Indulgent Chocolate Angel Food Cake

What if I told you that angel food cake can come in a chocolate flavor? What if I told you that you could make it from scratch, without a box mix, and that it's an easy dessert, too? Topped with strawberries and whipped cream or chocolate sauce or even chocolate whipped cream, this amazing cake with be your new addiction!

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• Ingredient Notes
• Couple Things You'll Need
• Step by Step Instructions
• Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
• Related Dessert Recipes
• Indulgent Chocolate Angel Food Cake Recipe

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• This bakery-style sponge cake is easy!
• Can be drizzled with icing, chocolate glaze, or even frosted with Chocolate Frosting!
• Could be used to make a trifle instead of layered with chocolate pudding or mousse!
• Make it into cupcakes instead!

Ingredient Notes

• Flour - all-purpose flour, not cake flour, never self-rising flour.
• Egg Whites - Fresh eggs work best because the proteins in the fresh whites are tighter and stronger. It takes a little longer to get the fresh egg whites to stiff peaks, but the foam is thicker, stronger, and more stable. Older whites whip up faster but can easily deflate and are much less stable.
• Cocoa - Most brands of unsweetened cocoa powder are fine; however, I DO NOT recommend using Hershey's brand cocoa because, to me, it has a bitter, throw-up taste. Some experts believe that's because some companies, such as Hershey's, put their milk through a process called controlled lipolysis. This breaks down the fatty acids in the milk and produces butyric acid - the chemical that gives vomit its very distinctive smell and acrid taste. So yeah...that's a pass for me.
• Cream of Tartar - many are looking for this recipe without cream of tartar. The primary function of cream of tartar is to stabilize the egg white and keep the whipped whites from collapsing. Whether you've run out or you don't want to use cream or tartar for another reason, you could substitute ½ teaspoon lemon juice or ½ teaspoon white vinegar in its place.
• Sugar - Please note you will be using both granulated sugar and powdered sugar, aka confectioners' sugar, in this recipe.
• Mexican - sift 1-2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon with the cocoa.
• Dark Chocolate - Sub equal amount of black cocoa for regular cocoa.

Couple Things You'll Need

Step by Step Instructions

• Adjust the rack in your oven so that your cake will be baking right in the center of the oven.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Get out a 2-piece 10-inch tube pan like the one below. The pictures below show me using a piece tube pan, but after testing this recipe a few times, I found that this cake is much easier to remove from a 2 piece pan with a removable bottom rather than a piece. You can still use a 1 piece tube pan, but you may have a hard time getting the cake out in one piece.
• Give your pan and all other equipment a quick wash with a good dish soap.
• Any grease, even the tiniest bit, can cause your egg whites to break.

• In a medium bowl, measure the flour, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder into a sifter. If you don't have a sifter, check out these tips here.
• Sift these ingredients 3 times!!! This is important!
• Set flour mixture aside.

• Separate your egg whites and egg yolks, being careful not to get any yolks in the whites.
• You need 1 ½ cups of egg whites, which is roughly 12 eggs worth of eggs.
• Pour the egg whites into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
• Add the vanilla extract, salt, and cream of tartar.
• Begin to beat egg whites at a high speed.
• When the egg whites start to get foamy, just before soft peaks form, pour the cup of granulated sugar in a slow stream and continue beating.
• Beat at a high speed until stiff peaks form.

• Spoon about a ½ cupful of the sifted dry ingredients over the beaten egg whites.
• FOLD, don't stir, the sifted ingredients into the egg white mixture.
• As one addition of sifted ingredients is halfway folded, spoon in another ½ cupful and continue folding.
• Repeat until all the sifted ingredients have been folded in.
• Gently spoon the chocolate batter into your UNGREASED tube pan.

• Run a butter knife through the batter in a circle to release any large air bubbles or air pockets and to smooth out the batter.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
• Immediately invert the pan over a wire rack, and DO NOT remove the outer piece of the tube pan yet.
• Don't worry; the baked cake will not fall out.
• Let the cake cool completely while upside down at room temperature.
• After cooling, run a sharp, thin knife around the sides of the pan, both the outer rim and the center tube.
• Remove the cake from the outer piece.
• Run the sharp knife under the bottom of the inner tube pan piece.
• Remove the cake and place it on a serving plate, or store it in an airtight container until you're ready to serve it.
• Slice in wedges and serve with fresh berries and whipped cream!

Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips

Related Dessert Recipes

• Scrumptious Cream Cheese Pound Cake
• Fresh Peach Pound Cake
• Vanilla Raspberry Cake
• Mini Eclairs
• Easy Chocolate Covered Strawberries

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