This healthy Angel Food Cake Recipe is made with no chemicals or preservatives like the store bought versions and is low in sugar. It’s definitely a recipe you’ll want to go into your classic repertoire. After making it once you’ll be making it time and time again.
The recipe came from my time in Culinary School but as I compared the recipe to others around the web I noticed how mush less sugar my recipe had yet when I taste it, I can’t tell the difference. You simply don’t need as much sugar as most of the recipes call for. This specific low sugar angel food cake recipe does require more egg whites than others but if you buy your eggs in bulk its no extra expense and you’ll have plenty of yolks leftover to whip up some homemade ice cream!
And as far as flavor and nutrition goes, the difference of homemade verses store bought is pretty remarkable here.
Though homemade Angel Food Cake is really pretty easy there are a few key steps to success that you really must not mess with.
About this Recipe
• Don’t spray or grease the pan for angel food cake. Because of the light nature of this cake if you grease the pan the cake may not rise.
• Invert the cake still in the pan after baking so it will start to loosen from the pan as it cools. Let cool completely before removing from the pan.
• Cake Flour, sometimes labeled as, Super-fine Pastry Flour really is best for Angel Food Cake because it’s super fine but if you don’t want to buy a different flour you can combine cornstarch with all purpose (2 tablespoons of corn starch per 1 cup of flour). Sift a few times to incorporate.
• Similar to the cake flour, a superfine sugar is also helpful in this recipe. You can make superfine sugar at home by pulsing regular sugar in your food processor or blender until fine. I’ve made this cake with regular organic cane sugar before and it worked but it was harder to fold the flour/sugar mixture into the egg whites without making the egg whites collapse. The top right photo is of the sugar after its been quickly processed in a blender.
• An Angel Food Cake ‘Tube’ pan works best for this recipe. I’ve made the mistake of using a bundt pan that had too pan crevasses and the cake stuck to the sides. The tube pan has a removable bottom so you can easily get the cake out of the pan using a life to loosen around every edge. This pan also has feet on it so when you cool it upside down air can flow through.
• To ensure that no egg yolks get into the egg whites, break each egg dividing the white into a separate bowl before adding it into a larger bowl for all of the egg whites. This way, if you accidentally get a little yolk into one of the whites you can discard it without having to throw away all of the egg whites you’ve already separated. See the photo above as an example.
• Most Angel Food Cake recipes require a lot of sugar which is simply not needed. This cake is perfectly sweet especially topped with whipped cream and berries for a light Summer Dessert.
• Store bought Angel Food Cakes have a lot of artificial ingredients, preservatives and chemicals so homemade is definitely the way to go.

Healthy Angel Food Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups cake flour*
- 1 1/4 cup superfine sugar*, divided
wet ingredients
- 2 cups egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or 375 for high altitude). Get out a angel food cake tube pan (the one with a hole in the center) but don't grease the pan.
- Sift the flour and 1/2 cup of the sugar together.
- In a clean stand mixer with the whip attachment, whip the egg whites until foamy. Add in the salt and vanilla, then gradually add in the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and continue to whip until medium peaks are formed.
- Fold in the flour mixture in 3-4 additions, using a large wire whisk or a spatula.
- Pour batter into the tube pan and bake until the cake springs back when you touch with your fingertips (about 40 minutes).
- Let cool inverted (upside-down) for one hour then use a knife to loosen all of the edges before removing from the pan. Once cake is out of the pan, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream or ice cream and berries.
Notes
I first made this cake in a bundt pan but the top of it got a little stuck so I covered it in whipped cream and berries. Just in case, you don’t have an angel food cake pan, it is possible to make in other pans but make sure to have some whipped cream handy in case it sticks!
Trying to save this post to Pinterest and keep getting the message that this site doesn’t allow me to save pins. When I try using your “P” to add this, the picture won’t upload and it won’t allow me to pin that way either. FYI
Susan, thanks so much for letting me know! I will get that fixed asap!
Great cake! I needed something lower calorie to top with strawberries. It was easy and so helpful to give substitutions. It looked just like the pictures and it was perfect sweetness. Unfortunately, it was so good, we ate more than we had intended! Thanks!
I rate it a five star, but can’t get it to register.
Thanks so much Sue Ann!! It means a lot more hearing it from you than even seeing a few stars 🙂
Can i use less sugar?
Great questions Tom. Its really hard to change up the amounts of ingredients in baking without some experimenting. This is the lowest I have tried of sugar in angel food cake. Sugar and fat are what make the texture of a baked good, while flour and eggs are the stabilizers, and since this recipe doesn’t have a fat (like butter) I would be hesitant to alter the sugar much. If you have time to experiment please do let me know what you find out!
Thanks Becky for a really nice recipe ! I used 1 carton nature egg whites which = to 2 cups. I added a couple tablespoons fresh lemon juice and 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind. Also, reduced the 3/4 cup sugar to 2/3 cup sugar, which did not affect the rising of the cake at all. It rose very high to within 3/4 of an inch from the top of the angel tube cake pan. Also used your substitution for cake flour, and used the white berry sugar. Turned out fantastic ! Thank you !
Thanks so much for reporting back Trish! I may cut the sugar the next time I make this. Glad to know it worked well!
What kind of pan did you use?
I use a standard 10 inch angel food cake pan.
Can I add cinnamon to it?
I haven’t tried but it shouldn’t alter the recipe so go for it!
Can I make it in any type of pan including a springform pan?
The only tricky part about angel food cakes are that you can’t spray the pan. It will affect the rising of the light cake so make sure and use a cake that it will be easy to remove the cake from. This is why there is a special cake pan for Angel Food Cakes. I’ve made them in other cake pans before then just said a prayer that it would come out of the pan but I wouldn’t recommend that way 🙂
I can’t wait to try this recipe as tree boxed versions don’t rise. Are there any conversions for high altitude? Or will the mixing of the baking powder to make cake flour suffice?
For high altitude baking you can trouble shoot with the following – higher temp, increase liquid, reduce baking powder, or reduce sugar.
Would you make any adjustments for high altitude? Besides the oven temperature change, which I thought would be lower instead of higher. Thank you!
For high altitude baking you can trouble shoot with the following – higher temp, increase liquid, reduce baking powder, or reduce sugar.
So don’t spray or flour the pan at all? Just invert right away and cross your fingers? I’ll try this recipe for my mom in law’s birthday.
Yes, no spray at all. And invert the cake still in the pan after baking so it will start to loosen from the pan as it cools. Let cool completely before removing from the pan. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Can I make cupcakes with this recipe?
I haven’t tried it as cupcakes but let me know if you try it out!
Can I make this the night before serving it? How do I store it? Thank you!
Yes certainly! The I make cakes the night before I leave them out at room temp. Refrigeration tends to dry out a cake. If you make cakes several days prior freezing does work, but be sure to wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap if freezing.
I made this with gluten free flour and powdered sugar and it turned out perfect. Thanks for the yummy recipe!
LOVE it!! Thanks so much for letting me know! I will have to make your version for my gf friends.
Hi,
Can you use Raw Stevia in place of the sugar? My husband has chronic kidney disease and a pre-cancer condition so many ingredients (ie, sugar,cornstarch, can’t be used. Glad to know that gluten free flour works.
Thank You
If you use a sugar substitute I would use something that is superfine (almost powdered sugar-like). Let me know your results after trying!
Hi, I am planning to try this recipe on Saturday. I have never seen an Angel Food cake recipe without cream of tartar. When I whip the egg whites should I expect them to peak like whites with cream of tartar added?
Thank you
Yes, they should peak the same way. Please let me know if you have any problems.
What does leaving out the cream of tartar do? And why mix to medium peaks and not stiff?, Also why use confectioners sugar over granulated? Sorry if I’m asking a lot I’m just genuinely curious 🙂
Great questions!! Cream of tartar is a stabilizer but the way this simple cake is make, you just don’t need it. The medium peaks are so the cake is still creamy and not dry. And the confectioners sugar is so that the sugar is light and won’t weigh down the cake and break the whipped egg whites. Hope that helps!
This looks so good! Do you recommend fresh egg whites or using a store-bought carton? A website I referenced suggested that 2 cups of egg whites would require cracking 16 eggs. Thanks!
I haven’t tried it with the carton of egg whites but it should work fine! Let me know