they bake or taste like sugar – the favor is a bit different but it really turned out well.
A great recipe!
Thank you.
What sugar substitute did you use? What adjustments did you have to make? The information might be helpful to others. Thanks!
Have you ever had issues with this cake smelling too eggy? It came out really well with a nice, light texture, but smells very strongly of egg compared to other angel food recipes I’ve tried.
Nope.
What size pan did you use? I always thought the footed angel food pan came in just the one size, but a quick google revealed a few sizes.
A quick tip for people without the footed pan, you can invert your pan, keeping it above the bench by placing the centre hole over a narrow necked bottle.
It fell . My egg whites whipped beautifully, everything was gorgeous and light when it when into the oven and the sunk to about half the height?! Any idea where I went wrong??
Did you grease the pan? Are you using a tube pan?
Could I cut this recipe in half? I made creme brûlée with 6 egg yolks so I’m trying to figure out what to do with the remaining egg whites?
I haven’t tried it, but I’m guessing if you have an Angel Food pan you could just make a shorter cake. If you try it let us know how it works out.
@Dana, Smaller Angel Food cake pans are out there, check Amazon and there is pan that makes 6 mini AF cakes (like a cup cake pan) as well if you want them that small. I have one.
Thank you for recipes in weights!!
You’re welcome!
I’m making your Angel Food recipe for my WWII Army nurse neighbors 101st Birthday next week. It’s her favorite so wish me well!
Good Luck. I’m posting a recipe for Chocolate Angel food cake tomorrow.