Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake! The best-tasting angel food cake you’ll ever eat. Light, fluffy and perfect for your favorite desserts. Nobody will ever guess it’s gluten-free!
Hundreds of reviewers agree this is the most delicious gluten-free angel food cake recipe around! This tried-and-true recipe was originally published in 2013 and is one my #1 recipes today.
UPDATED June 2022: This is still my go-to recipe for angel food cake! People are always amazed this is gluten-free. I like using it in desserts like trifle or serving it on it’s own with fresh berries and whipped cream. Enjoy!
To me, angel food cake is more than just a vehicle for strawberries and cream.
Angel food cake is what my Mom and I would make for birthdays every year. She would mix sprinkles into the batter and top it with my Grandma’s 7-minute frosting.
If you’ve never had 7-minute frosting, imagine a cross between a fresh marshmallow and whipped cream. It is pure heaven on fluffy angel food cake!
Angel food cake is also what gets broken up to make my very favorite Gluten-Free Strawberry Trifle. That trifle is probably my favorite summer dessert of all time.
Every year my husband’s Grandma would make cherry and whipped cream fruit filled angel food cake for my mother-in-law’s birthday. I dearly love that cake too!
And though it be humble, I do love the classic angel food cake with fresh fruit and whipped cream.
Since angel food cake is the key to so many favorite desserts, I need to have perfect gluten-free angel food cake in my life! This recipe is the one.
Since angel food cake gets it’s structure from egg whites, it is really easy to make gluten-free.
It is moist and light with great height and flavor. I actually love this cake because it tastes a little more special than the regular box cake everyone is used to eating.
You also might like this gluten-free pound cake. Check out this full collection of gluten-free cake recipes!
For more tried-and-true recipes try this gluten-free pizza crust and gluten-free banana bread.
You can tell this cake is made from scratch, making it extra delicious. But nobody will ever guess it’s gluten-free.
Since there are a few steps I’ve made a visual tutorial for you with step by step photos. I hope it is helpful!
How to Make Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake
1. In the bowl of a food processor, process the gluten-free flour and powdered sugar together until smooth, about 30 seconds.
2. Sift the flour/powdered sugar mixture into a bowl and set aside.
3. Process the granulated sugar slightly, about 5-7 pulses. You don’t want to turn it into powdered sugar, just a little finer than it is normally. Set aside.
4. Place egg whites (that should have sat at room temperature for at least 30 minutes) in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the salt and cream of tartar. Using the whisk attachment, beat on medium speed until starting to foam and soft peaks form. You can also use a hand mixer.
Tip: You can separate the egg whites from the egg yolks or simply buy carton egg whites for this recipe.
5. Add the pure vanilla extract and almond extract and continue whipping on high speed.
6. Add the granulated sugar slowly, about 2 tablespoon at a time to the egg whites while they are whipping.
7. Continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
8. Slowly fold in the dry ingredients 1/4 a cup at a time with a rubber spatula. Do this carefully and slowly so you don’t deflate the egg whites. This is the key to good traditional angel food cake!
9. Spread the angel food cake batter in a ungreased, 10-inch round angel food cake pan.
Tip: An ungreased 10-inch tube pan is key for this recipe. You need a special round angel food pan for best results so the cake can have enough room to expand. Unfortunately a bundt pan won’t work the same.
10. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes until lightly golden. Immediately invert pan onto a cooling rack when you remove it from the oven. Cool completely then run a serrated knife along the edges of the pan and carefully transfer the cake to a serving plate. Enjoy!
Original photo from 2013! I thought the blue plate was so cool – ha!
You could also top this angel food cake with gluten-free raspberry coulis.
More Gluten-Free Recipes
I hope you like this gluten-free angel food cake recipe as much as we do! If you try it be sure to leave me a comment/rating below. I’d love to hear from you!
Perfect Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake
Video
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups egg whites from 10-11 large eggs
- 3/4 cup gluten-free all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Separate the egg whites and allow them to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. In the bowl of a food processor or blender, process the gluten-free flour, cornstarch and powdered sugar together until smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
- Add the granulated sugar to the food processor or blender and pulse 5-7 times. You don’t want to turn it into powdered sugar, just a little finer than it is normally. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, or using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed until starting to foam, then add the salt and cream of tartar.
- Add the vanilla extract and almond extract and continue whipping on high speed.
- With the mixer running on high, slowly add the granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all the sugar is added and the mixture is glossy with soft peaks.
- Using a rubber spatula, slowly fold in the flour mixture, ⅓ at a time. Do this carefully and slowly so you don’t deflate the egg whites. (This is the key to a good angel food cake.) Scoop into an ungreased 10-inch round pan.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes, until lightly golden.
- Remove the cake from the oven and immediately flip the cake upside down onto a wire rack. Cool the cake completely.
- Once cooled, run a thin knife around the edge of the cake and gently tap the pan on the counter until the cake releases. Slice with a sharp serrated knife and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Source: Inspired by King Arthur Flour
Our family tradition is for a coffee flavored angel food cake with a coffee buttercream frosting. The recipe uses an angel food cake mix and 2Tb. of instant espresso dissolved in 1 1/3C. water. Our grandson’s gluten free girlfriend will be celebrating his birthday with us. I want to accommodate her. What would the addition of the espresso powder dissolved in a minimum of water do the cake? Thank you for your opinion.
Hi Sharan, homemade angel food cake doesn’t act quite like the box mixes unfortunately. Adding extra liquid to this recipe will deflate the egg whites and produce a dense, flat cake. You could try adding some of the dry instant espresso powder to the dry ingredients, but we haven’t tested that ourselves. We hope this information helps!
Hi. I am not a fan of almond flavoring. Can I omit it?
Hi Susan, yes you can omit the almond extract or replace it with more vanilla. We hope you enjoy the cake!
Hi Im just clarifying which quantity of granulated sugar is for the food processor and which quantity of granulated sugar is for the egg white mixture? Thanks!
Hi Anna, the whole measurement of granulated sugar will first go in the food processor to break it down some, then it will be set aside until step 6 when it is added to the mixer, 1 Tbsp at a time. We hope this helps and you enjoy the cake!
In slightly confused by this recipe. It’s says GF all purpose but links to measure for measure which is not the same. Which are we supposed to use? My GF AP flour doesn’t have xantham gum.
Hi Patty, thank you for your question! This recipe is a bit older and the terminology in the ingredient list just hadn’t been updated. We recommend GF measure-for-measure or 1:1 baking flour that contains xanthan gum. We include our two favorite kinds in the recipe card notes! We hope you enjoy the cake!
I noticed in your “visual tutorial” for GF Angel Food Cake, you don’t include cornstarch – which you do include in the actual written instructions. If the GF flour blend contains xanthum gum, is the cornstarch still needed?
Hi there! Thank you for your question. That video is a bit older so we would recommend following the written recipe card. The recipe requires both a gf flour blend that contains xanthan gum plus the cornstarch for best results. We hope this helps and you enjoy the cake!
Excellent angel food recipe. Would like to make it chocolate next time. Can I just add 1/4 cup cocoa or do I need to adjust flour also. More or less cocoa?
We’re so pleased you enjoyed the angel food cake so much, Marge! Thank you for your kind feedback. We haven’t tried turning it into a chocolate angel food cake before. Cocoa powder is dry and absorbent so adding it to cake recipes, especially delicate ones like angel food cake, tends to impact other ingredients and require further changes to the recipe. If you decide to give it a try, we’d love to hear how it goes!
This recipe was so easy to make and so delicious! It was definitely easier to make than a normal wheat flour Angel Food Cake. I made it for Easter and everyone loved it. You couldn’t even tell it was gluten free! I’m also dairy free and this recipe accommodates both dietary restrictions.
Thank you for sharing your positive baking experience with us, Liz! We’re so pleased to hear you loved the cake so much. Happy baking!
You can make it chocolate by taking the same amount of flour out that you are adding cocoa powder.
I love this recipe! Have you tried using this recipe for a layer cake? If so, what filling and frosting would you recommend?
Hi Karen, we’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe! We haven’t made it into a layer cake, but we have topped it with 7-layer frosting as well as whipped cream and fruit. We’ve also used it in this trifle recipe. Happy baking!
Can i make this with liquid egg whites?
Hi Libby, yes that will work! We hope you enjoy the recipe!
Recipe worked out great for me, it’s like eating a literal sponge, very light and not a floue bomb, fun lol. M Gf is a rice flour/tapioca flour/corn flour (not starch), 1:0.6:0.4 ratio. Didn’t use xanthan at all. Anyways thaanks.
We’re so glad you enjoyed the cake! It’s good to know that the flour substitution worked well for you too. Thank you for your positive feedback! Happy baking!