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Home » Dessert Recipes

The Best Angel Food Cake (with Video)

Published: Mar 27, 2021 by Mindee · This post contains affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Surely Angel Food Cake is too hard to make from scratch, right? Wrong! It is so easy to make that soft, sweet, spongy, classic cake! Let me show you how plus let you in on a couple simple tips that make all the difference!

Slices of angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.
A slice of the perfect angel food cake with a fresh strawberry and whipped cream!
Jump to:
  • Why Choose This Recipe
  • Ingredient Notes
  • Equipment Notes
  • Get Your Tube Pans Here
  • Step by Step Instructions
  • Recipe FAQs
  • Related Recipes
  • The Best Angel Food Cake Recipe

Why Choose This Recipe

  • Soooo Easy!!! Just like my Chocolate Angel Food Cake!
  • Tastes better than what you can buy at the grocery store!
  • Step by step instructions and detailed pictures.
  • Can be made with a stand mixer or hand beaters.
  • No tube pan? Use a loaf pan instead! This recipe makes two loaves!

Ingredient Notes

  • Flour - Use all purpose flour, not pastry flour, not cake flour and never self rising flour.
  • Egg Whites - The fresher the eggs the better. If you're worried about wasting the egg yolks check out my recipe for Sweet Berry Crepes or for Croissant French Toast for ways to use them!
  • Sugars - Please note that both granulated sugar and powdered sugar are used for this recipe.
Ingredients for angel food cake.
The simple ingredients you need to make this angel food cake recipe!

Equipment Notes

  • Start by washing everything you're going to use to make this cake with a good dish soap.
  • Grease, even the tiniest little bit will ruin an angel food cake because it breaks the egg whites down.
  • You can use a one piece 10 inch tube pan like the one below or...
One Piece angel food cake pan.
A one piece 10 inch tube pan.
  • Or a two piece 10 inch tube pan with a removable bottom like pictured below.
  • If you are worried about a two piece pan leaking you can cut out a circle of parchment paper to fit in the bottom and place the tub insert on top.
  • You could use 2 loaf pans instead of tube pans as well.
  • A bundt pan doesn't work well because the shaped grooves make it hard to get the cake out without tearing it.
Two piece angel food cake pan.
A two piece 10 inch tube pan with a removeable bottom.

Get Your Tube Pans Here

Step by Step Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and make sure your oven rack will put the cake right in the center of the oven to bake.
  • Prepare you tube pan by thoroughly cleaning. DO NOT grease the tube pan!
  • Sift the flour and powdered sugar together 3 times and set aside.
  • It is important to sift the flour mixture all three times to get that light and airy texture.
  • Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites.
  • Pour the egg whites into a separate large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
  • Add the cream of tartar, vanilla extract, almond extract and salt to the egg whites.
  • Begin to beat the egg whites at a high speed.
Sifting the flour and powdered sugar; preparing egg whites in a mixing bowl.
Pour egg whites and a few other ingredients into a mixing bowl!
  • When the egg whites begin to foam up, add the granulated white sugar in a slow steady stream while continuing to beat.
  • Beat until stiff peaks form. For more info on how to properly beat egg whites click HERE.
  • Fold, NOT STIR, the flour/powdered sugar mixture into the stiffly beaten egg whites a fourth cup at a time until all the flour is incorporated into the batter.
  • If you need instruction on how to "fold in" ingredients click HERE.
Beating the egg whites to stiff peaks and folding the flour in.
Fold the dry mixture into the whipped egg whites!
  • Gently scoop the batter into an ungreased 10 inch tube pan.
  • Run a butter knife through the batter in a spiral to release any large air pockets or air bubbles and even out the batter.
Scooping the angel food cake batter into the pan and releasing the air bubbles.
Scoop batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan!
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
  • Once finished baking, carefully, and IMMEDIATELY invert cake on a wire rack to cool.
  • Leave the cake upside down the entire time it's cooling.
  • You can release the cake from the pan once completely cool by running a sharp knife around the outer edge and center tube of the pan.
  • If you pry at the cake on the bottom just a little with an offset spatula it will pop right out.
  • Place on a serving plate, slice with a serrated knife and serve with fresh berries and whipped cream!
Baked angel food immediately inverted and then released from pan.
Bake, cool, slice and eat with fresh fruit!

Recipe FAQs

Can you make this in a regular cake pan?

I'm sure you can, however if you don't have a tube pan I would use two bread loaf pans instead.  Angel Food Cake is supposed to be tall and the sides of a cake pan are short.  You would either end up with batter spilling over the sides into the bottom of your oven or a very dense angel food cake.

Is the cream of tartar really necessary?

Yes, for angel food cake it is.  Cream of tartar is basically a powdered acid that adds stability to beaten egg whites.  Since this cake relies almost solely on the fluffy egg whites to retain it's height you need the cream of tartar to give them some muscle.

Why do angel food cake sometimes collapse?

There are a couple reasons this can happen. One, the egg weren't beaten to stiff peaks. Two, the cream of tartar was left out. Or three, there was grease somewhere on something that was used to prepared the cake that broke the beaten egg whites down.

What goes with angel food cake?

Fresh Strawberry Topping and fresh Whipped Cream!

Related Recipes

  • Easy Lemon Bundt Cake
  • Vanilla Raspberry Cake
  • Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Have you tried this recipe? If so, leave me a rating and a comment below! And don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter to get my latest recipes sent right to your email! You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram!

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Three slices of angel food cake with fresh strawberries.

The Best Angel Food Cake Recipe

★★★★★ 5 from 12 reviews
  • Author: Mindee
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: One 10 Inch Angel Food Cake 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
Print Recipe
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Description

Surely Angel Food Cake is too hard to make from scratch, right?  Wrong!  It is so easy to make that soft, sweet, spongy, classic cake!  Let me show you how plus let you in on a couple simple tips that make all the difference!


Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1 ¼ cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1 cup Flour
  • 1 ½ cups Egg Whites (this is about 12 large eggs) (room temp. *see note)
  • ½ tsp Cream of Tartar
  • 1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
  • ½ tsp Almond Extract
  • ¼ tsp Salt
  • 1 cup Granulated Sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and adjust oven racks if necessary for the angel food cake to be right in the center of the oven.  
  2. Be sure that all kitchen equipment you will be using are completely free of any grease.  Even though already clean, I usually give mine and extra hand scrub to be sure there is not any grease as even the tiniest bit will ruin an angel food cake.
  3. Sift the flour and powdered sugar together 3 times.  Set aside.
  4. Pour the eggs whites, cream of tartar, vanilla, almond extract, and salt into a mixing bowl.
  5. Begin to beat at a high speed.
  6. Once the egg whites start to foam up add the sugar in a slow and steady stream with the beaters still running.
  7. Continue to beat on high until stiff peaks form.
  8. FOLD, not stir, the flour/powdered sugar into the egg whites a ¼ cup at a time.  
  9. Once the previous ¼ cup has been folded in halfway, add the next ¼ cup.  Repeat until all the flour/powdered sugar has been added and is completely folded in.
  10. Gently spoon the batter into an UNGREASED 10 inch tube pan.  
  11. Run a sharp knife in a clockwise (or counter clockwise) circle around the tube pan to even out the batter and pop large air bubbles, but not deflate the batter.
  12. Bake at 350 degrees in the center of the oven for 40 minutes.  
  13. IMMEDIATELY, invert the hot angel food cake and set the tube pan upside down on a wire rack to cool after removing it from the oven.  
  14. Do not remove outside piece of the tube yet.  Allow the angel food cake to cool completely while upside down.
  15. Once cool, flip back over and run a sharp knife around the outside edge and inside tube.  Remove the outside piece of the pan if using a 2 piece tube pan and then remove the cake from the inside piece.  
  16. If using a 1 piece tube pan, turn the pan over at a slight angle and use a thin spatula to loosen a the bottom just a bit. The angel food cake should pop right out.
  17. Slice with a serrated knife and serve with fresh fruit and whipped cream.

Notes

  • To quickly bring egg whites to room temperature, place the eggs in a bowl of hot tap water for 3 or 4 minutes before cracking them.  Dry the eggs and proceed in cracking the eggs and separating the yolks from the whites.
  • Wash everything you'll be using to make this cake well with a good dish soap.  Any grease anywhere will break the egg whites and ruin the cake.
  • FOLD, don't stir the flour/powdered sugar in.

Keywords: angel food cake, easter, dessert, classic angel food cake, easy angel food cake

Did you make this recipe?

Tag me on Instagram @mindeescooking and hashtag it #mindeescookingobsession

Thanks for stopping by! Before you go, be sure to check out a few of my most popular recipes!

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Any nutritional analysis on this Site is based on an estimate, calculated by Nurtifox plugin (or other third-party source) from the individual ingredients in each recipe. Variations may occur for various reasons, including product availability and food preparation. We make no representation or warranty of the accuracy of this information.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Denise

    July 06, 2021 at 8:28 am

    Could I use lemon extract in place of the almond to make this a lemon angel food cake? I’ve made your chocolate version and loved it! It was a hit for my birthday girl

    Reply
    • Mindee

      July 06, 2021 at 8:53 am

      So glad you loved my chocolate angel food cake!!! You could use lemon extract in place of the almond but you would need more for the lemon flavor to come through. I would probably try 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract and reduce the vanilla extract amount to 1/2 tsp.

      Reply
      • Denise

        July 11, 2021 at 11:31 am

        Thank you! I’ll let you know how it turns out. I’ll be baking it this week.

        Reply
        • Denise

          July 14, 2021 at 11:09 am

          Well, I tried with lemon extract-twice, and it never formed peaks. So on my third attempt, I folded some lemon zest and lemon juice in with the flour and sugar. I didn’t add much juice because I didn’t want the peaks to fall. It’s in the oven. We’ll see how much lemon flavor there is.

          Reply
          • Mindee

            July 14, 2021 at 11:15 am

            I wonder if there's oil in the lemon extract. There shouldn't be but...hmmm. The other thing you could try is a product by True Citrus. It's crystalized lemon powder. It's awesome but I never know how available it is to people. If you opted to try it I would try 2-3 teaspoons of it sifted in with the flour.

      • Denise

        July 14, 2021 at 11:08 am

        Well, I tried with lemon extract-twice, and it never formed peaks. So on my third attempt, I folded some lemon zest and lemon juice in with the flour and sugar. I didn’t add much juice because I didn’t want the peaks to fall. It’s in the oven. We’ll see how much lemon flavor there is.

        Reply
  2. Lori

    February 29, 2020 at 11:56 pm

    Sounds delicious!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  3. Mindy

    April 24, 2019 at 7:47 am

    Didn't click on the 5 stars, but it definitely is!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  4. Mindy

    April 24, 2019 at 7:42 am

    Angel food is a staple during spring time! Thanks for the great recipe that I can whip up anytime!

    Reply
  5. Shayla

    April 17, 2019 at 1:18 pm

    I love that this is made from scratch!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  6. Adams

    April 17, 2019 at 12:50 pm

    The flour..please specify plain or selfrising

    Reply
    • mindeescookingobsession

      April 17, 2019 at 1:15 pm

      Just plain, all purpose flour.

      Reply
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