Angel Food Cupcakes.
I spent 21 minutes contemplating the idea that if I licked this whisk and it’s three accompanying spatulas completely clean, I mean like COMPLETELY CLEAN… just exactly how sick could I get? Would the sickness be worth it? If I took my last breath slurping fluffy meringue and choked on raw egg whites, vanilla and sugar, would it be my IDEAL – like, total ideal – way to go?
Because there is a fine line between consuming batter and feeling like garbage (or uhhh… dying?), and I often cross it.
Actually… I always cross it. Repeatedly. Forever. Evermore.
Anyhoo.
I did that batter justice.
Really, in all my 20-something years on this Earth, if I have survived using six-years expired shaker Parmesan cheese from Mother Lovett’s fridge, if my mom has baked a cake in 2012 with Duncan Hines mix that was good through March of ’08 and I ate seven bajillion slices, if I lived after taking a swig of Dawn dish soap thinking it was my water bottle, if I consumed… well, let’s be honest here – inhaled – a piece of coconut cream pie that I found in the back of the fridge behind some congealed substance that had basically grown legs and was waiting to walk away, well then…
… I don’t think the base of an angel food cake is gonna kill me.
Oh! And especially not… because it’s called ANGEL food cake, so there has to be like, angels involved somewhere. Watching over me. As in my guardian angel, which obviously has to have some involvement with cake somewhere.
If not, it’s like they don’t even… know me. And well, that’s just not safe.
Besides one of my life goals being for George Clooney to prank me, another one is to make a mean-ass angel food cake. Mother Lovett used to make one and then top it with some glaze, and it was gooooood. Not my favorite, but every once in a while it was cool to bite down into a spongy layer of vanilla. Oh, but this was before I knew that angel food cake was basically a HEALTH FOOD. After learning that, I just wanted to eat brownies.
Everyfreakingday.
I made my first angel food cake a few years ago and assumed it would be soooosoo easy. Like, embarrassingly easy. I mean, it normally just looks like a plain, fluffy, fat life-size donut. It doesn’t taste like tiramisu layered cheesecake with chocolate mouse filling and graham cracker crust and mascarpone frosting and fresh truffles on top of a bed of creme brulee and… and… yeah. Angel food cake is simple and light and people eat it so they can feel better about themselves ingesting cake. I didn’t expect it to be all “beat the egg whites! watch for stiff peaks! sift the sugar! sift the sugar again! don’t stir the egg whites! fold the stuff in! no, FOLD the stuff in! don’t mix it in circles!” and stuff. I’m much more of a mix-all-this-junk-in-a-bowl-and-who-cares-when-you-add-the-dry-ingredients-and-oh-cracked-two-entire-eggs-plus-their-shells-in-the-batter?-just-scoop-it-out-with-your-fingers-and-move-on kind of person.
Needless to say, I was much more prepared for this angel food experience.
Still, I complicated things a little more and made some cupcakes instead, which ummm… might just be the best thing ever because you can pop them in your mouth like candy. They are everything that angel food cake is, but cuter.
Angel Food Cupcakes
[lightly adapted from mother lovett’s recipe and gourmet]
makes 36 cupcakes
12 large egg whites (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tarter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar (sift before measuring)
1 1/8 cups sifted cake flour (sift before measuring)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Let egg whites sit at room temperature for about one hour before beginning. While eggs are resting, measure out powdered sugar and flour, then sift powdered sugar, flour and salt together. Set aside. Line a cupcake tin (or two) with cupcake liners.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in the bottom third of oven.
Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until frothy. Once frothy, add in cream of tarter, then beat at medium speed until soft peaks form. This took me about 5-6 minutes. Gradually add granulated sugar with the mixer still on medium speed, continuing to beat until egg whites thicken a bit more with opaque, soft, droopy peaks. Once there, beat in vanilla extract.
Remove the bowl from the mixer and sprinkle 1/4 of the dry ingredients over the egg whites. Fold gently with a spatula until combined completely. Continue with the rest of the dry ingredients – I did this in three increments.
Once batter is smooth, use a 1/4 cup measure to pour heaping scoops of batter into each liner. Bake for 18-19 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Let cool completely, then frost as desired. I frosted mine with a simple fresh vanilla whipped cream, using 1 pint of whipping cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and beating until thickened.
Much cuter.
184 Comments on “Angel Food Cupcakes.”
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to try these!
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These look amazing! So light and fluffy! Can not wait to try them!
Angel food cake is my FAVORITE! I have never tried to make it from scratch though. I usually go with the box mix or take the box and add a container of cherry pie filling to make cupcakes. It’s good but not as good as the real thing. Im sure it was worth the effort!
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So I just read your Coconut Brussels Sprouts post and was like whoa. But then I scrolled down to this one and my mouth dropped wide open.
I will make these….and already know they are going to become a standard dessert. I’m already excited about the different topping ideas I can do.
i made these last night and they looked so super cute – then this morning they are flat little pancakes. what did i do wrong? what should i have done to make them stay fluffy? was my only recourse eating all 28 last night? (because, honestly i was tempted).
thanks!
judi
I love angel food cake! It ranks up in the top tops for favorite cake (along with carrot cake, yum). And we actually had lemon angel food cupcakes for our wedding, delicious. Thanks for the post!
So, I work in a lab with 2 other women and for birthdays we do chocolate fondue instead of cake. I made my first angel food cake for one birthday and it turned out fabulous, but it was a lot of angel food for 3 people. This is it perfect solution! We had another birthday on Thursday and I made a half batch of these- they were awesome! I was worried because my egg whites never came together as stiffly as you said, even after beating them for 15 min. It was midnight and I was too tired to start over, so I went with it and they were beautiful and tasty. Thanks!
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I’m thinking of making these for either Valentine’s day, or my birthday to share with friends. I’ve never had angel food cake, so I’m excited to make these! I’m wondering, how does the icing taste?
AMAZING! Just made these. Only got 30 out of it, but they are beautiful. And they taste exactly like light and fluffy angel food cake! Totally reposting soon.
My husband wanted angel food cake for his birthday party (tomorrow), but without a proper pan (whatever you call that pan with the thingy up the middle), and because I’m too cheap (and lazy) to buy a pan, I was delighted to find this recipe! (I *do* own cupcake pans!)
I made 24 cupcakes and put the leftover batter in two large ramekins, which I popped in the oven too. We used one of our ramekin cakes as a taste test and nom-nom-nom! It is soooooo good!!
After reading several online accounts suggesting it’s just fine to freeze whipped cream, I went ahead and made the “icing”, frosted the cupcakes, and put them in the freezer. I’m hopeful that they’ll do just fine and I can simply pop them out a little ahead of the party and totally wow our guests.
Thanks for the recipe!!!
I make these, but I put fresh blueberries in them.
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I have tried multiple angel food cake recipes in cupcake form, and tried this one as well and keep running into the same issue. My cakes bake unevenly and look misshapen and unattractive on top. Am I overbeating my egg whites? Overfolding?
Are you using cream of tartar?
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I’m drooling.
You are…hands down…the absolute funniest food writer in existence! A wonderful writer at that…I truly look forward to each one of your posts…This one is PARTICULARLY well written.
To top it off…I have been craving true angel food cake here…but in France the particular tube pan is simply very difficult to locate…Your brilliant cupcake version has solved this dilemma for me…Thank you so much! I cannot wait to make strawberry, blueberry or peach “shortcakes” with this as a base…Love and good tidings from across the pond…
I made these and they are crazy good! I didn’t bother frosting these little babies because the tops are so yummy. This was my first attempt at angel food anything and it was so fun and the cakes are amazing! Thanks so much for this fabulous recipe!!!
I made these for my twin boys’ 2nd birthday this weekend. They were AHHHH-MAZING! Thanks for the great recipe! I’ll definitely be making these again!
P.S. My husband who “doesn’t like angel food cake” ate two of these….so they must be great! ;)
I could kiss you on the mouth!!! This is the best recipe ever. I make some every week and my mom thinks I’m a genius because I can make these. I love this recipe
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How well do these keep overnight? I would like to make them for my sons birthday cake but I need to do it a day in advanced. Should I freeze them with frosting and all? Or just freeze the cakes and frost the day of? What is your best suggestion?
No need to reply… I gave it a try anyways for my sons birthday party and it was absolutely fabulous! Even my guests who weren’t cake fans, loved this. And my sweet 1 year old boy devoured his smash cake! I am already thinking about the next time I can make this!
Courtney, how did you store these overnight? I want to make them for a picnic tomorrow but I want to make sure they hold up in the meantime. I have to take them in a car, then on a ferry ride and then they will have to sit in the sun for a bit… bad idea?
Going to try these for my daughter’s birthday. She said she wanted a “white” cake and Angel Food cake came straight to my mind. I haven’t had it since I was a kid and now that I live in France, I haven’t had it for like 7 years.
No chance to find the correct pan here, and it’s for a 4 year old’s birthday.. so cupcakes are perfect. Ive had a bit of a research run to find the proper equivalents or ingredient names in French, but I’m gonna give this a go. My only concern/question is the whole inverting thing Ive read about letting angel food cake cool. Mind you, these were all on the cake recipes and not cupcakes but I’m wondering.
I decided to give the recipe a “test run” before her birthday (the 30th), so I will probably go seek out the ingredients today. I guess I will post my findings (if I get time to make it).
Finally got my hands on cream of tartar, it took forever because it is very uncommon in France.
Anyway my cupcakes went flat. They looked fine on the outside, but inside the bottom was just air and the cake was compact. I have found other recipes that call for cornstarch but this one doesn’t..
Don’t know what happened to make them go flat :/
If you beat the eggs too long, they can go flat. Beat just until your peaks form and fold in your other ingredients very lightly.
I beat until soft droopy peaks formed as the recipe said. I was actually thinking I didn’t beat them ENOUGH because other recipes say to beat them until you have stiff white peaks :/
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I feel really stupid asking this, but I’ve never made any cake from scratch yet and am looking to make this recipe my 1st try….so what are peaks? It seems that if you don’t follow the directions for when they form the cupcakes don’t maintain their fluffyness
Just looking at it makes me drool. I will try this out for my kids. It really looks heavenly!
Do you think the avocado buttercream would be yummy on these? Trying to decide on a cupcake flavor for my daughter’s first birthday and she loves avocado.
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Made this last night. Wonderful recipe! I made some adjustments in accordance to my personal tastes. I cut the sugar in half and used 1.5 tsp of vanilla extract and .5 tsp of orange extract. Came out amazing! Thanks so much for the post!
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OMG…36 cupcakes?!
I can’t eat to much but I want to make them so badly. T^T
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I am constantly pinning your recipes! Great work :)
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Recipe says for the topping of angel food cupcakes, mascarpone cream but nowhere in recipe is it shown. Just whipping cream. did you forget to list how much to use or what?? Eleanor
I also wanted the mascarpone cream frosting.
LOL! i’M NOT THE KINDA CAREFUL PERSON EITHER. i’M ACTUALLY just like you! My sister is the fold in the egg whites type! Lol