Delicious, classic Homemade Angel Food Cake recipe! (2024)

FAQs

What makes angel food cake fluffy? ›

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.

Use cream of tartar – cream of tartar is an acid and stabilizes the egg whites. Without cream of tartar, your cake will collapse. Other acidic ingredients aren't quite as strong, so I wouldn't recommend substituting cream of tartar with anything. Sift some of the sugar and flour several times – four to be exact.

Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the cake. Salt: A little bit of salt balances out the sweetness and enhances the other flavors. Egg Whites: The star of the show! They provide all of the leavening for angel food cake.

Give your boxed angel food cake mix a summery twist by adding a can of crushed pineapple to it. Gently fold it into the whisked batter, careful not to deflate the mixture. If you over-whisk it, the cake will turn out chewy and dense.

Not Whipping the Egg Whites Correctly

Without yeast to act as a leavening agent, an angel food cake relies completely on the egg whites to rise. You want to whip the whites just until they form soft peaks; whipping too much will make the cake chewy and dense.

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.

Turn it upside-down to cool for at least an hour and a half. And if the center part of the pan is not tall enough to hold the rest of the pan above the counter, prop the pan up so air can circulate as the cake cools.

Angel food cake recipes are also unique because they contain beaten egg whites for leavening and because no fat is used in the batter. Without the fat, there's no tenderizing effect on the batter and the gluten develops more easily, which can result in a gummy mixture.

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.

It only uses egg whites as a leavening agent. A lot of them! That's what makes this cake extremely fluffy and light. Another reason why angel food cake is so light is because it's made with cake flour, which has less protein than all-purpose flour.

Why use ungreased pan for angel food cake? ›

Angel food cake recipes don't typically contain leaveners; the air whipped into the egg white-based batter is what makes them so lofty. Because of this, you will need a straight-sided pan that's uncoated (and ungreased) so that the batter can cling to the sides of the pan as it expands, helping it rise up tall.

Just like most cakes, angel food cake is best fresh but it can certainly be made ahead of time. If it's just 1-2 days, cover it as soon as it's cooled and leave it at room temperature. If it's longer, refrigerate it for a few days or freeze for up to a few weeks.

Some people use a bit of lemon or lime juice or white vinegar to help stabilize the egg whites instead, but I recommend cream of tartar for best results. 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.

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.

Overmixing is exactly what it sounds like: the process by which a dough or batter gets mixed too much, typically yielding dense, tough, or deflated baked goods. Overmixed doughs and batters may have an unappealing look or feel, which remain just as unappealing when they're baked.

Remove from the oven, then cool the cake completely upside-down set on a wire rack, about 3 hours. (Upside-down so the bottom of the tube pan is right-side up, see photo and video above.) Once cooled, run a thin knife around the edges and gently tap the pan on the counter until the cake releases.