Angel Food Cake
Hello Friends,
Today I am sharing one of my family all-time favorite summer desserts, and one of my most requested recipes from family. Angel Food Cake Recipe It is light and airy with the perfect amount of sweetness, just perfect with a dollop of whipped cream (or coconut cream) and a spoonful of your favorite fruit.
Angel food cake can seem really intimidating to make (it was for me) but I promise this recipe is super easy to follow and foolproof. The longest part of the recipe is waiting for the cake to cool before you can eat it. Since coming upon this recipe from America’s Test Kitchen I can no longer buy the angel food cakes in the store (they taste like cardboard to me know). So I apologize if this ruins store angel food cake for you but I don’t think you will regret it.
I will say after making this recipe a billion times, here are some of my tips.
Don’t use all-purpose flour the cake flour really does make a difference.
Be extra careful to not get any yolk in with your egg whites or you will have to start all over again (for this reason I separate them individually in a different bowl before adding them to the bowl I’m whipping them in).
Make sure to process the sugar and flour. You have to be careful when folding in the flour but make sure that it is really incorporated into the egg whites. If you can weigh your flour and sugar.
Sometimes I like to add rum or almond extract in place of the vanilla.
If you don’t like wasting a dozen egg yolks, you could make some homemade mayo, or ice cream
I have not tried this with sugar alternatives yet but if you do please comment and let me know how it went.
Perfect Angel Food Cake
Equipment
- electric mixer
- Angel Food Cake Pan
- Food processor
- Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup cake flour (4 1/2 oz)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 3/4 cup sugar (12 1/2 oz)
- 12 large egg whites
- 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the lower middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk the flour and salt in a bowl. Process the sugar in a food processor until fine and powdery. Reserve half of the sugar in a small bowl. Add the flour mixture to the food processor with the remaining sugar and process until aerated about a minute.
- Sift the flour mixture over the egg whites in 3 additions, folding gently with a rubber spatula after each addition until incorporated (try to not deflate the egg whites too much) Scrape the mixture into a 12 cup ungreased angel food cake pan
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and cracks in the cake appear dry, 55-65 minutes. It should look dark brown. Cool, upside down till room temperature, about 3 hours. To unmold, run a knife along the interior of the pan and turn the cake out onto a platter. Serve with whipped cream and berries (optional but my favorite way to eat it)
Notes
Recipe source from Cooks Country also found in The Best Of America’s Test Kitchen 2011
Nutrition Facts for 1/12 slice of cake