Angel Food Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 large egg whites at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift flour and salt into a large bowl and then set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat egg whites until they become foamy. This should take 1 minute.
4. To the egg whites, add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks begin to form.
5. Continuing beating mixture on low and slowly add the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. This takes about 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Add the vanilla extract and beat to combine.
7. Transfer the egg white mixture to a large bowl and begin sifting in the flour mixture.
8. Gently fold until the two mixtures combine.
9. Spoon the batter into an ungreased cake pan.
10. To release air bubbles, run a small knife through the batter once it is in the pan.
11. Bake for 40 minutes or until cake springs back when pressed lightly.
12. Allow cake to cool in pan for an hour before removing.
13. To remove from pan, run a knife along the edges to release and invert cake onto a plate.

Recipe Variations

• To make a chocolate cake, replace 1/4 cup of the cake flour with 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder and reduce the vanilla extract to 1 teaspoon.
• To add a festive pop of color to the cake, you can stir in several drops of food coloring of your choice to the batter turn your cake a fun color.

If desired, consider making a glaze for your cake. Combine 1 cup of powdered sugar with 4 teaspoons of orange juice and 3/4 teaspoon of grated orange peel. Mix until combined and then drizzle over warm cake.

Decorative and Delicious Variations

Angel food cake is delicious plain but can be served the following decorative ways as well:

• Cut into slices and garnish with whipped cream and fresh strawberries
• Served with vanilla ice cream and a mix of berries
• Sprinkled with powdered sugar

Nutritional Information

Angel food cake is low in calories and can be both fat-free and cholesterol-free. According to the recipe calculator at MyFitnessPal, there are 208 calories per slice, no fat or cholesterol, 47 grams of carbohydrates, and 5 grams of protein. Nutrition information is based on 10 servings.