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 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 and a super fun sprinkle angel food cake on my blog, but now it’s time visit where both 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. 🙂
PrintAngel 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 | Rubber 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.
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
I’ve just served two slices with mascarated berries & whipped cream. Very good and simple with Sally at the helm. So I’ve bumped the rating to five stars.
I have made numerous of your recipes and they have all turned out fantastic. However, this recipe I cannot get correct. This is my 3rd attempt and it wasn’t even possible to turn it upside down because it had dislodged itself from the sides during baking. What am I doing wrong. The taste of the cake (even falled cake) is loved by my family but it is driving me nuts that I can’t get this recipe correct.
Hi Theresa, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. Was your pan nonstick? For angel food cake, its best to not use a nonstick pan, or one with very light nonstick coating like the one we link to in this post. We want the cake to cling to the side of the pan and not fall out once inverted. It’s also important not to grease the pan, as you need the batter to cling to the sides of the pan as it’s rising. By greasing the pan, the light batter will not rise. Hope this helps for next time!
Unfortunately this was a flop for me. Not quite sure what went wrong. I followed the recipe exactly, no substitutions, no grease, spooned and levelled the flour etc.
It looked great going into the pan. It took a bit longer than listed to baked. I left it in for 55min. At that point it was gold on top and a skewer came out clean so I pulled it out and inverted my pan onto the built in legs.
Unfortunately a few minutes later the cake fell out of the pan and collapsed.
We sampled some of the collapsed cake anyways and it was very sticky and a bit mushy. I’m thinking it needed even more oven time.
Flavour wise it’s a nice delicate vanilla flavour, but oh so very sweet, I could never eat a whole slice it’s just so so sweet. I don’t know if there’s a way to make angel cake with less sugar but this was so sweet I’m reluctant to try again.
A bit of a shame as I have enjoyed most of the recipes from this site, but maybe angel cake is just not for me.
Would it be possible to replace the cake flour with gluten free cake flour
Hi Dan, we haven’t tested a gluten-free version of this cake. If you do, we’d love to know how it turns out for you!
This is a fabulous recipe, my family absolutely loved it. Added to the Fam Faves list❤️
Would I be able to color this cake with gel food coloring?
Hi Anna, we haven’t tested it but you should be able to fold in food coloring at the very end of mixing. Would love to hear how it goes for you.
You can use all purpose flour it doesn’t taste like white bread it works just fine
VERY Happy. Followed measure and method to the “T”, and it did exactly as it was supposed to do. Thanks, Sally!
MY OH MY….Absolutely the best Angel Food Cake I’ve ever eaten….and I made it!!! Thank you sooooo much for this great recipe. My son wanted a strawberry shortcake but doesn’t like the traditional “shortcake” so I made this instead with fresh strawberries, homemade whipped cream and strawberry ice cream. Needless to say it made his day !. I loved the video and even after baking for 40 years this dog learned new tricks. I used almond extract instead of vanilla So Yummy!!!!
Delicious. Several people said the best angel food cake they had ever eaten
So excited to try this for a birthday tomorrow! I forgot to turn it upside down for the first hour or so that it was cooling. Will it still be okay?
Can you substitute Splenda for the sugar?
Hi Claudia, We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your quick and honest response! I will be using all of your bakings tips tho! Great video!
I made this last night. It is amazing! My first Angel Food Cake from scratch.
The best cake I have ever made. I paired with the raspberry compote. So delicious!
Best angel food cake we have ever had. We used your homemade whipped cream recipe for the topping, and some strawberries, and the whole family couldn’t eat it fast enough. Thank you!!
My daughter used this recipe for one of her 4-H fair entries and she received a reserve grand champion ribbon on it! The video made it so she could easily learn about the steps and the detailed instructions were great! Thanks for always posting quality recipes!
Congratulations to your daughter! We’re so glad this recipe was a great resource for her.
I just need to make a small angel food cake. Would I still get the same result if I cut this recipe in half??
Hi Lauren, it would depend on the size of your tube pan. Do you have one that holds half the volume of the 9- or 10-inch tube pan this recipe is made for? If so, then you can halve the recipe.
great receipe
I did it!!! My first attempt to make an angel food cake and it is delicious. Your directions are absolutely the reason for my success. When I need a recipe of any kind….I type in…‘Sally’s baking addiction”. Then I’m assured of such clear baking assistance, I can’t go wrong. Thank you so much. Happy FOURTH !
Great job, Jennie! So glad it turned out.
I make this recipe every fourth of July to make a trifle and it’s always a hit, though this time I realized I’m out of cream of tater. Can I substitute it with baking powder or soda.
Hi Liyba! Cream of tartar is an acid and stabilizes the whipped egg whites in this recipe. You can make a 1:1 substitution with lemon juice but keep in mind it’s not nearly as effective.
Is there a trick to keep the browning on top of the cake from staying with the pan (sticking)? Would a ring of parchment work? What about greasing just the very bottom of the pan so that the cake would still stick to the sides?
Hi Mike, I haven’t tried only greasing the bottom of the pan, or using parchment just on the bottom. You can certainly try it. I fear the cake will fall right out of the pan when cooling, and may collapse. (Instead of manually removing with a thin knife around the edges.)
Great recipe and guide. I haven’t made a cake in years and this turned out wonderfully. Thank you!
I love your site and have such success. This angel food cake is my next endeavor. I’ve never made one and I’m a tad anxious. One question , please. I am using this recipe to cut into squares for a trifle dish. How far in advance can this cake be made and still be fresh? Thank you for always assisting !
Hi Jennie, you can prepare the angel food cake one day in advance, then cover tightly and store at room temperature overnight. Or it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Hope you love it!
I followed the recipe to a T and it was delicious!! I baked it 40 minutes and it was very tall and golden when I took it out. However, maybe 20 minutes after inverting it to cool, it fell out of the pan. (I cut it into pieces and made a trifle instead of serving it in slices.) I did note that the cake was very moist and just slightly sticky, though it did appear to be done. Should it have been baked longer? It was still super yummy and 1000x better than a store bought cake…just wondering what I should try differently next time.
Hi Christina, I’m so glad to read that it tastes great and you were able to use it for a trifle. Were you sure to NOT grease the pan before adding the batter? I believe it could have used more time in the oven, even just 5 more minutes. You can tent it with foil if you notice it over-browning.
Great recipe but I have question… I know won’t rise as high with frozen egg whites but still pretty great! I make hollandaise on Christmas Day and therefore have 1 dozen egg whites to freeze for later, which I use to make this cake in June. As I make it today I wonder if would be better to make cake on Boxing Day and freeze the cake for June or to continue freezing egg whites…so would there be a great difference ?
if cake well wrapped in plastic wrap and then tin foil
We only recommend freezing the angel food cake for up to three months. So glad you enjoyed it!
first time I ever made an angel food cake. Cake dropped out of the pan while it was cooling. Maybe I didn’t bake it long enough but it tasted very good. I would try this again!
I have made this recipe several times and now that I’ve figured a few things out it turns out great! Sally I think you should add to the recipe that it is EXTREMELY important to make sure the cake is totally done before removing it. I baked 46 minutes, it was tall and beautiful. But when I turned it upside down it fell out! I was so so sad. Upon further inspection I noticed it wasn’t all the way baked through. Even with the exact oven temperature and timing.
I followed this recipe to a “t” and the cake fell out of the pan about 10 minutes after I inverted it. I had it in the oven for about 50 minutes. It didn’t brown at all but the tooth pick can out clean when I tested for doneness. I’m going back to my old reliable recipe.
Can you make the batter a day in advance and cook it the next day?
Hi Marc, we don’t recommend it. The batter is best baked right away, otherwise the texture could be compromised. See recipe Notes section for other make ahead options.
I.am.based in Ireland, I planned to use Caster Sugar (finer than granulated but not powdered/confectioner sugar). Would that work or do I still need to pulse it?
We don’t have cake flour here to my knowledge, as far as I can gather it’s a matter of substituting in some cornflour to plain flour – so i’ll try it out!
Hi Ruth, 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. Here’s our guide to making a homemade cake flour substitute.