This homemade angel food cake recipe will help you skip the mix, and make a light and fluffy angel food cake from scratch. If you can make angel food cake from a mix, you can make this easy recipe!
There are few cake mixes that can rival a homemade cake. The big exception to that statement is the angel food cake.
Some of those mixes make good cakes. So, why bother to make a homemade angel food cake?
Well, I have three reasons for you. First, the mixes are fairly pricey as far as mixes go. Second, they can be hard to find (at least they are around here). Third, and most importantly, no matter how good the mix is, a homemade angel food cake is still better.
And this cake is definitely worth the little bit of extra effort that it takes to make from scratch! It’s one of my family’s favorite desserts, and we enjoy it all summer long with whipped cream and fresh berries. Give it a try, and it make become one of your favorites, too!
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Granulated sugar: It’s important to break the sugar down before adding it. Breaking down the sugar helps it to incorporate without having to overmix it.
- Cake flour: Cake flour helps to make the cake nice and tender. If you don’t have cake flour, this DIY cake flour recipe will help you how to make a good substitute.
- Eggs: Using room temperature eggs will help the eggs to whip up better than using cold eggs.
- Vanilla extract: I recommend using pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Almond extract: The extract adds a little something extra to the cake, but it’s optional. Feel free to omit it if necessary.
How to make angel food cake from scratch
Here you’ll find step-by-step photos showing how to make this recipe. The full recipe is given below.
Step 1: Begin by processing the sugar in a blender or food processor to create super fine sugar.
Step 2: Sift half of the sugar together with the salt and cake flour. Set aside the other half of the sugar.
Step 3: Add the egg whites with extracts, water, and cream of tartar together in a mixing bowl.
Step 4: Add the reserved sugar while beating the egg whites on medium speed until egg white reach medium peaks. You’ll know when the egg whites are at medium peaks because they will be thick and glossy. They will also droop over just at the tip when pulled up.
Step 5: Sift a dusting of flour over the egg whites, and then continue to fold the flour in until incorporated. It’s important to fold in rather than stir the flour in to keep the volume in the egg whites.
Step 6: Carefully spoon the batter into the tube pan. You don’t want to just drop it in because that will take some of the volume out of the batter.
Step 7: Bake, and then cool the baked cake in the pan upside down for at least an hour.
Recipe Tips!
- Medium peaks: You’ll know when the egg whites are at medium peaks because they will be thick and glossy. They will also droop over just at the tip when pulled up. If you’d like a visual, there’s a photo of what the egg whites should look like above step 4 in the “how to make” section above.
- Pan prep: Angel food cake recipes are unusual because you don’t grease the pan. The ungreased pan gives the cake something to hold onto as it rises. If the cake pan is greased, the cake won’t rise properly.
- Cooling: It’s important to cool the cake upside down because this helps to keep the cake from falling as it cools.
- Serving: You can serve the cake as-is, dust it with powdered sugar, or (my personal favorite) serve it with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.
Recipe FAQs
You do. It makes a big difference in the texture of this cake. If you can’t find cake flour, this DIY cake flour recipe will show you how to make a good substitute.
There are two things that make angel food cake so light and airy – whipped egg whites and cake flour.
Much of the structure of this cake comes from the stabilized egg whites. It’s important to properly whip the egg whtes because those whipped egg whites give the cake its light and fluffy texture.
The other thing that helps to make the cake light is using cake flour. Cake flour helps to give the cake its softer texture because cake flour is a soft white flour that is lower in protein, which helps to make the cake tender.
Storage
Store any leftover angel food cake in an airtight container at room temperature. The cake is best eaten within the first 2-3 days after it was made.
More classic homemade cake recipes!
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Angel Food Cake
Equipment
- Tube pan
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cake flour sifted
- 12 egg whites from large eggs room temperature
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract optional
- 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a food processor spin sugar about 2 minutes until it is superfine.
- Sift half of the sugar with the salt and the cake flour, setting the remaining sugar aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix together the egg whites, water, extracts, and cream of tartar. Mix together for about 1 minute on low.
- Slowly sift the reserved sugar in, beating continuously at medium speed.
- Once you have achieved medium peaks, sift enough of the flour mixture in to dust the top of the foam. Using a spatula fold in gently.
- Continue until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.
- Carefully spoon mixture into an ungreased tube pan.
- Bake for 35 minutes before checking for doneness with a wooden skewer. (When inserted halfway between the inner and outer wall, the skewer should come out dry).
- Cool upside down on cooling rack for at least an hour before removing from pan.
Video
Notes
- Cake flour: Cake flour helps to make the cake nice and tender. If you don’t have cake flour, this DIY cake flour recipe will help you how to make a good substitute.
- Eggs: Using room temperature eggs will help the eggs to whip up better than using cold eggs.
- Vanilla extract: I recommend using pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Almond extract: The extract adds a little something extra to the cake, but it’s optional. Feel free to omit it if necessary.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
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Originally published 9/30/12. Adapted from foodnetwork.com
Reader Interactions
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Comments & Reviews
Edna Pickrell says
I want sour cream in my cake. How much and when to incorporate.
Thank you
Kate says
Hi! I’ve never added sour cream to this recipe to say for certain.
Kathleen Byrnes says
While I’ve followed and loved many of your recipes, this one did not work for me. I’ve made many Angel food cakes in my life but none recently. I was surprised when the egg whites, even though at medium stiff peaks, seemed quite wet as opposed to airy (which was my memory) but I proceeded. I baked the cake 35 minutes at which time the cake was high and the tester came out clean. However a few minutes after inverting the cake it fell out of the pan (which was dry/clean when filled) onto the counter where it collapsed. I believe the problem may have been the 1/3 cup water which I did not find when I subsequently compared this recipe to a number of others.
Kathleen Byrnes says
Sorry, I baked the cake 45 minutes as tester still at at 35
Kate says
Hello! That’s too bad! It sounds like the eggs weren’t fully beaten to medium stiff peaks. They should have been thick and glossy, not wet, at that point. There is a photo above the recipe if you’d like to compare what they should have looked like. When the egg whites in an angel food cake are underwhipped, the cake can collapse, and it sounds like that was what happened.
Elora Stidham says
How do I make loaf’s of this batter using a tear apart paper pan?
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried that to say for certain.
Bobbie says
It is so good and my great grandson loves it also.
Thanks for sharing irt.
Bobbie
Kate says
Thank you! I’m glad that it was a hit!
Trinity says
Turn out perfect. I used a Bundt pan but I greased the very bottom of the pan and the smaller grooves. Worked like a charm!
Kate says
I’m so glad that it worked well!
Linda Ginnetti says
Absolutely perfect!
No store bought can compare to a homemade cake. First time making this, nice and moist and not difficult to make. Big hit with the family!
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad that it was a hit!
Nancy Miller says
Absolutely wonderful. Will never buy store bought again.
Kate says
Thank you! I’m so glad to hear that!
JB says
Egg whites didn’t peak and nowhere in the recipe does it talk about the importance of the egg whites.
Kate says
You’re correct. The recipe doesn’t talk about the importance of the egg whites, but the post that comes before the recipe does talk about the role of the egg whites in the cake. If I were to go into an explanation of the importance of each ingredient within the actual recipe, the recipe information would get lost. However, that is covered in the post section before the recipe.
There are a few reasons why egg whites might not whip up properly. The most likely reason is that there was fat (usually yolk) mixed in with the egg whites. When that happens, the whites don’t whip up.
Kim Rico says
Can I bake this on sheet pan? I want to make heart shaped parfaits, and cutting shapes is easier from a sheet cake. What temp and time would you suggest?
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried baking angel food cake on a sheet pan. Traditionally, the tube pan’s tall walls help to give the angel food cake its light and fluffy texture. So, I’m not sure how it would work out with a sheet pan.
Lynda says
I have baked angel food cake in loaf pans; they have always turned out great