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A few years ago I worked for a small boutique wholesale bakery. It was a great job. Not only was I the only baker there, but I learned so much from my boss, Beth–-from fabulous recipes and techniques to (not so) simply being a good chef/boss.
One of the items that I had to make a few times a week were angel food cakes. I usually made two or three at a time in the 20 quart Hobart mixer. This required cracking a lot of eggs for egg whites. Some days I was lucky enough to the have the prep cook do it. Some days I wasn’t.
Now, you’d think, "Enh, angel food cake! Someone trained in baking ought to be able to do those with her eyes closed, right?" Wrong! For about 4 months straight, five out of every ten angel food cakes would be a disaster. And honestly, to this day, we never could figure out exactly what was wrong.
The problem didn’t occur until about 10 minutes after I inverted the cakes onto wine bottles to cool. Inevitably, they would just fall out of the pan. Kerplummpp! It was horribly frustrating at first. Beth was an angel herself and she would watch me make them and guide me through the process over and over again. But as it continued to happen, my frustration turned to sheer embarrassment. I would go home practically in tears over these stupid angel food cakes. Beth never got mad. Not once. Though sometimes when we were in the weeds, I could tell my falling angel foods were testing her patience to the maximum! For a while there, I thought about quitting because of them! It was horrible.
But eventually, for whatever reason, my cakes decided to start staying in their pans. But whenever I had to make them after that point, I continued to sweat. Nights before I knew I was slated to make them, I never slept well. It was awful. And to this day, you will not catch me making an angel food cake. And I’d certainly never ever put it on the Monkey’s menu!
So, with some trepidation, I pass onto you some tips about making angel food cakes that I’ve learned (Don’t worry! I promise I haven’t had a problem with them in years!).
1. Always use a super clean bowl to whip your whites. Even a bit of soap will prevent proper aeration.
2. Sift your cake flourr twice. You’ll be sure to get extra air in your cakes.
3. You know you’re ready to add your cake flour to your whites once the whites have formed ‘shoulders’ along the sides of the bowl as it’s beating. Watch your whipping whites closely. You’ll see what I mean. The outer edges will be raised and the whites will be shiny and super white.
4. Add your sugar and your cake flours in small batches to prevent your whites from deflating.
5. Work quickly putting the batter into the pan and getting it into the oven.
So, let me know how your angel food cakes go. It just goes to show that even those of us who are supposed to know how these things work by no means know everything. And feel free to share any tips with me about this dreaded cake! They still make me nervous!
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/rebecca-michaels/342-angel-food-cake/
Angel Food Hell
A few years ago I worked for a small boutique wholesale bakery. It was a great job. Not only was I the only baker there, but I learned so much from my boss, Beth–-from fabulous recipes and techniques to (not so) simply being a good chef/boss.
One of the items that I had to make a few times a week were angel food cakes. I usually made two or three at a time in the 20 quart Hobart mixer. This required cracking a lot of eggs for egg whites. Some days I was lucky enough to the have the prep cook do it. Some days I wasn’t.
Now, you’d think, "Enh, angel food cake! Someone trained in baking ought to be able to do those with her eyes closed, right?" Wrong! For about 4 months straight, five out of every ten angel food cakes would be a disaster. And honestly, to this day, we never could figure out exactly what was wrong.
The problem didn’t occur until about 10 minutes after I inverted the cakes onto wine bottles to cool. Inevitably, they would just fall out of the pan. Kerplummpp! It was horribly frustrating at first. Beth was an angel herself and she would watch me make them and guide me through the process over and over again. But as it continued to happen, my frustration turned to sheer embarrassment. I would go home practically in tears over these stupid angel food cakes. Beth never got mad. Not once. Though sometimes when we were in the weeds, I could tell my falling angel foods were testing her patience to the maximum! For a while there, I thought about quitting because of them! It was horrible.
But eventually, for whatever reason, my cakes decided to start staying in their pans. But whenever I had to make them after that point, I continued to sweat. Nights before I knew I was slated to make them, I never slept well. It was awful. And to this day, you will not catch me making an angel food cake. And I’d certainly never ever put it on the Monkey’s menu!
So, with some trepidation, I pass onto you some tips about making angel food cakes that I’ve learned (Don’t worry! I promise I haven’t had a problem with them in years!).
1. Always use a super clean bowl to whip your whites. Even a bit of soap will prevent proper aeration.
2. Sift your cake flourr twice. You’ll be sure to get extra air in your cakes.
3. You know you’re ready to add your cake flour to your whites once the whites have formed ‘shoulders’ along the sides of the bowl as it’s beating. Watch your whipping whites closely. You’ll see what I mean. The outer edges will be raised and the whites will be shiny and super white.
4. Add your sugar and your cake flours in small batches to prevent your whites from deflating.
5. Work quickly putting the batter into the pan and getting it into the oven.
So, let me know how your angel food cakes go. It just goes to show that even those of us who are supposed to know how these things work by no means know everything. And feel free to share any tips with me about this dreaded cake! They still make me nervous!
12 Egg White Angel Food Cake
Made with almond extract, vanilla extract, cake flour, sugar, salt, egg whites, cream of tartar
Made with almond extract, vanilla extract, cake flour, sugar, salt, egg whites, cream of tartar
Serves/Makes: 12
- 1 1/4 cup cake flour sifted
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 egg whites at room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract optional
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In bowl sift together flour, 3/4 cup sugar and salt. Re-sift 3 times. Set aside. Beat egg whites until foamy.
Add cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at time, until mixture holds stiff peaks. Fold in vanilla and almond extracts. Add 1/4 flour mixture at time, folding in gently with rubber spatula. Gently spoon batter into ungreased 10-inch angel food cake pan. Cut through center of batter 2 or 3 times with spatula to remove large air bubbles. Bake at 350 degrees F 40 to 45 minutes or until top springs back when touched with finger and wood pick inserted near center comes out clean.
Invert pan over bottle or inverted funnel and let stand until thoroughly cool. When cool, loosen sides and center with metal spatula and turn out onto platter.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/rebecca-michaels/342-angel-food-cake/