Everyone, I’ve finally done it! No, not solved the debt crisis or reversed climate change, but at least it’s a tastier solution than the answers to either of those problems. I’ve finally put together the best recipe for angel food cupcakes. We take our small victories where we can find them, right? But truly, these are the delicious angel food cupcakes you’ve been looking for without the huge production of fussy steps that always seem to accompany any recipe with the words angel food in it.
In the past, I’ve tried so.many.times to make a really good angel food cake. I followed this recipe, or that recipe, and while they all had good elements or good intentions, none fit the bill for me. Either I’d get lost on one of the steps, or I didn’t sing the right lullaby to my egg whites before whipping them into just the right firmness. Whatever it was, something seemed lacking and it always felt like a waste of my time, effort, and about a million eggs. I decided to dedicate some time to perfecting the recipe and then share it here, and try and save you all some frustration at the same time.
This recipe can be made as a full angel cake (see the note in the recipe at the bottom of this post) but I prefer it in cupcake form. I think it’s a pain in the you-know-what to store a full round cake, and I don’t like making it in a loaf pan because I feel like I squish the rest of the cake when I cut slices from it. The cupcake seems to me to be the ideal way to eat angel food cake, be it one or two or five (hey, sometimes I’m hungry!) at a time. The key is to have just a few simple tricks up your sleeve to take the intimidation factor out of the equation, and lucky you, I’ve got them all right here!
Angel Food Cupcake Hints!
Tip 1: Begin by paying attention to your eggs. Lots of recipes will say 12 eggs whites and not specify what size of eggs (large or extra large?) to use, or not account for the fact that sometimes you don’t always get the same amount of egg white from each egg. The best thing to do is to crack your eggs into a measuring cup and stop when you have 1 1/2 cups of egg whites. You also want to make sure to keep even the smallest bit of yolk out of your whites, or your cake won’t succeed. Take your time cracking and watch your measurements and yolks. You can use a carton of egg whites as well, but I think it’s cheaper and tastier to just buy a dozen fresh eggs and get separating.
Beating your egg whites in a cold metal pan will help them whip up faster. Stick a metal bowl in the freezer right before you begin cracking your eggs into the measuring cup and it’ll be nice and cold by the time you’re ready to beat them. If you don’t have a metal bowl, you can use a large metal saucepan!
Tip 2: Use caster sugar (baking sugar) if you can find it in your local baking aisle. If you haven’t heard of it, caster sugar is just super-fine granulated sugar. It works well in a lot of picky recipes and is especially suited to angel food cake. You can buy it here on Amazon, or you can hack it by pulsing regular white sugar in a blender or food processor for about a minute. And speaking of the blender, you should pop all your dry ingredients in there for a spin to get them all combined and fluffy before adding them to the eggs. This is a great way to make absolutely sure than everything will stay as light as possible.
Tip 3: Sift. Sift like you’ve never sifted before. The foundation of an angel food anything is a fluffy cake, and you’ll never be able to achieve that if your flour is dense or your sugar is clumpy. I prefer this hand sander with a crank, because you can sift straight down into the bowl rather than side to side with a basket sifter. After you have blended all your dry ingredients together as described above, you’ll want to sift them into the egg white bowl.
Tip 4: Fold those dry, sifted ingredients into your egg whites like you’re tucking a precious, sleeping baby into bed at night. Slowly and carefully, adding the dry ingredients slow steps. Don’t wake that egg white baby up with rough handling. Scoop from the bottom of the bowl with a spatula and fold the egg whites over the top of the dry, sifted ingredients until gently combined. Never press down on your egg whites or you will deflate them. Continue adding the dry mixture to the bowl, folding carefully after each addition.
Tip 5: And finally, a cupcake anything looks awfully lonely without some sort of topping on it, am I right? I love pairing these with some delicious homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit. Homemade whipped cream is incredibly easy to make and only takes three ingredients, so I really encourage you to try it. You can find that recipe below the cake recipe.
Armed with these tricks, let’s get baking!
Perfect Angel Food Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups egg whites
- 1 Tbsp tap water cold
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 ½ cup caster sugar (or granulated, pulsed in blender) separated
- 1 ½ tsp cream of tartar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with wrappers and set aside.
- Separate the sugar, reserving ½ cup for later.
- If using regular granulated sugar, measure the remaining sugar into a blender and pulse the sugar by itself for one minute. If using caster sugar, you do not need this extra pulsing step, just dump it in.
- Add cake flour, salt, and cream of tartar into a blender or food processor. Pulse all the dry ingredients together for about 2 minutes. Set aside.
- Crack eggs until whites measure 1½ cups in a measuring cup. Discard yolks. Beat with a hand mixer or whisk in a cold metal bowl until foamy, about 1 minute.
- Add the water, vanilla and almond extracts, and the reserved ½ cup sugar. Beat on high speed until peaks that hold their shape form.
- Sift the dry ingredients from the blender into the egg whites in thirds, folding the egg white mixture gently over the flour mixture after each addition.
- Scoop the mixture into the cupcake wrappers, filling until about ¾ full. Bake 18-20 minutes, checking for doneness at 18 minutes. Allow several minutes to cool before removing the cupcakes from the pan.
- When cupcakes are completely cool, top with whipped cream and fruit, and serve immediately.
Notes
Homemade Whipped Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
Instructions
- Chill a metal bowl or saucepan in the fridge for at least 10 minutes before beginning.
- Pour heavy cream into the chilled bowl and add the extract and sugar.
- Using the whisk attachment, beat on high for about 5 minutes or until fluffy.
Well, how did these cupcakes treat you? If you have any thoughts or questions, make sure to pop them into the comments box below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Keep on enjoying what August has to offer, because we’re almost into pumpkin spice overload season. Until next time, happy baking!
