When I was recently talking to a woman who does a lot of regular baking, she asked how I make a gluten-free angel food cake. “Well, um, I don’t.” I tried it a couple of times over the years and was not pleased with the results, and I never got back to trying it again.
However, that question got my mind rolling, and I knew I had to give it another try. I think the problem was that I didn’t know enough about making angel food cake. It was a dessert I enjoyed before I went gluten free, but I don’t think I ever made one of the cakes myself.
I looked at numerous recipes online and in cookbooks and determined that the ingredients were almost identical in every recipe. And those ingredients only included one cup of flour, so how hard could it be to convert the recipe to gluten free?
There were a few variations in how the ingredients were combined. I went with what made sense to me.
You need a tube pan (not a bundt pan) to make angel food cake. One with “legs” sticking out the top of the pan is nice because the cake cools inverted in the pan. If it doesn’t have legs, you can invert the pan onto a bottle.
It’s also nice to have a two-piece pan where the metal tube and pan bottom fit into the round part of the pan. Because the cake sticks to the pan, this allows you to loosen the sides after it cools, remove the tube part, then run a knife along the bottom to loosen that.
I completely expected that I would not be perfectly happy with the results of my first trial. Boy was I pleasantly surprised! The cake rose beautifully, and the taste and texture were just as they should be. I think this is going to be my new favorite dessert for serving to company.
My husband was wishing for some lemon curd to put on his cake, so I made another cake for Father’s Day and served it with berries and lemon curd. I didn’t get a picture of that cake, but it turned out just as nice. My husband loved it, so I’m submitting this recipe for this month’s Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free carnival which is being hosted by Aubree at Living Free. Her theme is “You love him, so spoil him.”
Recipe: Angel Food Cake
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 c. powdered sugar
- 1/2 c. potato starch
- 1/4 c. tapioca starch or flour
- 1/4 c. millet flour (or white rice flour)
- 1 tsp. xanthan gum
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 12 large egg whites (1 1/2 c.), room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract (or 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 tsp. almond extract)
- 1 c. granulated sugar
Instructions
- Separate the eggs and let the whites sit in your mixing bowl (glass or metal, not plastic) for about 30 minutes so they come to room temperature.
- Be sure your bowl is very clean and there is absolutely no yolk in the whites. It is best to separate each egg into a small bowl, then add it to the rest of the whites. That way if a bit of yolk gets in with the white, you can save the egg for another purpose and not ruin the whole batch.
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, potato starch, tapioca starch, millet flour, xanthan gum, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla extract until foamy. I used my KitchenAid whisk attachment.
- Slowly add the granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat.
- Fold in the flour mixture about one fourth at a time, making sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl when you fold. Do not mix, just gently fold until all the flour mixture is moistened.
- Spoon the mixture into an ungreased tube pan and smooth the top.
- Remove air pockets by gently cutting through the center of the batter with a thin metal spatula (icing spreader) or knife.
- Bake for 35 minutes, then check for doneness. A wooden skewer inserted in the center should come out dry. Also, the cracks in the top of the cake should be dry and the top should spring back when touched. Mine took 45 minutes.
- Turn the cake upside down and cool for at least an hour in the pan. Most tube pans have legs to keep the top of the cake off the counter. If yours does not, invert onto a bottle inserted into the tube.
- When cool, run your metal spatula or a knife around the sides to loosen. Remove the outer part of the pan. Run your spatula under the cake to loosen it from the bottom and remove to a cake plate.
Preparation time: 45 minute(s)
Cooking time: 35 minute(s)
Diet tags: Gluten free
Number of servings (yield): 12
This recipe is submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays and Our Spunky Holiday at The Spunky Coconut.
The cake looks gorgeous! I bet it tasted great. I’m going to have to try this soon.
That looks so good! We love angel food cake and have missed it since going gluten free. I was afraid to try it for a long time, but recently adapted a chocolate angel food cake that I have made many times before to be gluten free and it worked great. So, I agree if you follow the basic techniques for angel food cake they turn out great gluten free.
Your angel food cake looks delicious! I’ve wondered about whether or not this cake would work with gluten free flours – great job.
I made one a few years ago that tasted nice, but fell.
We live at nearly 7,000 ft above sea level and baking here can be a challenge. My cake rose so beautifully, but a bit too much i guess. I still ate it with berries. Have always meant to try again but haven’t gotten around to it. Will have to bookmark your recipe. Thank you.
Kathryn, it’s important to turn the cake upside down to cool to keep it from falling. If you didn’t do that before, be sure to give it a try.
Wow, Linda, that cake is sheer perfection! Love how you topped it here and the lemon curd sounds great, too. Way to make dad happy!
I’ve never made angel food cake (even before gf), so I appreciate all your tips very much. 
Oh, BTW, I think you should enter this beauty into Iris’ Birthday Cake Challenge, too. I know many who request angel food cake for their birthday.
Shirley
I always requested Angel Food cake for my birthday cake when I was a kid. It was perfect with strawberries and a strawberry whipped cream frosting. I have never tried making one before so I am eager to try your recipe. Your cake looks beautiful!
I didn’t realize how much I miss angel food until I saw your post and beautiful photo! I must try this SOON! Thanks so much!
Yum! Angel food cake with berries is my ultimate favorite dessert.
I would love to make this but I don’t have millet flour. What can I use instead? I was thinking white rice or amaranth. What would be better?
Susan, I was afraid someone was going to ask me that. I haven’t tried the recipe with any other flours so I can’t say for sure. I’ve not used amaranth before. I would give white rice flour a try. Let me know how it works whatever you use.
Linda, I made the angel food cake with white rice flour and it looks beautiful!!! I’ve tried several other angel food cake recipes and they’re good but this looks just like the homemade ones my mom used to make! I’m such a happy girl right now!!! Oh, and I made my own sugar free powdered “sugar” to cut down on the sugar a bit. I’m going to try decreasing the sugar and increasing the substitute as much as I can without changing the taste, texture or look. I plan to make this for a family cookout with a cousin whose diabetes is hard to control who loves angel food cake. Thanks so much for such a yummy recipe!!
Oh yay!! I’m glad it worked, and thanks for sharing that here so others know. Actually, I think I will add the option of rice flour in the recipe. What did you use as a sugar substitute?
I used Xylitol but I’m thinking of trying Stevia in the Raw, erythritol, beet sugar and palm sugar. No matter what, this cake wil be made many times.
Linda this cake looks just perfect! Great job making it gluten-free! I hope you are enjoying the start of summer!
fantastic! this cake looks delightful… and yes, one i’ve missed! thanks for sharing.
I used to freeze the egg whites, when eggs were cheap in the Spring, until I wanted to make Angel Food. Then I made a 12 egg-yoke sponge cake. It freezes well. Now there is no excuse to not try it again. Thanks, ~ Margaret
When I saw the pic, I RAN to read the ingredient list. WOW WOW. this cake looks like the real deal. Love it! Need to get ingredients and check this out. thanks for sharing!
With all the fresh berries in season right now, this is the perfect dessert to serve to my family tomorrow night. Thanks for the recipe!
It looks absolutely amazing. What a beautiful cake!
This is beautiful!!! Thank you so much for this. I will be trying this very soon!
it looks beautiful… i too, have tried gluten free angel food cake and they always caved in for me.
thanks for sharing the secret
Looks awesome, especially since its gluten free – but alas not for me – I’m allergic to eggs also
bummer…
Thanks for the comment. I’ve always thought I would be lost if I ever became allergic to eggs. You have my sympathy. BUT, all those delicious berries in the photos are gluten and egg free!
I am sugar free as well as gluten free, what can I use to substitute the 2 different sugars?
Shannon, I’m sorry I don’t have a lot of experience with sugar substitutes and don’t know what to suggest for this recipe. Try simplysugarandglutenfree.com.
Was wondering if there was a way to make this egg free? I have heard of soy isolate merigues…but they don’t use flour….any help here???
thanks
Hi Ronni. Sorry, but I have absolutely no idea. Angel Food Cake is so dependent on the egg whites. I think that anything without eggs would not be angel food cake.
i JUST WANT TO TELL THIS IS THE BEST ANGEL FOOD CAKE I HAVE FOUND, MY GRAND DAUGHTER HAS CELIAC AND I MAKE IT FOR WHEN WE VISITED HE AFTER HER GALL BLADDER SURGERY. WHEN I GAVE IT TO HER SHE HAD A BIG SMILE AND SHE LOVED IT,SO YOU KNOW I WILL MAKE IT MOR OFFEN FOR HER. WE ALL TRYED IT AND WE ALSO LIKED IT. WHAT A GOOD JOB KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. MAYBE YOU COULD GET WITH BETTY CROCKER AND THEY CLOUD BOX IT FOR EVERYONE. GOOD IDEA.
Thanks for letting me know how much you like it. I’m glad your granddaughter enjoyed it!
what is a tube pan?
Search for “tube pan” on Amazon and you’ll see what it is. It is similar to a bundt pan, but the sides and bottom are flat.
We love angel food cake with chocolate pudding on it. Make the pudding with cornstarch. YUM.
I made it: gluten free & chocolate.
I had all ingredients except potato flour. So, I opted out for the all King’s gf flour. Be it a dare, I exchanged 1/3 powder sugar for 1/3 dry cocoa. I raised the temp to 355, but still the cake still needed 45 minutes. “She” (because anything made with chocolate is female for me) is cooling upside down while I pick my strawberries to dress her up. ty & what a blessing for my son this dessert will be tonight. ~ joy
I think the addition of chocolate is a great idea. Thanks for letting me know what changes you made. Enjoy!