Strawberry Angel Food Cake

I’ve had the idea for this Strawberry Angel Food Cake in the back of my mind for *years*. It seemed that a few simple alterations to my usual angel food cake recipe would yield a light, fluffy angel food cake with some serious strawberry flavor. Due to a mixup at the grocery store, I finally made it, and I’m SO glad I did!

You know, pandemic-level virus and yada yada has us all handling everday life differently. For us, that means ordering groceries online for pickup and crossing our fingers that we get what we ordered. Recently my husband went for a pick up only to be told that the store had apparently given our order to someone else. After two HOURS of waiting (!!), they had re-picked our order and he was on his way home.

Then, we received a phone call from the couple who had been given our original grocery order. The grocery store wouldn’t take it back, and just the two of them didn’t know what to do with all that food I ordered for our family of five. Long story short, we ended up with *double* groceries, including a LOT of eggs. It was the perfect time for a splurge recipe (as using 10 eggs for a dessert during a pandemic is definitely a splurge).

The resulting Strawberry Angel Food Cake was everything I dreamed it would be. It’s soft, fluffy, and sticky like angel food cake should be, but with a slight pink hue and wonderful strawberry flavor! The flavor is from freeze-dried strawberries, which I pulverized into a powder along with the recipe’s sugar. Make sure to use *freeze-dried* strawberries, as they are free of moisture and will process into a powder along with the sugar. If you can’t find them at your local grocery store, they are available [here].

If you’ve never made an angel food cake before, don’t let it intimidate you! There are just a few rules that you need to follow in order to have it turn out. 1) You need to use cake flour. The texture of the cake won’t be right (or could collapse completely) if you use another type of flour. If you can’t find it at your local store, you can find some [here].

2) You must make sure that you whip the egg whites sufficiently, and

3) You need to be veeeery gentle when folding in the dry ingredients.

4) Do NOT grease the pan!

In addition to ensuring that you are gentle with the batter, the cake also needs to cool *upside down*. For real. If you don’t, your cake will very likely collapse on itself. If you don’t have an angel food cake pan (link to the one I use [here]), you can try cooling the cake upside down on a wire rack (but I’ve honestly never tried this).

Once your cake is done and cooled, all that’s left to be done is plop some whipped cream and strawberries on top. <3 Perfection! Of course, I added some vanilla bean paste to my whipped cream because I looove it. If you’d like to get some vanilla bean paste and you can’t find it in your local grocery store (I never can), you can find some [here]. If you prefer to substitute, you could use an equal measure of vanilla extract.

It should also be noted that you absolutely don’t have to stop with strawberries for this recipe! I switched out the strawberries for blueberries and got this delicious purple beauty! If you’re wanting to go with freeze dried blueberries or raspberries, you can find them [here] and [here]!

I must say, I was quite happy with my decision to use all those eggs on this Strawberry Angel Food Cake! Er…egg whites, that is. If you need some ideas to use up all those leftover yolks, check out my post on [Ways to Use Egg Yolks].

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Strawberry Angel Food Cake

Amee

This Strawberry Angel Food Cake is light and fluffy with serious strawberry flavor thanks to freeze-dried berries! Also delicious using blueberries, with the bonus of a showstopping purple color!

5 from 1 vote

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Servings 8 slices

Ingredients

  

Strawberry Angel Food Cake:

• 1¾ cups sugar, divided
• 1.2 oz freeze-dried strawberries (see note)
• 1⅓ cups cake flour (see note)
• 1½ tsp cream of tartar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1½ cups egg whites (from about 10 eggs)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:

• 2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste (see note)
• strawberries

Instructions

 

For Cake:

• Preheat oven to 350° F. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the sugar and freeze-dried strawberries (see note) until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
• Sift flour and 1/2 cup strawberry sugar into a medium bowl. Set aside.
• Combine egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in a mixer bowl. Using the whisk attachment, beat mixture on medium-high until firm peaks form.
• Reduce mixer to medium and gradually add remaining strawberry sugar. Beat on high speed until thick and shiny.
• Add vanilla extract. Beat on high speed one more minute.
• Sift 1/4 of flour mixture into mixer bowl and carefully fold in, being cautious not to deflate the egg white mixture. Once fully combined, repeat with the remaining flour mixture in three more additions. Ensure that the mixture is completely combined, with no unmixed dry ingredients.
• Pour batter into an *ungreased* 10-inch tube pan, preferably an angel food cake pan with small feet (see notes). Smooth top of the batter.
• Bake 30-35 minutes, or until top of cake springs back when touched. Invert pan on counter or cooling rack (see note), and allow to cool completely. Run a thin knife around the cake to remove it from the pan.

Notes

Note on freeze-dried strawberries: Make sure to use *freeze-dried* strawberries, as they are free of moisture and will process into a powder along with the sugar. If you can't find them at your local grocery store, they are available [here]. 

Note on cake flour: Cake flour is a must for this recipe! The texture of the cake won't be right (or could collapse completely) if you use another type of flour. If you can't find it at your local store, you can find some [here].

Note on vanilla bean paste: It's no secret that I love vanilla bean paste. It's soooo tasty without the vanilla bean price tag (and it pretty much stays good forever). If you prefer to substitute, you could use 1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. If you'd like to get some vanilla bean paste and you can't find it in your local grocery store (I never can), you can find some [here].

Note on pan prep: There is no need to grease the pan. Greasing the pan for an angel food cake will make it more difficult for the cake to rise in the pan, and your cake will likely collapse!

Note on angel food cake pan: Angel food cakes are so light, they must be cooled upside down to prevent collapse after baking. Angel food cake pans have small feet on them that allow you to invert the pan (see [here]). If you do not have an angel food cake pan, invert the cake pan on a wire rack to cool.

 

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