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Light, airy, and delicious, a good angel food cake is something many home bakers strive toward for years without success. With this easy-to-follow recipe, however, you should have no trouble making the cake of your dreams!
Why not learn How to Make an Orange Icing Glaze for your angel cake? Or for something a little more indulgent you could try this Chocolate Buttercream Frosting Recipe, or this Coffee Buttercream Frosting?
Angel Cake
Angel cake, or angel food cake, is a classic cake recipe that is perfect for the home kitchen.
Though it does typically require the use of a strangely specific type of pan with a big conical hole in the middle of it, the uniquely light and beautifully delicate texture of angel cake makes it worth it to try and make yourself.
Also, since this recipe makes use of a whole lot of egg whites, make sure to do something with all of those leftover egg yolks to avoid waste – eggs are hard to come by these days!
What Happens If You Over-Beat The Egg Whites
When adding in the granulated sugar, you want to be careful to make sure that you don’t over-beat the egg whites. Using a low setting on your stand mixer will help with this, but the texture can change quickly.
As you beat the egg whites, they stiffen up due to the movement and added air volume. You want the egg whites to stiffen up only to a point, as this creates the soft peaks that will give your cake the light and fluffy texture that you want.
However, if the egg whites stiffen too much, they will become unworkable making it difficult to mix in the rest of your ingredients. Over-beaten egg whites will also impact the texture of your cake and you will lose that delicate texture.
So make sure to keep an eye on the stiffness of your whites to avoid taking them too far.
How To Easily Separate The Egg Whites From The Yolks
Separating egg yolks is often something that inspires fear for those that rarely come across recipes that call for only one part of the egg.
Some think that there is some sort of secret technique for separating eggs but there really isn’t. It is simply a case of practice and confidence; always remember that eggs can smell your fear!
The best way to separate egg whites from egg yolks is to crack the egg in half, just like you would when using eggs in any other recipe.
Once you have the two halves of the shell, you want to hold one half in each hand over a bowl, and then carefully move the egg yolk between the two halves. As you repeat this action, the white will drip down into the bowl, leaving you with just the yolk.
It might take a few tries until you actually feel confident, but once you have the hang of it, it becomes a piece of cake!
Do You Have To Use A Tube Pan Or An Angel Cake Tin?
An angel cake tin is a pretty specific piece of kitchen equipment and not something you are likely to have unless you’re making angel cakes regularly.
Rather than buying an angel cake tin, there are a few alternatives that you can use and that you might be more likely to already have in your kitchen.
The best alternative is a Bundt tin as they are almost identical in shape. The main difference between an angel tin and a Bundt tin is that the former has smooth edges and a flattened top. In contrast, a Bundt tin has grooved sides and a more open top.
The textured side of a Bundt tin does mean that you will want to over-grease the sides of the tin to ensure that your cake does not stick, however.
The curved top also means that it is best to not fill the tin all of the ways to the top as you would with an angel tin, so as to prevent the cake from pouring over the edges.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a Bundt pan you could use a regular loaf or cake pan. The main issue here is that you won’t get the classic hole in the middle of your cake that gives it that distinct angel cake appearance.
If you do use a regular pan, you will also want to adjust the baking time to account for the fact that your pan does not have a hole in the middle and therefore can’t let in as much heat to the center.
What To Do With The Leftover Egg Yolks
This angel cake recipe calls for ten egg whites but no egg yolks, so what should you do with all of those leftover yolks?
- Custard
Making your own custard is a great way to use up your leftover egg yolks as traditional recipes only use the yolks.
You could pour your custard over the top of your cake in the same way that you might serve a cake with fresh cream or ice cream.
Ten egg yolks will make a lot of custard though, so you might not want to use all of your yolks in this way unless you’re serving a large number of people. You can freeze custard, but it will separate and won’t be as good as when served fresh.
Mayonnaise is another recipe that only uses egg yolks and is a way to easily use up the leftover yolks from your angel cake.
There is a misconception that mayonnaise is tricky to make and that it is just easier to buy it. This is not the case and it won’t take long before you’re making it with your eyes shut.
Once you have tried homemade mayonnaise, you really won’t be able to go back to the store-bought stuff, as the difference is night and day. Making it yourself also means that you can use different spices and seasonings to create everything from lemon and garlic mayonnaise to spicy mayonnaise.
- Salt-Cured Egg Yolks
Leftovers are always a good excuse to experiment and maybe make things that you wouldn’t normally try or want to potentially waste fresh ingredients on.
Salt-cured egg yolks are one such recipe. You wouldn’t necessarily want to buy eggs for the sole purpose of trying this slightly strange recipe, but making your angel cake is the perfect excuse, so just set a few egg yolks aside and try salt-cured yolks out for yourself!
Looking for more delicious Cake recipes? Try these out:
• Cream Cheese Pound Cake Recipe
Happy Cooking!
Love,
Karlynn
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Angel Cake
Ingredients
- 1½ Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 Cup Cake Flour
- 1 dash salt
- 10 large egg whites
- 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- ¾ Cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Sift the powdered sugar and the cake flour together in a medium sized bowl. add the dash of salt. Set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 350°.
- In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl beat the egg whites only until soft peaks form, sprinkle the cream of tartar over and mix again until combined.
- Continue mixing on medium while slowly adding the granulated sugar. Do not over beat the egg whites.
- Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture over the egg white mixture and lightly fold it in. repeat again with the remaining mixture little by little.
- Turn the batter into a large ungreased angel cake tube pan making sure there are no large bubbles in the batter. Lightly smooth the top of the cake batter.
- Bake the cake for about 40 minutes in the preheated oven until the top is golden brown.
- Take the cake out of the oven and immediately turn the cake upside down to cool. If the cake has risen over the sides you will need to stand it on something like a wine bottle balanced in the center of the pan upside down.
- Once the cake has fully cooled loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and frost as desired.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Jenneke says
When I’m separating eggs, I always use 3 ( or more) bowls. The first is my ‘scrupulously clean working’ bowl over which I do the separation. If that happens successfully, the white is added into the second bowl . The third is where the yolk is placed. If I have an unsuccessful attempt, that mixture will be used for scrambled eggs or something. And I proceed with the 4th clean bowl as my ‘working bowl’.
It sounds more complicated than it is🤣, but I’m kinda klutzy, so successfully separating 10 eggs is a feat!
Also, I find separating the eggs when they are cold works better than if they’re room temperature. I then cover the bowls with plastic wrap til they’re room temp.