Angel Food Cake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to angel food cake? ›

Angel food cake is one-of-a-kind, and no other cake recipe matches its super fluffy, airy texture. Though it's a type of sponge cake, it differs from other popular recipes because it's traditionally made using no butter or oil in the batter. Instead, beaten egg whites are the secret to its ultra-light texture.

Transfer the cake batter to the angel food cake pan. Using a silicone spatula or spoon, gently level the top. Bake the pan in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour until the cake rises to the top, turns golden brown, and the top springs back quickly.

Egg Whites: The star of the show! They provide all of the leavening for angel food cake. Using only whites (no yolks) gives this cake a super light texture. Be sure to use only fresh eggs; liquid egg whites in a carton have been pasteurized, which can prevent them from whipping into stiff peaks.

In delicate sponge-type cakes (like chiffon or angel food cake) there are two moments for concern. First, when you're whipping the egg foam, and second, when you're incorporating the flour. An overmixed egg foam will be slack, wet, loose, and unable to hold peaks.

The egg whites are actually the sole leavening ingredient providing all the cake's rise. Use freshly separated eggs because they aerate the best. Carton egg whites or egg whites that have been frozen won't expand as much during the whipping process, which will negatively affect the rise of your cake.

What Does Cream of Tartar Do? Cream of tartar is an acid and helps to stabilize the whipped egg whites. There is really no substitution for cream of tartar. If you don't use cream of tartar in this recipe, the cake will collapse.

If you don't have cake flour, you can make a cake flour substitute: Begin with 1 level cup of all-purpose flour. Then remove 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, and add 2 tablespoons of either cornstarch or arrowroot powder to the flour.

I know what you're thinking. But whatever you do, don't try baking angel food cake in a bundt pan. A bundt pan's design is usually too intricate for angel food cakes, which must be cut away from the simple tube pans they're baked in once the cake has cooled.

It's not just the raw eggs. Don't do this. Most of us know that raw eggs in cookie dough and cake batter can carry salmonella, but a new warning from the FDA and surge of product recalls is a grim reminder that raw flour could be making us sick, too.

What can go wrong with angel food cake? ›

To begin with, use a bowl made of unlined copper, stainless steel, ceramic or glass. Not recommended are aluminum, which will tint the egg whites gray, and plastic, because with plastic it's almost impossible to remove the traces of fat that have accumulated from previous uses.

Remember - your batter will not be as stiff as a meringue. Do not grease the angel food cake tube pan (one in which the center tube is higher than the walls of pan and the bottom is removable.) You want the batter to cling to the side while it is rising. A greased pan will not allow the batter to rise.

Every angel food cake has to be cooled upside down in the pan. Why? Until the cake is completely cooled, its spongy structure hasn't set. Flipping it upside down makes sure it doesn't collapse during that process.

Angel food cake, or angel cake, is a type of sponge cake made with egg whites, flour, and sugar. A whipping agent, such as cream of tartar, is commonly added. It differs from other cakes because it uses no butter. Its aerated texture comes from whipped egg white.