Angel Food Cake

The best angel food cake recipe! Made completely from scratch with all-purpose flour! I recommend reading through the recipe and notes and watching the video before beginning.Recipe only slightly modified from Good Housekeeping

Prep time: PT20M

Cook time: PT35M

Total time: PT55M

Rating

4.89 stars (108 reviews)

Keywords

angel food cake, cake, recipe

Ingredients

1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (OR you can use 1 cup/110g of cake flour)
1 ½ cups egg whites², room temperature preferred (10-12 egg whites)
1 ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
strawberries and homemade whipped cream for topping (optional)

Cuisine

American

Steps

Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and flour and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (see note ³ for my success tips), combine egg whites, cream of tartar, vanilla and almond extracts and salt. Mix well.
With mixer on high, beat in sugar, about 1 Tablespoon at a time, adding more only once the previous tablespoon has been dissolved (About every 15 seconds; as you add the sugar, you may be able to hear the faint sound of the granules scraping against the metal bowl. Once you no longer hear this, the sugar has been dissolved). Do NOT scrape the sides of the bowl as you are doing this, just keep beating.
Beat until stiff peaks⁴ form; the mixture will be thickened, glossy, and sticky and will greatly have increased in volume.
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in sugar/flour mix, about ½ cup at a time. Do not over-mix; fold only until the flour mixture is combined with the egg whites mixture.
Spread the mixture evenly into an ungreased 10 inch tube pan and use a knife or spatula to cut through the batter to break through any air bubbles that may exist.
Bake the cake on the center rack of your 375F (190C) for 35 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly touched. Any cracks on the surface should look dry.
Immediately upon removing from oven, invert the cake onto a bottle or can and allow it to cool completely.
Once cake has cooled, place right-side-up and run a knife inside the rim of the cake pan. Invert cake onto serving platter.
Slice carefully, Angel food cake is delicate so be sure to saw/slice each piece carefully with a serrated knife to avoid smashing it with a dull straight-blade. Serve with strawberries and homemade whipped cream, if desired.

Nutitrion

Serving Size: 1 slice
Calories: 194 kcal
Carbohydrates: 43 g
Protein: 5 g
Fat: 1 g
Saturated Fat: 1 g
Sodium: 100 mg
Sugar: 29 g

Reviews

Bonnie on 2026-06-19 (5 stars):
Excellent recipe! Turned out perfect! I did use carton egg whites. (I use carton egg whites for macarons and have found one brand that’s whips up stiff). Will use this recipe again as Angel food cake is my husband’s favorite cake!
Steve Benner on 2026-06-18 (4 stars):
Angel food cake can be challenging if you are not already familiar with meringue. Given it has a lot of variables and the directions given in this recipe need to be followed very closely for success. I have 40 + years as a pastry chef and I back this recipe, I've made it and live in high altitude so only adjusting the temp down by 10 . This is the best recipe for this cake on the web
Sonja on 2026-06-07 (2 stars):
Way too much sugar- our cake fell out of the pan when we went to turn it upside down! We live in CO, so maybe an altitude thing, but cutting the sugar in half worked much much better. Sad to waste so many eggs and so much flour and sugar!
Chris on 2026-05-17 (5 stars):
Excellent instructions and tips! Easily followed! First ever angel food cake. I can't wait to serve this!
Madi T on 2026-04-20 (5 stars):
After having this recipe on lockdown for the past several years, I finally decided it’s time to leave a review. I have made this countless times for events and gatherings, as I live in AZ so a lot of people appreciate not having a heavy dessert during spring and summer time. Boy oh boy, did I make a mistake… I now have requests for this cake on a monthly basis for family dinners, birthdays, etc. Everyone wants me to make “that angel food cake with the whipped cream and berries”. Seriously, it is my identity now! Lol. I follow the recipe exactly and I do in fact add in the almond extract! I typically split the cake into 3 layers and top each with homemade whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc. Always a huge hit!