This easy angel food cake recipe creates a wonderfully light and airy cake with the perfect hint of fresh lemon.
Made simply with egg whites and no extra fat, this easy angel food cake bakes up beautifully tall and is delicate and airy inside with a lovely golden exterior.
Thanks to a hint of fresh lemon zest, slices of this angel food cake are lovely by themselves, but are even better topped with a spoonful of whipped cream and fresh berries.
Key Ingredients
- Egg Whites: The most important ingredient for angel food cake! You will whip egg whites with cream of tartar and sugar to create the light, airy, and tall structure of our cake.
- Cake Flour: For a truly delicate and tender crumb, we use cake flour. It’s a finely milled flour with a low protein content, which is essential for creating the soft texture we’re looking for.
- Sugar: We’ll turn regular granulated sugar into superfine sugar by pulsing it in a blender or food processor. This finer sugar dissolves more easily into the whipped egg whites, ensuring a stable meringue. (If you already have superfine sugar, you can use that instead!)
- Cream of Tartar: By lowering the pH of the egg whites, cream of tartar helps to stabilize the whipped egg whites in our cake batter, making them less likely to collapse and deflate. In other words, the key to a super tall and light cake. We also use cream of tartar when making snickerdoodles.
- Lemon: Fresh lemon zest adds a bright, delicious hint of lemon flavor. I recommend using a microplane grater to get the finest zest.
- Vanilla and Salt: Don’t skip these! They make the cake taste better.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
Tips for Making Angel Food Cake
Tip 1: Separating your egg whites. For angel food cake, even a single drop of egg yolk can prevent your egg whites from whipping properly. When separating the egg yolks from the egg whites, use this three-bowl method:
- Hold the egg over a small bowl (your first of three). Crack the egg firmly on a flat surface to create a clean break, then gently pull the shell apart into two halves.
- Carefully pour the yolk back and forth between the two shell halves, letting the egg white fall into the bowl below.
- Once the yolk is separated, transfer the egg white to the second bowl, and the yolk to the third bowl.
Alternative method using hands: Crack the egg into your separation bowl. Using a clean hand, gently scoop the yolk out, allowing the white to run through the gaps between your fingers. Place the yolk in the yolk bowl and pour the white into the egg whites bowl.
Tip 2: Aerate the dry ingredients. We don’t want anything to weigh this cake batter down, so in our recipe below, we suggest that you add the dry ingredients to a food processor and pulse a few times to add some air. It’s easy and works wonders for angel food cake.
Tip 3: Slicing and serving. Most knives will get caught up on the fine, fluffy crumb of this cake, so for perfect slices, use a serrated knife (like a bread knife). Then, serve plain, or dust with powdered sugar, add a dollop of whipped cream, and finish with fresh berries or this berry fruit salad.
More Homemade Cakes
Homemade Angel Food Cake
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This angel food cake bakes to be super light and fluffy. We love the hint of lemon from lemon zest and the sweetness from vanilla.
You will need a 10-inch ungreased angel food cake pan for this recipe. Do not substitute a bundt pan. More tips for making this recipe are below the recipe. I recommend reading through them before you start.
Makes 1 cake or 12 slices
You Will Need
2 cups granulated sugar (200g)
1 ⅓ cups cake flour, spooned and leveled (160g)
12 large egg whites, at room temperature, 1 ½ cups (390g)
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
Optional for serving: powdered sugar, homemade whipped cream, berry fruit salad, or fresh berries
Directions
1Prepare oven: Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
2Make superfine sugar: In a food processor or blender, pulse the sugar until it’s fine. Measure out 1 ½ cups and set it aside. Leave the remaining sugar in the processor.
3Aerate the flour: Add the cake flour and salt to the remaining sugar in the food processor. Pulse 5 to 10 times until the mixture is light and powdery.
4Whip the egg whites: In a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until foamy (about 1 minute). Increase the speed to medium-high and slowly stream in the reserved 1 ½ cups of superfine sugar. Continue to whip until the mixture forms stiff peaks (see definition below). Add the vanilla and lemon zest and whip on low speed just until they are incorporated.
5Add the flour: Switch to a rubber spatula. Add the flour to a fine mesh strainer or sifter, then sift about one-quarter of the flour mixture over the egg whites and gently fold it in. Repeat this process three more times until all the flour is incorporated.
6Bake the cake: Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Wiggle the pan on the counter to smooth the top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.
7Cool the cake: Immediately remove the cake from the oven and cool it upside-down on a wire rack for 2 to 3 hours. When cool, run a thin knife around the edges to release the cake.
8Serve: Use a serrated knife to slice the cake and serve it with a dusting of powdered sugar, berries, and whipped cream.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Storing: Once cool, store the cake, tightly covered or in an airtight container, at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for up to a week. For longer storage, freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and then bring it to room temperature before serving.
- Sugar: Pulsing granulated sugar makes it easier to combine with the egg whites. If you have superfine sugar, use 2 sifted cups instead.
- Measuring the flour: Too much flour makes this less airy. To ensure you have the right amount of flour, weigh it or use the spooned and level method. Fluff the flour in its container, gently scoop it into your measuring cup until slightly mounded, then level off the top with a knife for accurate measuring.
- Egg whites: Fresh, room-temperature egg whites work best. Carton egg whites may not produce as light and airy a cake.
- Angel food cake pan: Do not substitute a bundt pan for this recipe. Using angel food cake or tube pans is best to promote the cake’s light and airy rise. They often come with little feet, which makes cooling the cake upside down easier. If yours does not have feet, place the pan upside down onto a wire rack.
- Stiff peaks: When you lift the whisk out of the egg whites, the mixture should hold its shape and stand tall without falling back on itself. Also called firm peaks.
- This recipe has been inspired by Ina Garten and Cook’s Illustrated.
- The nutrition facts provided are estimates.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1 of 12 slices
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Calories
197
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Total Fat
0.2g
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Saturated Fat
0g
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Cholesterol
0mg
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Sodium
104.1mg
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Carbohydrate
44.3g
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Dietary Fiber
0.3g
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Total Sugars
33.6g
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Protein
4.7g
We’re Adam and Joanne, a couple passionate about cooking and sharing delicious, reliable recipes since 2009. Our goal? To inspire you to get in the kitchen and confidently cook fresh and flavorful meals.More About Us
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