This gluten-free angel food cake is light and airy, while still incredibly moist. With a slight nuttiness from almond flour and almond extract, this gluten-free sponge cake is so flavorful and the perfect cake to pair with whipped cream and strawberries. Follow the recipe steps and technique very closely to achieve a beautifully tight and incredibly fluffy crumb.
Zoella calls this gluten-free angel food cake "the marshmallow cake" because it's so light, fluffy, and incredibly moist, with a hint of vanilla shining through. She savored every perfect bite: a bit of cake, a slice of strawberry, and a scrape of whipped cream.
This gluten-free angel food cake tastes just like the a classic angel food cake and 100x better than store-bought. It's lofty and airy, with the perfect balance of sweetness, making it great for toppings and delicious enough to eat on its own.
My recipe testing notes on ingredients:
The major ingredients of angel food cake are egg whites, sugar, and flour.
I recommend measuring each of the ingredients (including sugar and egg whites) by weight as angel food cake can be fussy. It's important you don't stray from the recipe else you wind up with a deflated cake.
- Egg whites: There isn't any chemical leavener in this cake, such as baking soda or baking powder, so angel food cake relies on whipped egg whites for its rise. You want to make sure there is no egg yolk in your whites as it can negatively affect how well they whip up. I recommend separating the egg whites and yolks one at a time into a separate bowl before pouring it into the measuring cup so if you break a yolk, you don't ruin all your whites!
- Cream of tartar: Found in the spice section of the grocery store, cream of tartar stabilizes the whipped egg whites. In doing so, the small amount of cream of tartar will reduce how much the cake deflates when you carefully fold in the flours.
- Sugar: This recipe uses granulated sugar and then calls for finely grinding it in a food processor or blender. You could also opt to use superfine sugar if you have some, just be sure to measure by weight.
- Superfine Blanched Almond Flour: Superfine Blanched almond flour adds moisture to the cake. It also adds a subtly sweet nuttiness that pairs well with angel food cake.
- Tapioca Flour: Tapioca flour rises in the oven that helps mimic the fluffiness of a classic cake. It adds just a bit more softness and loftiness to the crumb and lends to the chewiness.
- Sweet Rice Flour: Sweet rice flour is necessary for the chewy texture of this cake crumb. Sweet rice flour is distinctively different than white rice or brown rice flour. The same flour used to make mochi, its stickiness helps to bind the crumb together, creating the sponginess of a classic angel food cake. It’s gluten-free baking’s secret weapon.
- Cornstarch: Adding cornstarch to the flour blend helps it mimic the taste and texture of a light and fluffy cake flour that leads to a tender crumb.
- Xanthan Gum: This gluten-free cake relies on xanthan gum. Without it, the cake will bake up dense - it helps maintain the structure of the cake.
- Vanilla Extract and Almond Extract: Both of these extracts help flavor the crumb.
There's no fat in this cake batter as it doesn't contain butter, oil, or egg yolks. As such it's the lightest, fluffiest, sponge cake ever!
How to whip egg whites for angel food cake
While some recipes call for whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks, I found that to get the most reliably beautiful gluten-free angel food cake, whipping the egg whites to medium soft peaks that come to a peak then flop over was key. Lift the whisk out of the bowl and it should create a point that lightly folds over at the tip. At this point, the eggs still have room to expand in the oven and are less likely to collapse as it bakes.
Start with fresh room temperature egg whites (from whole eggs, not from a box). To quickly bring your egg whites to room temperature, place the whole eggs in their shell in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes. Then dry the eggs and crack and separate the whites from the yolks one at a time, measuring out the whites using a scale.
Small tips that make a big difference in this recipe:
- Clean baking equipment well. Before starting, make sure your mixing bowl and whisk are clean of any oil or fat as it will negatively affect how well your egg whites whip. I recommend using glass or metal mixing bowls, as plastic mixing bowls are more likely to retain oils and far. You can optionally, brush them with a tiny bit of vinegar and wipe it out with a clean towel to remove any fat.
- Make superfine sugar. In a food processor or blender, pulse the sugar until super fine and powdery, 1-2 minutes. Remove 1 cup and set aside.
- Whip egg whites with cream of tartar. Whip egg whites and cream of tartar on medium-low for about a minute until the eggs are foamy.
- Slowly pour in sugar then extract. Very slowly pour in the 1 cup of fine sugar you pulsed. Whip until medium soft (but not stiff!) peaks form. When you lift the mixer, a peak should start to stand up at a point, but then instantly fold over onto itself. Just before it's done, add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix them into the egg whites.
- Slowly sift flours into egg whites. Using a fine mesh sieve, sift the flour mixture into the egg whites in four batches, using a silicone spatula to fold the dry ingredients in slowly and carefully.
Why use a tube pan for angel food cakes:
For an angel food cake, you need a tube pan (also called an angel food cake pan) with a removable bottom. Look for one that is not non-stick as it's essential that the cake batter can cling to the sides and rise up the sides as it bakes. For this reason, you also should not grease a tube pan when using it for an angel food cake.
I also recommend a light-colored tube pan so the outside of your cake does not get too dark while the crumb bakes. This is the tube pan I use, which also has little feet that are helpful when you turn the cake upside down to cool!
The center hollow tube of the tube pan helps support even heat distribution and strengthens the cake as it rises.
While it also has a center tube, do not use a bundt pan. Since you do not grease the pan for an angel food cake, the cake will stick to all the crevices of a bundt pan when you try to remove it!
How to tell when angel food cake is done
For this gluten-free angel food cake, error on the side of over-baked rather than underbaked. An underbaked angel food cake won't hold its structure and will come out overly moist and gummy. To tell when your cake is done, your cake should spring back when gently touched in the middle and a tester should come out clean when inserted.
When in doubt, keep it in for a few minutes longer. I've yet to overbake this angel food cake!
Cool angel food cake upside down
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, invert the cake pan onto a wire rack to cool completely (1.5-2 hours). Cooling the can upside down ensures that the cake does not sink onto itself while cooling. This ensures the best and most fluffy texture.
If the middle of your tube pan does not touch the counter, support it with an upside-down bowl or cup while it cools (see picture). This ensures the cake maintains its structure while it cools.
Recipe
Light & Airy Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake
Ingredients
- 325 g (1½ cups + 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 35 g (¼ cup + 1 tablespoon) Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Blanched Almond Flour
- 35 g (¼ cup + 1 tablespoon) Bob's Red Mill Tapioca Flour
- 40 g (¼ cup) Bob's Red Mill Sweet Rice Flour, different from white rice flour or brown rice flour
- 34 g (¼ cup) Bob's Red Mill Cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspons kosher salt
- 380 g (1½ cups) egg whites, room temperature (from about 11-12 whole large eggs)
- 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- Powdered sugar, whipped cream, and berries, for serving (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a food processor or blender, pulse the sugar until super fine and powdery, 1-2 minutes. Remove 200g (1 cup) and set aside.
- To the remaining sugar in the food processor or blender, add the almond flour, tapioca flour, sweet rice flour, cornstarch, xanthan gum, and salt, and pulse 10x until the flour is light and fluffy. Set aside.
- Add the room temperature egg whites and cream of tartar to the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on medium-low for about a minute until the eggs are foamy.
- Increase speed to medium-high and very slowly pour in the 1 cup of fine sugar you pulsed. Whip for about 5 minutes, until soft (but not firm!) peaks form. When you lift the mixer, a peak should not stand up at a point, but instead, fall back onto itself (see photo above). Just before it's done, add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix into the egg whites.
- Using a fine mesh sieve, sift the flour and sugar mixture you set aside into the egg whites in four batches, using a silicone spatula to fold the dry ingredients in slowly and carefully after each addition until just mixed.
- Spoon or pour the batter into an ungreased 9 or 10-inch tube pan for angel food cake, ensuring the batter hits all the corners. Gently shake the pan to smooth the surface and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F and bake for an additional 43-47 minutes (for a total of 58-62 minutes), until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.
- When the cake comes out of the oven, immediately invert the pan onto the counter to cool completely upside down, 1.5-2 hours. If the middle of your tube pan does not touch the counter, support it with an upside-down bowl or cup while it cools (see picture). This ensures the cake maintains it structure while it cools.
- Run a knife around the edge of the pan before removing it from the pan. Dust with powdered sugar. To slice, use a sharp serrated knife and gently saw back and forth to avoid deflating/smashing the cake. Serve with whipped cream and strawberries, if desired.
Notes
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- Over or under whipped egg whites. Under aerating your egg whites won't give you cake the lift and structure needed. On the same note, overwhipping your egg whites can make it so the egg whites have no room to continue to rise and puff in the oven. See the section above about how to whip your egg whites and watch the video to see it in action.
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- Underbaking. Underbaked angel food cake will collapse and turn out gummy, as too much moisture is retained in the cake. As mentioned above, I have yet to overbake this gluten-free angel food cake, so when in doubt, err on the side of overbaking the cake.
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- Not cooling completely or upside down. It's important to invert the cake while it cools and to cool it completely so it can maintain its structure as it cools. Cooling it right-side up can cause it to collapse before the structure sets. Likewise, cutting into it too soon before the structure of the cake sets, can cause it to collapse.
What to do with leftover egg yolks
You will have so many leftover egg yolks. Here are some great things to do with them!
Rhonda -
So good. Made it and everybody couldn't believe it was gluten free. Very good.