Infused with citrusy floral orange blossom, this angel food cake is simply the BEST! And you sure don’t want to omit that orange curd, it takes this cake from great to FABULOUS!
Raise your hand if you love light and fluffy angel food cake.
No, I’m not talking about that dry and flavorless one from the grocery store. We’re having super light sponge cake infused with orange blossom flavors through and through. In the cake, in the glaze and in the orange curd that’s served on the side.
I’m telling ya, this’s citrus heaven we’re talking about!
And I totally realize I just shared another angel food cake not long ago. But I feel like this one totally deserves its own post too. Plus, I made a video tutorial to walk you through on how to make classic angel food cake from start to finish.
Couple tips to get perfectly fluffy and light angel food cake every time:
- Make sure your mixer and whisk are squeaky clean and egg whited don’t have any egg yolks. I’ve said this time and time again, meringue doesn’t like oil. And if the egg whites get in contact with even smallest amount of oil/egg yolk, it won’t whip into fluffy white meringue.
- Do NOT oil the cake pan. Angel food cake batter NEEDS to stick to the sides of the pan to climb up and stay fluffy.
- Cool the cake in the pan upside down. This way, cake doesn’t collapse and stays light and fluffy as it cools. Most angel food cake pans do come with 3 tiny metal legs sticking out, but I like to balance the can pan on inverted mug. Because I feel like those little legs don’t let enough air to circulate.
And here’s a quick video tutorial on how to make perfect angel food cake.
By the way, did you catch a glimpse of that pretty red knife in the video? It’s Dreamfarm ONI ‘Only Need One’ Knife. I’ve been loving it ever since I received it (among other cool kitchen stuff) to test it in my kitchen and review my experience as part of Food Awards on AOL.com. Check out the winning products in 2017 Spring/Summer Food Awards.
Oh and if you’re making this orange blossom angel food cake, please don’t forget to make that orange curd. It makes the cake over the top amazing!
You’ll love it!
Hope you enjoy! And thanks for stopping by.
Orange Blossom Angel Food Cake
Ingredients
For cake:
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 ½ cups 300gr sugar, divided
- 12 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
For orange curd:
- ¾ cup 150gr sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups 360ml orange juice
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon 15gr unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- ½ teaspoon orange blossom water
For orange glaze:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- ½ teaspoon orange blossom water
Instructions
- To make the cake, preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).
- Zest one orange.
- Sift together cake flour and half of the sugar (¾ cup).
- In a large mixing bowl with whisk attachment, 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 high.
- When the egg whites get whiter, add remaining ¾ cup of sugar one tablespoon at a time.
- Add orange blossom water and orange zest and continue to beat on high speed until hard peaks form.
- Transfer the whipped egg whites into a large bowl.
- Add flour/sugar mixture and carefully mix everything together. Be careful not to deflate the batter too much.
- Now transfer the batter to ungreased angel food cake pan. Even out the surface. Run a butter knife through the batter to remove any air bubbles.
- Bake for about 40-45 minutes. It’s ready if the inserted wooden stick comes out clean.
- Cool the cake completely in the pan upside down for 90-120 minutes. This will make sure the cake stays soft and fluffy while cooling.
- Make orange curd, while the cake is baking.
- In a small saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch and salt and slowly stir in orange juice.
- Heat the mixture over medium high heat. Cook and stir until mixture is thick and bubbly. Turn the heat down and cook one more minute.
- In a small bowl, beat egg yolks. To temper the egg yolks, stir in ½ cup of hot sugar mixture, while whisking constantly to prevent scrambling the egg yolks.
- Transfer the tempered egg yolk mixture back to remaining hot sugar mixture.
- Cook for couple more minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add butter and orange zest.
- Transfer the curd into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic touches the curd to prevent any skin to form.
- To make the glaze, in a medium bowl combine powdered sugar and orange juice. Mix until nice and smooth. Stir in orange blossom water.
- Pour the glaze all over the cake and serve with orange curd on the side.
Nutrition
Does any portion of this recipe need to be refrigerated?
Hi, Jenny. Sorry for my delayed response. Orange curd should be refrigerated.
Please help. Our egg white mixture began fluffy then began very running. Any ideas on how we can fix it?
Whenever I make this I get so many compliments! One of my top dessert recipes. I take a shortcut and use a box angel food cake and add orange zest and orange extract. The curd is to die for, so delicious, and I serve it with fresh whipped cream. So light and fluffy, a GREAT summer dessert!
Yay, that’s so awesome to hear that, Cathy!! Thanks for sharing your feedback! Orange curd is definitely amazing!!
I have been looking for an orange angel food cake recipe. Love the addition of the blossom water. Can’t wait to try. Thank you.
Yay, so happy you found this. Hope you’ll make it soon. Let me know if you try it, Jayne. 🙂
This cake looks wonderful! Where do you get orange blossom water? Could i use something else as a substitute?
Hi, Leanne. I bought mine on Amazon. This is the one I use, and love. (<-affiliate link) I'm not sure you can substitute it with anything as potent, but you could just go with orange zest. It won't be the same flavor-wise though.