Angel Food Cupcakes Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to angel food cake? ›

Angel food cake is one-of-a-kind, and no other cake recipe matches its super fluffy, airy texture. Though it's a type of sponge cake, it differs from other popular recipes because it's traditionally made using no butter or oil in the batter. Instead, beaten egg whites are the secret to its ultra-light texture.

Use cupcake liners: Cupcake liners help to hold the shape of the cupcake and can help prevent them from falling over. Fill the cupcake liners to the correct level: If the cupcake batter is too low in the liner, the cupcake may not have enough support and could tip over.

If a cake pan is too small, the batter may be too deep. It will rise and maybe dome, but if the center is still wet, it will collapse before the structure sets in the center. (It may also spill over the sides of the pan and onto the oven floor, or both!)

The most common reasons a cake sinks in the middle include the following: The pan is too small. There's too much liquid. Opening the oven or moving pans during baking.

It needs to set and solidify before you try to remove it from the pan. Turn it upside-down to cool for at least an hour and a half. And if the center part of the pan is not tall enough to hold the rest of the pan above the counter, prop the pan up so air can circulate as the cake cools.

It's possible that the cake went bad and that's why it tasted sour. When perishable food items like cake are left at room temperature for too long, they can become contaminated with harmful bacteria that can cause food poisoning. These bacteria can produce acid, which can cause the sour taste that you experienced.

I know what you're thinking. But whatever you do, don't try baking angel food cake in a bundt pan. A bundt pan's design is usually too intricate for angel food cakes, which must be cut away from the simple tube pans they're baked in once the cake has cooled.

Can I substitute all-purpose flour for cake flour? Yes, you can. You'll wind up with a similar cake, just with a slight difference in texture and crumb. Both flours perform the same in recipes — they'll mix into identical batters — but the final results will differ to a small degree.

Cooling the Cake Right-Side Up

Until the cake is completely cooled, its spongy structure hasn't set. Flipping it upside down makes sure it doesn't collapse during that process. Some angel food cake pans have feet so you can just flip the pan over and let it cool.

When should you take an angel food cake out of the pan? ›

How do you cool an angel food cake? If you've baked it in a tube pan, you invert it onto a bottle that goes through the center hole of the pan, so the cake doesn't collapse as it cools. Once it is thoroughly cooled, you can take it out of the pan. If you do it too soon, you will have a tasty, but dense cake.

In delicate sponge-type cakes (like chiffon or angel food cake) there are two moments for concern. First, when you're whipping the egg foam, and second, when you're incorporating the flour. An overmixed egg foam will be slack, wet, loose, and unable to hold peaks.

Angel food cake relies heavily on egg whites for its light and airy texture. The egg whites are whipped to soft foldable peaks for the ideal consistency- a balance between texture and structural properties.

Do not grease the angel food cake tube pan (one in which the center tube is higher than the walls of pan and the bottom is removable.) You want the batter to cling to the side while it is rising. A greased pan will not allow the batter to rise.

A small bit of moisture or egg yolk mixed in with the egg whites, a particularly humid day, or repeatedly opening your oven can also cause the cake to not rise. Over-mixing the batter once you've added the flour is another likely culprit, mix until just combined.

Every angel food cake has to be cooled upside down in the pan. Why? Until the cake is completely cooled, its spongy structure hasn't set. Flipping it upside down makes sure it doesn't collapse during that process.