Recipe for pillow-soft, snow white, squishy jumbo angel food cupcakes topped with sweet and creamy whipped cream topping and fresh berries.
Up until yesterday, I pretty much figured I would never make angel food cake at home. There has always been something about the snowy white sponge cake that just didn’t seem right to me. There’s no butter in the recipe, so it can’t taste that good, right?
I would see angel food cake at the grocery store and it often looked as if it would taste like Styrofoam. I would see it on every ‘healthy dessert’ list and my brain had permanently labeled it ‘diet cake.’ Diet cake is not something I’m interested in. When I have cake, I want it to count.
Enter: five leftover egg whites in my fridge. What’s a girl to do? I could use them for an egg white omelette, but that seemed too ‘meh’ for me (Sidebar: is meh an acceptable way to describe things?). I could make French macarons, but, then again, they are my baking kryptonite and I wasn’t in the mood for a mental breakdown.
Within an hour, I had decided to make angel food cupcakes and all but fell in love.
I think you’ll swoon over each pillow-soft, ultra spongy bite of these. The cake is as light as air with a definite chewiness and just enough golden brown crispiness on the outside to keep things interesting. Pair these with creamy, vanilla bean speckled whipped cream and berries, and you’ll forget all that ‘diet cake’ talk from earlier… unless you want to use it as an excuse to have two!
This is what the batter should look like before you divide it among the muffin pan.
I made this quick video to try to show you the squishiness of the cake… it’s so squishy!
One month ago: favorite m&m cookies
Six months ago: fluffy homemade marshmallows
One year ago: 6-inch super s’mores layer cake
angel food cupcakes with whipped cream topping
Notes
adapted from Alton Brown
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
Whipped Cream Topping
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold and well-shaken
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- fresh berries, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350°F. Grease the holes of a jumbo muffin tin and set aside. You may use paper liners if you’d like, just spray the inside of each liner as well.
- In a medium bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and salt so that there are no clumps. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy, about 2 minutes. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running, add the granulated sugar—a little at a time until—you’ve added the entire 1/2 cup. Increase the speed to medium-high, and beat until the peaks are stiff and very shiny, about 5 minutes. (To check if it is ready: turn off the mixer and when the whisk pulls away from the mixture, the peaks should hold their form.) Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest. Remove the bowl from the stand.
- Add a third of the flour mixture to the egg mixture and gently fold together with a spatula until it is incorporated. With gentle motions, fold in another third of the flour until incorporated and then fold in the final third. Scrape the bottom of the bowl with the spatula to make sure all of the flour mixture has been incorporated.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and bake until the cupcakes spring back when gently pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the muffin molds to loosen the edges and transfer the cupcakes to a rack to cool completely.
- Make the whipped cream when you are ready to serve. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cold cream on medium speed until frothy. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whip until fluffy and thick. When you stop the mixer, the whipped cream should hold its form.
- Top the cooled cupcakes with the whipped cream and serve immediately.
These look delicious!
Thanks Marissa! They are feel good treat 🙂
Pure yumminess! Thank you for the recipe and all the pictures. Now I need to have dinner so that I get to have this for dessert!
Thanks Indigo! I hope you love them! xx
This is what heaven tastes like!
Thanks Chelsea 🙂 I think you’re right!
This is my go to cupcake for the summer if I need to make dessert for something. Also a popular choice for making cupcakes for friends weddings. You cannot go wrong with it. So light, fresh, and fruity.
I totally agree Tamara! I didn’t realize I would love them as much as I do! <3
Angle food is probably my favorite type of cake – especially in this summer where I just want light desserts so these look sooo perfect to me right now! Love it!
Thanks Sarah! Summer is definitely the perfect time for angel food cake, especially with all of the fresh fruit around to top it with!
These look perfectly delicious for Sunday afternoon tea.
Thanks Razena 🙂 I might have to start breaking for tea!
Yum! The perfect dessert. I love angel food cake and I love the portion control of a cupcake! P.S. the whipped cream topping sounds fantastic!
Thanks Joanie! I’m glad you like them! xx
These look completely heavenly. I adore angel food cake – and cupcakes would make a completely perfect portion! I can’t wait to try these!
Thanks Paige!! I think you’ll like them 🙂
Something about angle food cake that is so appealing….perhaps the simple taste….I LOVE IT!!
Thanks Gloria! There is something nice about a light and airy treat. It feels uplifting!
They look gorgeous! I’d love to try my hand at making these someday!
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks Madiha! I was surprised how easy they were to make. Sometimes with cake I am worried about ending up with a dense texture but these automatically stay fluffy!
Gorgeous cupcakes! They look so moist and light…just perfect!
Thanks Oana! They are super light and squishy!
These look absolutely perfect, and what a great way to use leftover egg whites!
Thanks Richa! I am definitely going to keep this recipe handy for when I have leftover egg whites again. I never know what to do with them! 🙂 xx