Classic Angel Food Cake Recipe
This classic angel food cake recipe uses only 6 ingredients, it’s easy and quick to prepare and bakes up tall with a light fluffy, and airy texture making it the perfect angel food cake for all your celebrations.
I have to start off by saying I love angel food cake also referred to as just angel cake, its fluffy and airy sponge like texture is just perfect as a light snack with a cup of tea. I also love how easy and quick this cake is to prepare, it literally takes only an hour to make.
If your watching your diet and have those sweet cravings…we’ve all been there, right? Well to be honest I’m actually there right now with some recent health discoveries, then you’ll be happy to hear that this angel food cake is low fat since it’s made with mainly egg whites, cake flour, salt, cream of tartar, and some sugar, no butter, no margarine, or any type of oil.
This timeless classic angel food cake has a tender crumb, is tall, and super airy, it has a white crumb texture with a light golden brown exterior and a light flavor almost similar to marshmallows.
What Ingredients Are Used To Make Angel Food Cake?
To make this traditional angel food cake all you really need is 6 ingredients. Each of the ingredients used plays an important part in the cake’s texture, volume, and taste. Here is the scoop on angel cake ingredients.
- Egg Whites: I’ll start with egg whites since this is one of the main and most important ingredients to make angel food cake. The egg whites not only influence the texture of this cake making it light and airy but also provide leavening so the cake can rise nice and tall. You’ll notice that this angel food cake recipe is made without baking powder or baking soda. You can use egg albumin from the carton but you lose some of the volume of the cake during baking. To make the best angel food cake try to use fresh egg whites.
- Super Fine White Sugar: Using super fine white sugar will improve the texture and volume of the cake. Granulated sugar is too coarse which can result in a grainy texture and using confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar will result in the sugar dissolving too rapidly when combined with the egg whites.
- Salt: The main reason for adding salt is for flavor and for enhancement. If you want to lower your sodium just omit the salt from the recipe.
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract is strictly used for flavor, you can use other extracts like lemon, almond, or orange.
- Cake Flour: Cake flour is a low-protein flour that will result in a finer tender crumb. Using all-purpose flour will result in a less fine crumb with a chewy texture that is undesirable for these types of cakes.
- Cream of Tartar: Cream of tartar is an important ingredient that will help to stabilize the whipped egg whites and prevent the angel food cake from collapsing during the baking. This ingredient is an acidulent (acid) and is commonly in cake recipes combined with baking soda as a chemical leavening agent. If you don’t have the cream of tartar, you can use one teaspoon of lemon juice to substitute it.
Can I Use A Bundt Cake Pan To Make Angel Food Cake?
The simple answer is no since bundt cake pans are slightly angled at the side and some even come with different patterns. I recommend you purchase a tube cake pan that is flat along the sides and the bottom, this will allow your angel food cake to achieve maximum volume and release from the pan easily.
Can I Use All-Purpose Flour Instead Of Cake Flour?
All-purpose flour is not ideal for these types of cakes since it contains a higher amount of protein. This flour contains about 11-12% protein compared to cake flour which contains between 8-9% protein. If you don’t have cake flour you can use pastry flour or make your own cake flour by removing 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and replacing it with 2 tablespoons of native starch, which can be wheat starch or cornstarch for every cup of flour used in the recipe. Make sure to thoroughly mix this mixture together before using it.
How To Make The Best Angel Food Cake?
We’ve gone through a lot of details here to ensure you make the best angel food cake. Below is a recap and golden rules for making a perfect food angel food cake.
- No need to grease the tube cake pan
- Use only superfine sugar, pulse granulated sugar to make it finer.
- Fresh egg whites work best for this type of cake.
- Do not overwhip the egg whites, just to medium peaks, this means softer rather than stiff.
- Sift the dry ingredients, cake flour can have glumps, this step ensures the flour is fine.
- Add the flour mixture in 4 additions and gently fold into the whipped egg whites.
- Always cool this cake upside-down on a wire rack while still in the cake pan, this will prevent it from collapsing.
- Remove the cake as soon as it’s completely cooled.
Ready To Make This Classic Angel Food Cake Recipe? Let’s do it!!
Ingredients For Classic Angel Food Cake
- 1 cup cake flour (115 grams)
- 1/3 teaspoon salt (2 grams)
- 1 1/2 cups fine sugar (230 grams) divided in half
- 10 large egg whites (300 grams), room temperature
- 1 1 /2 teaspoon cream of tartar (5 grams)
- 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract (8 grams)
How To Make Angel Food Cake?
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set the oven rack to the middle position.
- Separate the egg whites from the yolk and place them into a clean dry bowl.
- If you’re using granulated sugar, then first pulse it for a few seconds in a food processor to make it finer.
- In a bowl add the cake flour and half of the sugar and whisk together for a few seconds, then sift this mixture 3-5 times to ensure the mixture is properly combined.
- Pour the egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla extract, and salt into a clean and dry mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer with the whisk attachment on medium-low speed until the mixture becomes frothy.
- Then increase the speed to medium-high and gradually add the remaining sugar while beating until it reaches a medium-stiff peak, the meringue will be just above the soft peak but less stiff.
- In four additions, add the flour mixture to the whipped egg whites and fold in using a spatula.
- Pour the cake batter into the cake tube pan, shimmy, or run a knife through the batter to remove any air bubbles. Do not bang the cake pan onto the counter, this will collapse the batter.
- Place the cake pan into the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown on the top. To ensure the cake is baked insert a screwer in the center, it should come out clean.
- Once the angel cake is baked, remove it from the oven Invert it onto a wire rack with the cake pan for about an hour and a half.
- When the cake is completely cooled, run a knife along the center and outer edge then tap to release the cake onto a plate.
- Serve with fresh raspberries or with a sprinkle of icing sugar.
- Enjoy!
Classic Angel Food Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup cake flour 115 grams
- 1/3 teaspoon salt 2 grams
- 1 1/2 cups fine sugar 230 grams divided in half
- 10 large egg whites 300 grams, room temperature
- 1 1 /2 teaspoon cream of tartar 5 grams
- 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract 8 grams
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set the oven rack to the middle position.
- Separate the egg whites from the yolk and place them into a clean dry bowl.
- If you’re using granulated sugar, then first pulse it for a few seconds in a food processor to make it finer.
- In a bowl add the cake flour and half of the sugar and whisk together for a few seconds, then sift this mixture 3-5 times to ensure the mixture is properly combined.
- Pour the egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla extract, and salt into a clean and dry mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer or stand mixer with the whisk attachment on medium-low speed until the mixture becomes frothy.
- Then increase the speed to medium-high and gradually add the remaining sugar while beating until it reaches a medium-stiff peak, the meringue will be just above the soft peak but less stiff.
- In four additions, add the flour mixture to the whipped egg whites and fold in using a spatula.
- Pour the cake batter into the cake tube pan, shimmy, or run a knife through the batter to remove any air bubbles. Do not bang the cake pan onto the counter, this will collapse the batter.
- Place the cake pan into the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown on the top. To ensure the cake is baked insert a screwer in the center, it should come out clean.
- Once the angel cake is baked, remove it from the oven Invert it onto a wire rack with the cake pan for about an hour and a half.
- When the cake is completely cooled, run a knife along the center and outer edge then tap to release the cake onto a plate.
- Serve with fresh raspberries or with a sprinkle of icing sugar.
- Enjoy!