This classic Angel food cake is a light and fluffy, low-fat dessert! Effortlessly impressive, this crowd-pleaser is a perfect make-ahead cake served with a strawberry sauce for any occasion.
This homemade angel food cake recipe is one of my favorite easy yet impressive desserts to make for a party. It uses just 5 ingredients to make a light and airy, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
I love to serve it with a homemade strawberry sauce that comes together in a matter of minutes and uses just 2 ingredients. If you are looking to impress, this is the recipe you should try! My pina colada angel food cake and orange angel food cake are also delicious variations.
“Wow. What an AMAZING cake! Such great tips that really make the baking and making process more smooth. 10/10!” – Lex
Why you’ll love this recipe
There many reasons to love this naturally low-fat Angel food cake recipe. Just to name a few:
- Light and airy texture: you’ll love its light and delicate texture with tender and moist crumb.
- Flavor: the addition of orange zest adds a hint of citrusy freshness and amazing aroma.
- Perfect dessert to make-ahead: it’s a perfect make-ahead cake for any occasion.
- Easy for beginner bakers: it’s a simple cake for even beginner bakers to master with ease!
Table of Contents
- Why you’ll love this recipe
- What is Angel Food Cake?
- Ingredients
- Make your own DIY Cake Flour
- How to make homemade Angel food cake with strawberries
- How to remove Angel food cake from the pan
- Expert Tips
- Serving Angel Food Cake with Strawberries
- Storage
- Variations
- Video Tutorial
- FAQs
- Homemade Angel Food Cake with Strawberries Recipe
What is Angel Food Cake?
Angel food cake is a sponge cake made with whipped egg whites, cake flour and sugar. This cake doesn’t use any chemical leavening, such as baking powder or soda. Instead whipped egg whites is the main leavening agent and it’s crucial to whip the egg whites with sugar until it reach soft peak stage.
Angel food cake tastes sweet with hint of vanilla and orange and has incredibly light and fluffy texture. It’s a perfect canvas for deliciously bright fruit sauces, like raspberry coulis, lemon curd and honey strawberry sauce.
Ingredients
- Egg whites – I’ve made Angel food cake with both fresh egg whites and carton egg whites. And honestly I don’t see much difference. (See comparison image below.)
- Cake flour – Cake flour makes the most tender and light cake, thanks to its low protein content. See my DIY cake flour instructions below.
- Sugar – I recommend using caster sugar which is basically super fine granulated sugar. If you don’t have it, you may pulse regular granulated sugar in a food processor, or blender, until nice and fine. Fine sugar dissolves quicker in the meringue, creating nice and stable meringue. Powdered sugar (or confectioner’s sugar) won’t work here.
- Orange zest – While you may omit orange zest, it adds subtle aroma that makes this cake irresistible!
- Cream of tartar – Cream of tartar is a dry acid that stabilizes egg whites, making stronger and more stable meringue. While it’s highly recommended, it’s not crucial ingredient.
Using leftover egg yolks
And if you’re using fresh eggs, here’re 6 ideas for leftover egg yolks.
Make your own DIY Cake Flour
To make homemade cake flour, measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons of it and add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift and you have a DIY cake flour!
How to make homemade Angel food cake with strawberries
It’s quite easy to make this Angel food cake recipe. In short:
- Make meringue: whisk egg whites with cream of tartar, salt and half of the sugar until soft peaks form.
- Sift flour and the remaining half of the sugar over the meringue. And gently mix dry ingredients into the meringue.
- Transfer the batter into a tube pan.
- Level the batter and run a knife to remove any trapped air bubbles.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes at 325°F.
- Cool the cake completely in the pan upside down before slicing.
Angel Food Cake Pan
This Angel food cake pan is a must!
How to remove Angel food cake from the pan
Be sure to cool the cake completely before removing Angel food cake from the tube pan.
- Insert a thin knife into the side of the pan until the tip of the knife hits the bottom of the pan. Holding the cake pan on its side, run the knife along the side all way around.
- Lift the cake out and now run the knife on the bottom of the cake, keeping the knife flush against the pan.
- Finally, run the knife along the inner tube.
- Then flip the cake over on a serving platter.
Expert Tips
- Make sure the mixing bowl and a whisk is free of any fat/oil residue. And be extra careful when separating egg whites from yolks. You don’t want even smallest amount of yolk in your egg whites. I explained the reason for this in my Meringue 101 video.
- It’s easier to separate egg whites and yolks when eggs are cold. However, room temperature egg whites whip faster and reach better volume!
- Cream of tartar makes more stable meringue, which is the foundation of Angel food cake! If you don’t have it, you may omit it though.
- Use cake flour for nice and tender cake crumbs! In a pinch, make homemade cake flour described above.
- Do NOT grease the cake pan. That way the batter needs to stick to the walls and climb up higher for lighter, fluffier texture.
- It’s important to cool the cake in the pan upside down to keep the cake light and fluffy and prevent from collapsing. I like to set the pan on an inverted mug, so that air circulates all around for faster cool time.
Serving Angel Food Cake with Strawberries
Angel food cake is such a perfect blank canvas for all kinds of toppings. Here’re my top favorites:
- Honey strawberry sauce (recipe included)
- Raspberry coulis
- Homemade whipped cream
- Fresh berries
- Homemade lemon curd
- Chocolate ganache
Storage
Store any leftover strawberry angel food cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Place the strawberry sauce in a container in the fridge for up to a week.
The cake can also be frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight packaging. Thaw overnight on the counter until soft and fluffy.
Variations
Bored of plain Angel food cake? I have so many tried-and-true variations!
Video Tutorial
FAQs
Unfortunately, no. You won’t be able to remove the cake from a bundt pan.
I’ve baked a smaller portion of this recipe (matcha sponge cake) in a loaf pan with a great success. So if you don’t want to buy a tube pan, you may bake it in 2 loaf pans. (Note to reduce the bake time!)
Yes, I’ve tested this recipe with both fresh egg whites and carton egg whites. And I don’t see significant difference. When buying carton egg whites, avoid the ones with a label “not for meringue”.
No, Angel food cake is not gluten-free, unless it’s made with gluten-free flour.
Angel food cake is a type of sponge cake. Sponge cake is a foam cake that’s made with whipped eggs and without any chemical leavening agents.
Homemade Angel Food Cake with Strawberries
Ingredients
For cake:
- 1 ½ cups (300 g) caster sugar Note 1
- 1 cup (125 g) cake flour Note 2
- 12 egg whites at room temperature, Note 3
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar Note 4
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon orange zest freshly zested
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For strawberry sauce:
- 1 cup strawberries frozen or fresh
- 1-2 tablespoons raw honey
Equipment
Instructions
To make Angel food cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).
- Sift together half of the sugar and cake flour.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy on a low speed. Add cream of tartar and salt and continue to beat, gradually increasing the speed to medium high.
- When the egg whites turn white with denser foam, stir in remaining ¾ cup of sugar one tablespoon at a time. Continue to beat on medium high speed until soft peaks form.
- Stir in orange zest and pure vanilla extract.
- If needed, transfer the meringue into a larger mixing bowl.
- Add flour/sugar mixture into the meringue and carefully fold the batter until all the dry ingredients are mixed in. Be careful not to deflate the batter.
- Now, transfer the batter into ungreased angel food cake pan. Smooth out the surface and run a butter knife through the batter to remove any air pockets.
- Bake the cake for 45-55 minutes, or until inserted wooden stick comes out clean.
- Cool the cake completely in the pan upside down, about 2 hours. I prefer to balance the pan upside down on an inverted mug as pictured above. This will make sure the cake stays light and fluffy while cooling.
To make honey strawberry sauce:
- In a small saucepan, combine strawberries and honey and bring it to a boil over medium high heat.
- Then, simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes, mashing the berries with a fork.
- Transfer the sauce into a bowl and cool completely.
To serve:
- Once the cake is completely cooled, run a thin knife around the edges of the pan and gently release the cake from the pan. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve with strawberry sauce, whipped cream and fresh berries.
- Store leftover cake, covered, in the fridge for up to 5 days.
⭐️ Did you make this recipe?
Please leave a review and let us know how you liked it!
Video
Tips & Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on March 3rd, 2014.
Great recipe! Added to our Thanksgiving menu! 😋
One note: Should include whipped cream in the serving ingredients listed in the beginning instead of within the recipe steps. Very easy to miss! I would’ve loved to have had whipped cream for topping!
Wow. What an AMAZING cake! Such great tips that really make the baking and making process more smooth. 10/10!
Yay, so happy you tried and loved the recipe. Thank you for your feedback, Lex!!
Thank you for this detailed recipe! I’ve made one with a smaller size (an around 7 inch angle food cake pan). I guess next time I can further adjust the sugar used. My family and I like the strawberry topping most and I’ll make more next time. It’s really a nice match with the cake! Thank you!
Hi, Sandra! So glad you tried and liked the recipe. I’d caution you about adjusting the sugar amount! The sugar plays an important role not only for sweetening the cake, but also for the texture. Thank you for your feedback!
This recipe was so well-written and easy to follow! I’ve been dealing with fat malabsorption for the past few months, and yesterday was my birthday. This was the perfect solution for an excellent birthday cake!
I made my own caster sugar in my blender, and I also ended up just using liquid egg whites from the store since I can’t eat the yolks right now. I also used 3 Tbsp Strawberry extract, 1 Tbsp Vanilla extract, and some light pink food coloring.
I baked the cake in a 1 piece Angel food cake pan and used a chopstick to separate it from the pan (to prevent scraping the nonstick coating) after it cooled for two hours upside down.
My cake was very light and fluffy with a subtle strawberry flavor. I topped it with low-fat strawberry whipped frosting and your strawberry sauce.
Thanks for the excellent recipe! I’m excited to check out more from you.
Happy belated birthday, Shannon!! And I’m so happy you got to enjoy a perfect birthday cake despite the challenges you’re experiencing!!! I love your addition of strawberry extract!! Thanks for sharing and for your feedback!
I tried this, but it had a strange texture – like elastic sponge. I had to make my own cake flour, because we don’t get cake flour here in India and also I omitted the cream of tartar. I haven’t had angel food cake, so I’m unsure of how it should be. But I also am pretty sure mine was not right. It rose quite well and I think I followed your recipe quite accurately. Any ideas?
Hi, Rosemary Joy! Thank you for trying my recipe and for reaching out. Angel food cake should be rubbery or elastic. It could be that your meringue may have been over-mixed, but I’m confused since your cake rose well. Usually if the meringue is overwhipped too far, it can prohibit rise, thus causing dense rubbery texture.
Good.. unfortunately the cook time was too long and now I have a brown-top angel food cake 😔
Keep an eye on your cakes! Maybe it’s just my oven 🤷♀️
Hi, Cassi. Great advise. It’s important to keep an eye on baked goods while baking. Every oven works differently, and it’s very normal for ovens to fluctuate up to 50°F up or down. That’s why it’s important have an oven thermometer to check for accuracy. And thank you for sharing your feedback!
I tried to follow link to your other angelworking food cake recipes ad you suggested in one of your responses to
reviewer question, only to be brought back to this recipe. The link is apparently not working. Thought you would want to know.
Hmm, interesting. I tried every link in the post and comments, and everything seems to be working as intended. If you remember, will you please let me know which link was it? Thanks!