"An impossibly light and fluffy angel food cake - a sweet, simple and classic cake that's delicious on its own, or served with fruit and whipped cream"
Fluffy Angel Food Cake
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Prep time: 10mins
Cook time: 40mins
Serves or Makes: 16
Recipe Card
ingredients
- 12 large egg whites (1 1/2 cups), room temperature
- 1 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 1/3 cups super-fine granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 1/3 cups cake flour, sifted
Method
Instructions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Step 2
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt on medium speed for several minutes until foamy.
Step 3
With the mixer still running, gradually sprinkle in the sugar, and continue to whip until the meringue forms thick, soft, billowy peaks that still fall over, similar to softly whipped cream. You should not whip the meringue to stiff peaks, or the structure of the cake will weaken, and could collapse while baking. Once your meringue has reached soft peaks, add the extracts and whip briefly to combine.
Step 4
Add the sifted cake flour, 1/3 cup at a time, gently folding the flour into the meringue with a spatula until no more flour streaks remain, until you've folded in all the flour.
Step 5
Spoon the batter into your ungreased tube pan and smooth out the top. Bake for about 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
Step 6
Immediately invert the pan onto a wire rack and cool the cake upside down for several hours, until completely cooled. Set the pan upright. Run a sharp knife around the outside edge and around the tube in the middle to loosen the cake, then carefully coax the cake out of the pan (this step is much easier if your pan has a removable bottom).
Step 7
Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the cake into slices using a back-and-forth sawing motion. Serve with whipped cream and fresh fruit or berries (peach compote pictured here).