Using only 6 ingredients, this perfect angel food cake bakes up tall, light, and airy. For best results, follow this recipe and video tutorial closely. The delicate texture can only be achieved with particular ingredients and careful mixing methods.
Ready for a slice of dessert heaven? We are no stranger to decadent and rich cakes. But what about a cake recipe where butter, fat, and egg yolks run away in fright? Meet angel food cake. Angel food cake is a low fat cake recipe made mostly from egg whites, cake flour, and sugar. It’s pristine white on the inside with a chewy light brown crumb around the exterior. What it lacks in butter makes up for in texture. This tall, tender, and timeless cake has a cloud-like crumb and ultra light flavor.
I’ve published angel food cupcakes on my blog, but now it’s time visit where they originate: classic homemade angel food cake!
Angel Food Cake Video Tutorial
Let’s dive right in. First, here’s a video tutorial where I walk you through each step. The steps and ingredients are pretty straightforward, but it’s always helpful to have a clear visual. 🙂
6 Angel Food Cake Ingredients
You only need 6 ingredients to make angel food cake. With so little ingredients, understand that each one is imperative to the cake’s final taste and texture. Here’s the breakdown:
- Granulated Sugar: The recipe begins with granulated sugar. Pulse it in a food processor to create superfine sugar. Superfine sugar’s granules are the best size to provide optimal structure for angel food cake. It’s not as coarse as granulated sugar and not as fine as confectioners’ sugar. Granulated sugar is simply too coarse, while confectioners’ sugar dissolves too quickly in the egg whites.
- Cake Flour: Cake flour is a low protein flour and yields a tender angel food cake. Do not use all-purpose flour because the cake will taste like white bread…! In a pinch, you can use this cake flour substitute. But real cake flour is ideal.
- Salt: Adds flavor.
- Egg Whites: You’ll notice there’s no baking powder or baking soda. The egg whites are actually the sole leavening ingredient providing all the cake’s rise. Use freshly separated eggs because they aerate the best. Carton egg whites or egg whites that have been frozen won’t expand as much during the whipping process, which will negatively affect the rise of your cake. You’ll have a lot of leftover egg yolks, so make some lemon curd and serve it with the cake!
- Cream of Tartar: Cream of tartar is an acid and stabilizes the whipped egg whites, just as it does in my chocolate swirled meringue cookies too. Without it, the cake would collapse. Other acids, such as lemon juice, can work but they aren’t nearly as effective. Cream of tartar is found in the spice aisle and is actually a common baking ingredient. I have many recipes calling for it!
- Vanilla Extract: Adds flavor.
How to Make Perfect Angel Food Cake
I’m confident this will be the most perfect angel food cake to ever hit your lips. We can’t achieve angel food cake perfection for free, so make sure you follow these steps closely.
- Pulse the granulated sugar into superfine sugar. Use a food processor or blender.
- Set 1 cup of the superfine sugar aside. You’ll add it to the egg whites.
- Add cake flour and salt to food processor. Pulse them with the remaining sugar. This aerates the dry ingredients.
- Beat egg whites and cream of tartar together. Beat on medium-low speed until foamy.
- Slowly add 1 cup of superfine sugar. Turn the mixer up to medium-high and pour in the superfine sugar you set aside.
- Beat into soft peaks. Whip the egg whites, cream of tartar, and superfine sugar into soft and lofty peaks. This takes at least 5 minutes. After that, add the vanilla.
- Sift and fold in dry ingredients. In 3 additions, sift and fold in the dry ingredients.
- Pour/spread batter into a tube pan. Do not grease the tube pan. Greasing the pan causes the batter to slip down the sides, preventing it from properly rising. If you already greased it, wash and wipe it completely clean.
- Bake at 325°F (163°C). A higher temperature won’t properly cook the cake.
- Cool upside down on a wire rack. If cooled upright, the cake’s own weight will crush itself. Cool it upside-down on a cooling rack so it holds its shape and air can reach it.
- Run a thin knife around the edges to release. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to help loosen the cake, too.
- Slice with a serrated knife. A regular sharp knife squishes the cake.
Can I use a Bundt pan for angel food cake? No, do not use a Bundt pan for angel food cake. You’ll have a very hard time getting it out in one piece. You need a tube pan which has a flat bottom and straight sides. If you don’t have one, I recommend this tube pan. It’s relatively inexpensive for its great quality. Though it’s labeled as nonstick, the coating is VERY thin and has never been an issue for my angel food cakes.
And good news: here’s a helpful trick for how to bake angel food cake without a tube pan.
You need 1 cup (16 Tablespoons) + 2 Tablespoons of cake flour. Sounds like an odd amount, but 18 Tablespoons is the precise quantity to bring enough structure to the cake.
Soft Peaks, Not Stiff Peaks
Remember, whip the egg whites into soft peaks. (Pictured above.) Soft peaks don’t hold a stiff shape. Instead, they “wilt” back into the mixture after a few seconds. Soft peaks are the optimum consistency because they’ll continue to expand in the oven. Stiff peaks, on the other hand, means that the egg whites have been over-whipped for angel food cake and will likely collapse in the oven.
Important to remember: Don’t let a drop of egg yolks into the mixing bowl. Any lingering fat could prevent the egg whites from forming peaks at all. Crack eggs over an egg separator into a small bowl, then add the whites one-by-one into the mixing bowl. This way if the yolk breaks, it doesn’t break directly in the mixing bowl.
Sift the dry ingredients over the beaten egg whites in a few additions, gently folding together after each addition. The goal is to retain as much of the whipped volume as possible. Pouring the dry ingredients on top all at once will quickly deflate the egg whites.
The Magic is in the Details
I’ve thrown a lot of information at you in this post, so here’s a quick summary of all the important success tips. Remember that the magic is all in the details.
- Use freshly separated egg whites.
- Pulse granulated sugar into superfine sugar.
- Whip egg whites into soft peaks, not stiff peaks.
- Sift and gently fold in dry ingredients.
- Do not grease the tube pan.
- Cool the cake upside-down on a wire rack.
- Use a serrated knife to slice.
Helpful Tools
- Food Processor – These range in price. You can use a little ninja, a big food processor, or even a blender.
- Egg Separator – This is very inexpensive, but SO HANDY!
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- Fine Mesh Strainer (Sieve/Sifter)
- Tube Pan
- Cooling Rack
Want to make angel food cupcakes? I have you covered.
Angel food cake doesn’t need to hide under frosting, but tastes blissful with fresh berries, raspberry sauce, and/or a dollop of whipped cream! Feel free to dust the top with confectioners’ sugar, too. If you enjoy these flavors together, you’ll love my fresh berry cream cake. (Which, if I’m being honest, isn’t quite as fussy as this cake!)
I know what you’re thinking: is this cake really worth it? The answer is YES. Angel food cake boasts a texture like no other and once you go through the process, you’ll understand the preparation isn’t that difficult—it’s just a little picky. 😉 Let’s do this!
See Your Angel Food Cakes!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
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Angel Food Cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 10-12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Using only 6 ingredients, this perfect angel food cake bakes up tall, light, and airy. For best results, read the recipe in full before beginning and have all your ingredients ready to go. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (350g) granulated sugar*
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons (133g) cake flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 12 large egg whites, at room temperature*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- optional: confectioners’ sugar for dusting, whipped cream, and berries
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and preheat oven to 325°F (163°C).
- In a food processor or blender, pulse the sugar until fine and powdery. Remove 1 cup and set aside to use in step 3; keep the rest inside the food processor. Add the cake flour and salt to the food processor. Pulse 5-10 times until sugar/flour/salt mixture is aerated and light.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip egg whites and cream of tartar together on medium-low until foamy, about 1 minute. Switch to medium-high and slowly add the 1 cup of sugar you set aside. Whip until soft peaks form, about 5-6 minutes. See photo and video above for a visual. Add the vanilla extract, then beat just until incorporated.
- In 3 additions, slowly sift the flour mixture into the egg white mixture using a fine mesh strainer, gently folding with a rubber spatula after each addition. To avoid deflating or a dense cake, don’t add the flour mixture all at once. Sift and very slowly fold in several additions. This is important! Pour and spread batter into an ungreased 9 or 10 inch tube pan. Shimmy the pan on the counter to smooth down the surface.
- Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking. The cake will rise up very tall while baking. Remove from the oven, then cool the cake completely upside-down set on a wire rack, about 3 hours. (Upside-down so the bottom of the tube pan is right-side up, see photo and video above.) Once cooled, run a thin knife around the edges and gently tap the pan on the counter until the cake releases.
- If desired, dust with confectioners’ sugar. Slice the cake with a sharp serrated knife. Regular knives can easily squish the cake. Serve with whipped cream and fresh berries.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare the angel food cake one day in advance, then cover tightly and store at room temperature overnight. Angel food cake can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Blender or Food Processor | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Egg Separator | Fine Mesh Sieve | Silicone Spatula | Tube Pan | Cooling Rack
- Sugar: In this recipe, you use granulated sugar and pulse it in a food processor to make superfine sugar. If you have superfine sugar or caster sugar, use that. Pulse 3/4 cup of it with the dry ingredients in step 2. Use 1 cup of it in step 3.
- Egg Whites: I strongly recommend using fresh real egg whites instead of egg white substitutes, previously frozen egg whites, or egg whites from a carton. Separate the eggs when they’re cold, then bring the egg whites to room temperature. Fresh room temperature egg whites whip into the fluffiest volume. With the extra yolks, make lemon curd or some of these recipes.
- Pan: An angel food cake pan (aka tube pan) is imperative. Do not use a Bundt pan. Angel food cake’s structure and stability requires the tube pan’s particular specifications. Some angel food cake pans come with little feet, which makes cooling the cake upside down easy. If your pan has feet, no need to use a wire rack. Whether your tube pan has feet or not, cool the cake upside down as directed in step 5.
- Party Angel Food Cake: Turn this cake into a party by gently folding in 1/2 cup of rainbow sprinkles before pouring and spreading the batter into the tube pan. Once cake is ready to serve, skip the confectioners’ sugar and top with chocolate ganache and more sprinkles.
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
Reader Comments and Reviews
Fantastic! Great recipe. Thanks as always.
I want to bake this but my oven isn’t working. Can I prepare the batter, pour into a tube pan and and take it over to a friend’s house for baking (around 15 minutes drive)? Will the batter deflate if it sits that long before entering the oven? I live in the Pacific Northwest, if that makes a difference.
Hi Sandy, we’ve only made this cake immediately after, but we worry the drive may deflate the batter a bit. Is it an option to prepare the batter at your friends house? That may be the safer bet!
This pairs great with 8 cups of eggnog, to use up those yolks!!!
I did make this yesterday and it was amazing. I have always wanted to try it but was nervous. I have made several things from your website including Sally’s baking challenge and nothing has failed so I thought I’d give it a try. I did use liquid egg whites from a carton. It definitely took longer to whip but finally did. I followed your instructions and success was achieved. It’s also beautiful.
I made your Angel Food Cake.
Absolutely fantastic ! Best by far !
Can I use Caster Sugar instead of putting regular granulated sugar through the food processor ?
Thanks !
Hi Kenneth, absolutely! If you have superfine sugar or caster sugar, use that. Pulse 3/4 cup of it with the dry ingredients in step 2. Use 1 cup of it in step 3. So glad you enjoyed the cake!
This is one of the best Angel Food cakes I have ever made. It is simple to do and I got rave reviews when I served it for a birthday lunch. Thank you!
Its almost perfect but it’s too sweet. 1 3/4 sugar but the flour is only 1 cup 2tbsp. I can’t take the sweetness. Makes you eat less
I should have read your comment before doing the cake yesterday. The cake is delicious, but too sweet. I will decrease the quantity next time.
I made this recipe tonight for the first time; my first ever attempt ant angel food cake! I tested it in the oven at 37 minutes with a toothpick and it came out clean. My cake looked really pale so I left it in an additional two minutes and then took it out. When my cake was cooling upside down, it only lasted about 10 minutes before the cake drop itself right out of the pan. I think that caused my cake to squish on itself. So now I have a pale and sticky cake that I Hope still tastes good (planning to serve for dessert with my dad)! I’ll have to give it another attempt with a longer bake time and see if that gives me more success.
All in all, great recipe, as usual, and very helpful steps. Just user errors this time!
Hi Sally! Could I make this in an air fryer?
Hi Elizabeth, we’re unsure of the results if you baked this angel food cake in an air fryer.
I made this for my kids birthday, and it was absolutely amazing! Turned out just perfect.
I used the store-bought egg whites in carton with no issues.
Hello…can I use caster sugar instead of pulsing cane sugar?
Thanks!
Courtney
Hi Courtney, absolutely! If you have superfine sugar or caster sugar, use that. Pulse 3/4 cup of it with the dry ingredients in step 2. Use 1 cup of it in step 3.
I made this for my husband’s birthday – his favorite.
40+ years!!
I have NEVER seen a prettier angel food cake!! Usually the top is dry and cracked. Not this!!
It was delicious!! Sweet but not obnoxious! And, the texture was so much better than every other angel food cake I’ve made.
Can I half the recipe?
Hi Robyn, that should be fine if you are using a smaller tube pan, too.
If I’m using superfine sugar, is it still 1 3/4 cups to start?
Hi Kathy, You can use the superfine sugar in the same amount. No need to pulse the 1 cup of superfine sugar that you’ll add to the egg whites. Still pulse the remaining 3/4 sugar with the dry ingredients, though. Happy baking!
Hi Sally! I’ve made this recipe six times now! The first four times all turned out perfectly, but the last two the cake falls an inch or so at the 30 minute mark of baking rather than rising to the top of the pan. Any idea why this could be happening? I did move to a new location, but I have been at sea level both times and in a similar climate. Pacific Northwest by the ocean. I’ve tried whipping the egg whites a little less to give them more room to expand. I’ve tried baking it at 300° instead because I have a gas oven now and it runs hot. But maybe that caused problems? I’d love any insight, thank you!
Hi Madelynne! We’re happy to help troubleshoot. When an angel food cake collapses during bake time, it could mean that the egg whites were over-whipped (although it sounds like you were being cautious here!) Only whip until soft peaks form before adding the vanilla and then the dry ingredients. When folding in the dry ingredients, do so very slowly and in stages as the recipe suggests. Folding in the dry ingredients quickly or all at once can cause the cake to lose volume and deflate. Climate changes (even down to different weather on different days) can also play a part. Do you have an oven thermometer? That will help to determine how much hotter your oven is running so you can adjust the temperature appropriately. We hope this helps if you ever try the recipe again!
I just wanted to say I love your website, you are my go to every time. I was wondering if this can be adapted to a 6 ” pan for our granddaughters 1st birthday
Hi Mary Ann, A tube pan is really imperative for angel food cake to bake up properly. We haven’t tried baking this batter in smaller size tube pan so we are unsure of exactly how much batter you would need or the bake time. If you decide to try it out, let us know!
I’m wondering approximately how many cups of batter does this recipe yield?
Hi Ina, A 10-inch tube pan typically holds about 16 cups of batter.
Make this and you will wonder why you ever bought a store made one, or made one from a boxed mix. I followed the recipe, using the pan I bought from the link. I did use previously frozen egg whites, so they took longer to whip. My baking time was also longer using the toothpick check. Cooled down as instructed and served with berry sauce, whipped cream and fresh berries. Amazing flavor and texture! Best cake i have ever baked!
I loved this recipe it did not last long my husband and kids ate it in one sitting. Thank you they already want me to make another one for work and school.
Linda
I used ground freeze dried strawberries and raspberries and it was delicious
I wish there was an “Ask Sally” section! I recently came into possession of a big tub of superfine sugar and I don’t know how to use it. I tried making candy with it, but it didn’t turn out too well because it dissolved too quickly, and the brittle turned out too dark. Aside from this angel food cake, what other recipes would be suitable for superfine sugar? Thank you!
Hi Aly, we’re happy to help! In addition to this angel food cake, we also have the following recipes that use superfine sugar: pavlova, angel food cupcakes, and macarons. Hope this helps and always feel free to ask questions via our comment section like you did here with your baking questions!
Excellent recipe! I used carton egg whites(Aldi brand whips up great) that whipped up beautifully! Cake is light and fluffy! Mixed about a third of batter with ground freeze dried strawberries and swirled it in batter. Turned out pretty! Thanks!
I made your angel food cake precisely by your instructions, but I added 1 special ingredient–Freeze Dried Raspberries and it is DELICIOUS!
I ground the berries and folded them in with the flour and baked for 45 minutes, which was the perfect amount of time. I thought I would need to add fresh raspberries on top, but the cake is truly perfect as is.
I used Trader Joe’s 1.2 oz bag of unsweetened & unsulfured raspberries. I’m going to use their Freeze Dried Cherries next time and add a little almond extract to the batter.
Yum, Laura! That’s such a great idea, we should try that!
Little tacky on the top but if it’s cooked to long it’s dry so.. the color is nice and it’s moist
It’s a delicious recipe although I leave in over for 50 min and it still kinda tacky at the top like when it drops out the pan the cake sticks to whatever it touches and a thin layer gets taken off
Best Cake ever. So light and fluffy!