Description
Rainbow sprinkles, crunchy hazelnuts, and smooth chocolate ganache makes this fluffy angel food cake a huge party!
Ingredients
Cake
- 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 (room temperature)*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup (127g) rainbow sprinkles*
Ganache + Topping
- 8 ounces (226g) semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped*
- 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
- 1/2 cup (75g) chopped hazelnuts
- rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and preheat oven to 325°F (163°C).
- Make the cake: 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 flour and salt to the food processor. Pulse 5-10 times until aerated and light.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat 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. Whip until soft peaks form, about 5-6 minutes (see photo above for visual). Add the vanilla and beat just until combined.
- Sift the flour mixture into the egg white mixture. Sift slowly in 3 additions, while gently folding it in with a rubber spatula. Then, very gently fold in the sprinkles. Scrape mixture into a 10-inch angel food cake pan. (Don’t grease the pan!)
- Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 40-46 minutes. Make sure you rotate the pan halfway through baking. Cool the cake completely upside-down set on a wire rack, about 3 hours. Once cooled, run a thin knife around the edges and gently tap the pan on the counter until the cake releases.
- Make the ganache: Place chopped chocolate into a large bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once it begins to boil, immediately remove from heat then pour over the chocolate. Stir gently and slowly using a wooden spoon until the ganache is smooth. Allow it to cool for 15 minutes. During this time, it will slowly thicken. Then pour or spoon over the cake. Top with sprinkles and hazelnuts. There will likely be leftover ganache. It’s great over ice cream!
- Cover leftover cake and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare the angel food cake one day in advance and cover tightly at room temperature overnight. The ganache can also be prepared in advance; cover and keep in the refrigerator overnight. Then, warm up before drizzling over cake. Angel food cake can be frozen up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor or Blender | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Rubber Spatula | Tube Pan | Cooling Rack | Small Saucepan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Wooden Spoon
- Egg Whites: I strongly recommend using real egg whites instead of egg white substitutes or egg whites from a carton. For the extra yolks, you can make pudding (great recipe in my cookbook), hollandaise, batches of chewy chocolate chip cookies, lemon curd, or some of these recipes.
- Sprinkles: Make sure you use rainbow jimmies (the long strand sprinkles) or quins (the flat circle/shaped sprinkles). I find both don’t bleed their color nearly as quickly as nonpareils (the little balls).
- Chocolate: Use high quality pure chocolate. Do not use cheap chocolate chips. You need the real thing here!
- Pan: An angel food cake pan (aka tube pan) is imperative. Do not use a Bundt pan or a regular cake pan. Angel food cake’s structure and stability needs the pan’s particular specifications. Some angel food cake pans come with little feet, which makes cooling the cake upside down easy. Mine does not. I simply cool the cake upside down on a wire rack. No problems there.
- Adapted from Cooks Illustrated.