Recipes & Cooking Desserts & Baking Cakes Angel Food & Sponge Cake How to Make Angel Food Cake That's Fluffy and Light as Air 4.0 (65) 1 Review Celebrate holidays and special occasions with a sweet, pillowy angel food cake using these step-by-step instructions from our Test Kitchen. By Andrea Beck Andrea Beck Andrea Beck served as garden editor at BHG and her work has appeared on Food & Wine, Martha Stewart, MyRecipes, and more. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process and Sarah Martens Sarah Martens Sarah Martens is the Senior Editor overseeing food at Better Homes & Gardens digital. She has been with the BHG brand for more than 10 years. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on February 27, 2024 Recipe tested by Lynn Blanchard Recipe tested by Lynn Blanchard Lynn Blanchard is the Director of the Des Moines, Iowa-based Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen. As Test Kitchen Director, she ensures that all recipes that appear in Dotdash Meredith publications are thoroughly tested by staff culinary specialists in conditions that replicate home kitchens. Learn more about the Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen Rate PRINT Share Trending Videos Close this video player Prep Time: 50 mins Bake Time: 40 mins Cool Time: 2 hrs Total Time: 3 hrs 30 mins Servings: 12 Jump to Nutrition Facts Angel food cake is one-of-a-kind, and no other cake recipe matches its super fluffy, airy texture. Though it's a type of sponge cake, it differs from other popular recipes because it's traditionally made using no butter or oil in the batter. Instead, beaten egg whites are the secret to its ultra-light texture. Most angel food cake recipes usually have a light vanilla flavor that lets you dress them up any way you want with icing, fresh fruit, or other sweet toppings. Follow these tips to make the best angel food cake from scratch, including what to do if you're craving cake but don't have a tube pan. Tips for Baking the Best Angel Food Cake Just following your recipe's instructions will help you turn out a delectable angel food cake. But if a flawless dessert is your goal, these extra tips might help: Always use the ingredients called for in the recipe, like cake flour and powdered sugar. Cake flour is lighter and has less protein than all-purpose, which helps give an angel food cake its fluffiness. Likewise, powdered sugar has much smaller granules than regular white sugar, which will help it easily mix into the cake batter without weighing it down. Sift the flour mixture three times. Sifting will help remove any lumps from the flour and aerate the mixture, which will help make your cake light and fluffy. It probably goes against most of your baking instincts, but use an ungreased pan when baking angel food cake, and leave the nonstick spray in your pantry. You actually want the cake to cling to the sides of the pan, because it helps the super-light batter rise. Greasing the pan can result in a flat, dense cake. Always flip the cake pan to cool your angel food cake with the open side down. Angel food cake will continue to set as it cools, and it can sink down in the pan and collapse if you don't flip it to cool. Use a serrated knife to cut angel food cake once you remove it from the pan. Non-serrated knives can smash the delicate cake. Angel Food Cake Ingredient Substitutions If you're in a pinch for ingredients and need to know how to make angel food cake without cream of tartar, substitute lemon juice or white vinegar. Cream of tartar stabilizes the egg whites and helps create more volume, but both substitutions will also work. If you want to skip a few steps and learn how to make angel food cake from a box mix, you can save yourself a little time. Some box mixes even eliminate the egg whites; all you have to do is add water, mix, and follow the package instructions to bake! Premade angel food cake mixes are especially helpful for speeding up recipes that use angel food cake as a base, such as trifles. Can You Make Angel Food Cake in a Bundt Pan? It might seem like the two are interchangeable, but the intricate details on most bundt pans make it very tricky to get an angel food cake out of the pan in one piece. Tube pans have flat tops and straight sides to make the cake easier to remove, and the batter clings to the sides and center tube as the cake bakes, which helps it rise. So stick to a tube pan, if possible. If you don't have a tube pan, you can make angel food cupcakes instead. Just be sure to reduce the baking time to follow a cupcake recipe instead. How to Serve Angel Food Cake This angel food cake recipe is great on its own but our recipe testers love it with a pile of fluffy whipped cream and fresh berries. You can also drizzle the cake with chocolate sauce or homemade caramel. There's also nothing wrong with spooning fresh raspberry sauce over each slice. Ingredients 1 ½ cup egg whites (10 to 12 large) 1 ½ cup sifted powdered sugar 1 cup sifted cake flour or sifted all-purpose flour 1 ½ teaspoon cream of tartar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup granulated sugar Directions In a very large mixing bowl allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, sift powdered sugar and flour together 3 times; set aside. Test Kitchen Tip: The bowl should be perfectly clean and wide enough to keep the beaters from being buried in the egg whites as they fluff. Don't use a plastic bowl, which may have an oily residue that can minimize the volume of beaten egg whites. Scott Little Add cream of tartar and vanilla to egg whites. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (tips curl). Scott Little Gradually add granulated sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight) . Scott Little Sift about one-fourth of the flour mixture over beaten egg whites; fold in gently. (If bowl is too full, transfer to a larger bowl.) Repeat, folding in remaining flour mixture by fourths. Scott Little Pour into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Gently cut through batter to remove any large air pockets. Scott Little Bake on the lowest rack in a 350 degree F oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Immediately invert cake (leave in pan); cool thoroughly. Loosen sides of cake from pan; remove cake. Makes 12 servings. Angel Food Cake Recipe Variations If you love our classic angel food cake recipe, try these creative twists on the original. Chocolate Angel Food Cake: Prepare as above, except sift 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder with the flour-powdered sugar mixture.Honey Angel Food Cake: Prepare as above, except after beating egg whites to soft peaks, gradually pour 1/4 cup honey in a thin stream over the egg white mixture. Continue as above, except beat only 1/2 cup sugar into the egg whites. Rate It Print Nutrition Facts (per serving) 161 Calories 36g Carbs 4g Protein Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label Nutrition Facts Servings Per Recipe 12 Calories 161 % Daily Value * Sodium 51mg 2% Total Carbohydrate 36g 13% Total Sugars 27g Protein 4g 8% Iron 0.7mg 4% Potassium 116mg 2% Folate, total 16.1mcg Vitamin B-12 0.1mcg *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.