My Classic Angel Food Cake is perfectly light and fluffy, made with egg whites, sugar, almond and vanilla flavor. Top with cream and berries!
When it comes to traditional desserts, a light and airy cake is at the top of the list. This recipe is the classic round cake but I also have a Angel Food Loaf Cake perfect for strawberry shortcakes.
Sabrina’s Angel Food Cake Recipe
Angel Food Cake is an old-fashioned recipe and one of my go-to desserts when I’m looking for something on the lighter side, especially around the holidays. It’s a simple cake made out of egg whites, cake flour, sugar, and two different flavors: almond and vanilla extract. Depending on your preference, you can make this in a tube pan or as a bundt cake. It’s traditionally served with light toppings like whipped cream and fresh berries.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups cake flour
- 1 3/4 cups white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups egg whites
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Make sure your pan, stand mixer, sifter and whisks is clean, dry and grease free, then line only the bottom of a tube pan with parchment paper
- Sift the flour, sugar and salt together.
- Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, add in the cream of tartar, vanilla and almond extracts and beat until they’re just combined.
- Gently fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites then pour into the tube pan.
- Place into the oven, then turn it on to 325 degrees and cook for 60 minutes before removing from the oven placing a metal plate over it and flipping the tube pan over to let it cool upside down before removing it.
Notes
Nutrition
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Table of contents
How to Make
- Prep Note
Make sure everything is completely grease-free before starting (if not, it can cause the cake to fall).
- Line Pan
Line your pan with only parchment paper.
- Beat Egg Whites
Beat egg whites to stiff peaks, then add in cream of tartar and extracts.
- Combine Batter
Gently fold in dry ingredients to preserve egg whites.
- Bake
Bake in a tube pan at 325 degrees for an hour.
- Flip
Remove from oven, add a plate and flip the pan over and let cool upside down.
Can this be made ahead?
This angel food cake recipe can be made ahead and stored on the counter tightly with plastic wrap. Add any toppings just before serving so they don’t make the cake soggy. This cake will last about a week at room temperature.
Baking Tips
- Cool your angel food cake upside down in the pan to prevent it from flattening as it cools.
- If you’re making this around the holidays, save the egg yolks and use them to make this eggnog recipe.
- Beat your egg whites until they form stiff peaks, which means the peak does not fall back into the bowl easily. I like to use a stand mixer set medium-high for this part.
- I use an ungreased angel food cake pan, only lined with parchment paper, for this recipe. You can find these with removable bottoms
- Make sure your egg whites do not contain yolks, which will prevent them from whipping properly. If the eggs are not entirely fat-free, they won’t beat into the consistency we’re looking for. You also want to ensure that your egg whites are at room temperature.
- If your cake starts to brown too much around the edges before it’s done baking, you can cover the pan with aluminum foil to stop it from burning.
- This recipe calls for cake flour instead of all-purpose flour, which can be substituted with 1 cup 14 tablespoons all-purpose flour and 2 tablespoons cornstarch.
- Bring the cake to room temperature before you eat it, if it has been refrigerated.
Frequent Questions
The main difference between angel food and sponge cake is that angel food cake uses only egg whites, while sponge cake uses both the whites and the yolks. Because of this, angel food cake has a lighter texture while sponge cake is more dense.
Your cake may have fallen for several reasons. First, make sure you’re not over-mixing the batter. You want to fold the egg whites in gently. Second, watch your oven temperature and use an oven-safe thermometer to make sure that it’s really cooking at what you set it for.
You can technically make angel food cake in any cake pan, but you want to find one that’s deep enough to lift the cake up as it bakes and help it to rise. That’s why a bundt pan or tube pan is the usual angel food cake pan of choice.
Angel food cake is perfect for making ahead and freezing as a whole cake or as individual serving pieces. To protect the cake, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.
Topping Ideas
- Strawberry topping
- Fresh Berries
- Whipped Cream or Cool Whip
- Powdered Sugar
- Blueberry Jam
- Toasted Sweetened Coconut
- Simple Syrup or Lemon Syrup
- Chocolate Ganache
The following photos were used in other versions of this post:
Can you use cartoon egg whites in this recipe instead of using egg white from eggs
Great cake!
I need a round cake {without the hole in the middle.
Can this be done without the tube pan?
How do you cut angel food cake without it crumbling?
They sell fancy knives just for Angel Food Cakes if you are baking them often – but I just use a serrated bread knife. I’ve heard you can also use dental floss 🙂
I love angel food cake in the summer, especially with fresh berries! Can’t wait to make this.
It’s a great dessert option for summer!
Hands down the best Angel Food Cake I’ve ever made! So light and fluffy!
Thanks, Anna. So glad you enjoyed it.
I hardly ever see recipes that are great for diabetics. I am type 2 and we need to watch the salt, potassium and sugar. Do you have recipes that are much less of those 3 big items. I love a lot of your recipes and saved a few. Thank you
This recipe brings back memories of my childhood! So light and fluffy and purely delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it.
This is the best angel food cake recipe ever! I made this for my family and they loved it!
Thanks so much for coming back to let me know how much you all enjoyed it. I appreciate the 5 stars.
I have always loved angel food cake! This reminds me of my childhood, thank you!