Tips for the Perfect Angel Food Cake Plus a Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free Recipe

A couple of weeks ago I put together this amazing post (if I do say so myself) on Angel Food Cake, including recipes and topping ideas. It seems that Amy and I are on the same wavelength, as her monthly post is also about angel food cake, but with a few twists that I think you will enjoy. While my post was more about recipes and ideas, Amy’s includes helpful tips for making those recipes work perfectly. Not to mention, Amy took on some added free-from challenges. She is sharing her recipe for Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake that is naturally dairy-free and sweetened only with agave!

Amy Green ~ During the hot summer months, angel food cake is the perfect dessert. It’s airy, easy on the waistline, and only needs to be topped with a spoonful of fresh berries. Angel food cake is naturally dairy-free, too.

To make the perfect angel food cake, it’s important to have a handful of tricks up your sleeve:

• Make sure your bowl is grease-free and that there are no bits of yolks in your egg whites. Wipe the inside of your bowl with a little white vinegar to cut any grease. Fat will keep the whites from whipping.
• Beat the egg whites to soft, not stiff peaks, which will make it easier when folding the flour into the whites without deflating them.
• Watch carefully and don’t walk away from your stand mixer. Egg whites go from being perfectly beaten to over-beaten quickly.
• Leave the non-stick angel food cake pans at the store and by all means don’t grease the pan. This will keep your cake from collapsing when you remove it from the oven.
• Look for a pan with a removable bottom and ‘feet’ that make it easy to invert the cake while it cools.
• Be patient. Let the cake cool completely before removing it from the pan. Likewise, take your time when releasing the delicate cake from the ungreased pan.

Most importantly, have fun! Once you’ve tasted a homemade angel food cake, you’ll never want a store-bought version again.

Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake (Sweetened with Agave!)

• 12 Egg Whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 Cup Millet Flour
• 1/4 Cup Tapioca Flour
• 1/4 Cup White Rice Flour
• 1/4 Cup Sweet Rice Flour
• 1/4 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum
• 1 Teaspoon Cream Of Tartar
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Cup Agave Nectar
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 1-1/2 Teaspoons Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Juice

Separate egg whites in a stainless steel bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let them come to room temperature. This takes about an hour. If you’re in a time-crunch, put your egg whites in a zip-lock bag and place the sealed bag in warm tap water for about 10 minutes. This will bring them to room temperature quickly.

Preheat oven to 325F. Position a rack in the lower middle portion of the oven. Sift together the millet flour, tapioca flour, white rice flour, sweet rice flour, and xanthan gum. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites on low speed until they are beginning to break up and are frothy. Add the cream of tartar and salt, increase speed to medium and continue to beat until the egg whites are billowy mounds. Pour the agave nectar about one tablespoon at a time into the egg whites until all agave is incorporated and the eggs are at the soft peak stage. This means that the peak will form and then fold over on itself. Beating the eggs to stiff peaks will make it difficult to incorporate the flour without deflating the whites.

Pour in vanilla and lemon juice. Mix until just incorporated.

Sift the flour over the egg whites about 3 tablespoons at a time and fold in very gently, making sure to cut down into the bottom of the batter and lift it up over the rest of the whites. Resist the temptation to stir.

Pour batter into angel food cake pan and cut through batter with a knife, going around pan, to remove any large air bubbles. Smooth top of batter with a spatula. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes until golden brown and cake springs back when firmly pressed. Check cake after 50 minutes as oven temperatures vary.

When cake is finished, remove from oven and immediately invert on a cake platter. Let cake cool completely, 2-3 hours. To remove cake from pan, place pan on it’s side on the countertop. Use a long, thin, flexible offset spatula to cut around the edge of the cake, always pushing against the pan. Pop the bottom of the cake pan up. Use a long, thin knife to cut around the core. Use the long thin spatula to release the angel food cake from the bottom.

Makes 10 to 12 servings

Amy Green, M.Ed., authors Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free, a popular food blog about eating well, eliminating refined sugars and wheat, and maintaining a healthy weight. She has been living free from white sugar and wheat since 2004 and, as a result, is maintaining a 60+ pound weight loss. Over the years she’s learned that eating healthier doesn’t equal deprivation.

Amy’s first cookbook, Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free: 180 Recipes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less, was released in February 2011 and is available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.