One of my absolute favorite desserts ever is angel food cake. Growing up, my mom would buy them from the grocery store and we would put strawberries or canned peaches on it (the peaches were my favorite). Since going gluten free, I’ve not had angel food cake at all. Until this past weekend. After reading MANY angel food cake recipes, I decided to try my hand at making a gluten free angel food cake. While that cake baked in the oven, I held my breath. With the various substitutions I did, I was not sure what was going to come out of the oven!
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Gluten Free Angel Food Cake
So…one of the things I noticed with all the different angel food cake recipes I read, was that they all used cake flour. Now, my normal style of cooking or baking is to ignore little tidbits like cake flour and just use what I have on hand. However, angel food cake seems like a delicate recipe. There’s really not much to it. So I started googling about cake flour, read why you use that in recipes, and figured it was probably an important part of the cake. Since the pandemic happened, finding gluten free flour has been difficult. So I looked up if there was a substitution for cake flour if all you had is all purpose flour. Guess what…there is! Simply take out 2 TBSP of the all purpose flour and replace it with 2 TBSP of cornstarch! So easy!
WILTON INDUSTRIES 2105-983 9-3/8
McCormick Pure Almond Extract, 2 oz
Gluten Free Angel Food Cake
Delicious recipe for a gluten free angel food cake. So easy to make and so delicious!
Ingredients
- 12 Large Egg Whites
- 1 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 Cup White Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Almond Extract*
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Cup Gluten Free Cake Flour**
- 1 Cup Confectioners Sugar
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350° and lower your oven rack to one below the middle. Get out your tube pan and just set it on the counter. Do NOT grease it.
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Place your egg whites in your mixing bowl. If you are using a stand mixer, then be sure to use the whisk attachment. Next beat the egg whites on low speed for about 2 minutes. You want those foamy bubbles to appear.
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Now add the cream of tartar and salt. Turn the speed up to medium high and beat until soft peaks form. This will take about 2 minutes.
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Put the mixer on medium speed and slowly pour the granulated sugar in with the egg whites. Do this in a slow, steady stream. Pro tip: if you are using a stand mixer, make sure you don't move your measuring cup too close to the moving whisk. A huge mess will ensue, if you do!
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Now add the vanilla and almond extracts. Continue beating on medium high speed for about 3 minutes. You want stiff peaks to form.
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Sift your flour and confectioners sugar together. With your mixer off, gently fold the flour and confectioners mixture in by hand. Be sure to use a rubber spatula. Gently fold until it is completely incorporated.
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Spoon your angel food cake batter into your un-greased tube pan. Before placing the pan into the oven, gently take a knife and run it through the batter in the pan to pop any air bubbles. Go ahead and smooth out the top.
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Bake for 40-45 minutes. The cake will brown nicely, that's OK! You will know it's done when you gently touch the top and it springs back slightly.
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Cool your cake upside down, in the tube pan, on a cooling rack. Once you can touch the outside of the cake pan, take a knife and run it around the edges and flip it back upside down and gentle jiggle the cake pan. Your cake should pop right out. Allow it to fully cool for about an hour.
Recipe Notes
*If you don't have cake flour, measure out the 1 cup of gluten free flour, take out 2 TBSP GF flour, and add in 2 TBSP cornstarch.
**Feel free to try out different extracts in place of almond extract! I bet orange extract would be really good. Or even lemon!
How Did It Turn Out?
Like I mentioned, I was really wondering if this gluten free angel food cake was going to turn out. The whole, “don’t grease the pan” thing really freaked me out. But it turned out great! While it was baking, I cut up some strawberries and added a little bit of sugar so we could top the cake with it later. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, not a lot of juice was produced. I probably didn’t add enough sugar. At any rate, it was very delicious! 
See…not a lot of juice at all. Oh well! I do wish I would have bought a can of peaches! That is really good on this type of cake!
Other Desserts to Try
I have made a lot of desserts while we have been stuck at home. They are all gluten free, but feel free to sub in regular flour for the gluten free flour if you do not need to follow a gluten free lifestyle! Make sure you let me know what you try!
Copycat Lofthouse Cookies Recipe
Gluten Free Brownies with White Chocolate
Like I do with many recipes, I put this in my Weight Watchers calculator. My husband and I are following the Blue Plan. This recipe came out to be 8 points per serving.
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