A light and fluffy Angel Food Cake, perfect for entertaining. Recipe with step-by-step photos.
Angel Food Cake
An Angel Food Cake is a tall cake with a bright white sponge and fluffy texture.
In Australia, it is a cake which I used to order in cafés and which was always popular at parties and celebrations. But, here in Europe, Angel Food Cake is virtually unknown.
Great Recipe for Using Egg Whites
As someone who bakes a large amount of sablé cookies, essentially the French version of shortbread and which uses a lot of egg yolks, I always have an ample supply of egg whites stashed away in the freezer.
More often than not, I like to use up excess egg whites by baking a pavlova, or perhaps a few batches of friands.
But faced with the opportunity to declutter the freezer earlier this year during the lockdown, I found that making an Angel Food Cake was perhaps the most efficient use of my embarrassingly large supply of frozen egg whites.
Why This Recipe Works
- This Angel Food Cake is a great way of using up lots of leftover egg whites.
- This recipe produces a fairly large cake, which is perfect for parties and entertaining.
- This Angel Food Cake is dairy-free!
Angel Food Cake Recipe
This Angel Food Cake recipe comes from Poh Bakes 100 Greats by Poh Ling Yeow. I’ve been a big fan of Poh ever since her MasterChef days; her cooking shows are always entertaining, and her recipes always inspiring.
This Angel Food Cake recipe is pretty straightforward. And if you are indeed stuck at home under quarantine or isolation restrictions, this is a fairly easy cake to rustle up using fridge and pantry ingredients.
Angel Food Cake Pan
I bought my angel food cake pan many years ago during a work trip to New York. I lugged back this bulky and awkwardly-shaped cake pan in my luggage, thinking I would be lucky to use it at least once. But it turns out that I make Angel Food Cake, as well as chiffon cake, regularly enough to justify this purchase, thankfully.
An Angel Food Cake should be baked in a special cake pan, which can be best described as a ring pan WITHOUT a non-stick coating, i.e. you want the cake to stick to the pan so that it can climb and achieve its impressive height.
Specialty angel food cake pans should also come with small “feet” so that, once the cake is baked, you can invert the cake to cool completely, and the “feet” will allow air to circulate underneath the cake.
I also recommend an angel food cake pan which has a removable bottom so that you can remove and unmould the cake easily.
How to Make Angel Food Cake
Step 1
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Add the salt, and slowly add the sugar as you continue whisking. Keep whisking until stiff peaks form.
Slowly fold in the remaining ingredients, taking care not to lose too much air in the batter.
Step 2
Transfer the cake batter to an angel food cake pan. Do NOT grease the angel food cake pan – the cake needs to stick to the sides of the pan in order to rise.
Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden in colour, and a cake skewer comes out clean.
Step 3
If your angel food cake pan has legs like those shown in these photos, simply invert the cake pan onto a plate or the kitchen bench to let it cool.
Otherwise, if your cake pan does not have legs, simply invert it onto a wire rack.
Let the cake cool completely (upside down) before removing it from the pan. This should take 2-3 hours, depending on how warm your room is.
The cooling time – upside down – is important to allow the sponge to fully set and to ensure that it does not deflate during this process.
More Bundt Cake Recipes
If you are looking for more bundt cake recipes, you might also like:
PrintAngel Food Cake
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6 to 8
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Australian
A light and fluffy Angel Food Cake, perfect for entertaining. Recipe with step-by-step photos.
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RateIngredients
For the Angel Food Cake
- 12 egg whites (approx 400 g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 220 g (1 cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- 150 g (1 cup) plain flour (all-purpose flour), sifted
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For serving
- icing sugar (powdered sugar) for dusting
- whipped cream
- fresh berries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/340°F (without fan).
- You will need an angel food cake pan WITHOUT non-stick coating, which is 25 cm/10 inches wide. Do NOT grease the pan beforehand – the cake mixture needs to stick to the pan in order to rise and achieve an impressive height.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar on high speed until soft peaks form.
- Turn the speed down to low-medium.
- Add the salt.
- Slowly whisk in the sugar, one tablespoon at a time.
- Once all of the sugar has been incorporated, keep whisking until the meringue is glossy and stiff peaks form.
- Use a spatula to slowly fold in the flour, one tablespoon at at time. Take care to not over-work the batter as this might cause it to deflate.
- Finally, add the vanilla.
- Pour the mixture into the angel cake pan.
- Use an off-set spatula to smooth the top of the cake mixture.
- Tap the cake pan on the kitchen counter a few times to make sure there are no air bubbles in the batter. This also helps to even out the cake batter.
- Place the cake pan on a baking tray in the oven.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C/320°F (without fan).
- Bake the cake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the top of the cake is lightly golden and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Once the cake is ready, immediately invert the pan, and allow the cake to cool completely (upside down) before removing it from the pan. This will take about 2-3 hours, depending on how warm your room is. Most angel food cake pans have legs so air can circulate between the cake and the surface it is resting on. If your angel food cake pan does not have legs, simply invert the cake pan onto a wire rack.
- To remove the cake, carefully run a palette knife or similar around the edge of the cake. The run the knife along the bottom of the pan, under the cake.
- To serve, slice the cake with a serrated knife.
- Serve the cake with a dusting of icing sugar (powdered sugar), whipped cream and some fresh berries.
Kitchen Notes
RECIPE CREDIT
This recipe is adapted from Poh Bakes 100 Greats by Poh Ling Yeow.
OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
My husband makes your coffee and walnut cake for me every year since we discovered your recipe. Other than the occasional fish finger sandwich that is his total contribution to home-cooked goodies. Thank you for the delicious cake recipe and for making the instructions so simple that my husband has the confidence and enjoyment to make this birthday treat (which is coming up to over 5 years now). We love the cake and as my birthday has recently taken place, we are eating some today.
Big smiles, Sue
Hi Susan,
Thank you for your lovely feedback – you’ve made my day! It’s so heartwarming to hear that your husband makes you the Coffee & Walnut Cake every year – you have brought a big smile to my face! I’m so glad that you both enjoy the recipe and that my instructions and photos help. Happy belated birthday to you!
I laughed when I read that this recipe needed 12 egg whites. Quick look in the freezer and I found over 20 frozen egg whites!! LOL! So guess what I baked today? It’s the most gorgeous Angel food cake ever – so soft and light and fluffy. And I got to clear some space in the freezer too!
Gorgeous cake! It’s been ages since I’ve made Angel food cake but I was searching for what to make with a lot of leftover egg whites, so I thought I would give this a try. The cake was beautiful and light. Would definitely make it again.
Beautiful recipe
Very nice cake recipe