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
I made this for Easter and it was a success. Another family member brought a traditional Betty Crocker mix angel food cake they’d made, and this GF version was by far the more popular cake. Everyone commented on how soft and cloud-like the texture was. I was nervous because I’d beaten my egg whites well into stiff peaks territory. It still turned our delicious. This is a recipe that I’ll make again and again.
I used Great Value brand 1:1 flour. I made the mistake of letting my whole eggs come to room temperature before separating the whites. I busted three of the yolks while separating them before I put them back into the fridge. Once re-chilled, they were much easier to separate the whites from the yolks. I let the egg whites come back up to temperature while I measured and blended all of my dry ingredients per the recipe. I used the remaining yolks to make a quick lemon curd.
Hi Ashley! Thank you for coming back to the recipe to share your positive experience with us. We’re so pleased that the cake was such a hit at the Easter gathering! Happy baking!
Is it possible to bake the angel food cake in a sheet pan? I’ve been asked to make this for a grad party.
Hi Katla! Unfortunately angel food cake won’t work well in a sheet pan. It needs the tube pan to rise properly. The texture/structure would change too much. Thank you for your question!
Okay-so I just tried this and made 3 mistakes:
1) forgot to use the bakers sugar!!
2) tries Pamela’s gf flour but didn’t realize it doesn’t have xanthum gum in it
2) ordering my tube pan TODAY! Bundt pan was def a NO GO.
So to anyone out there do not make the same mistakes I did and follow it exactly and use the tips!! I am mot giving up!
Oh man! We’re sorry you had this experience, Laura! We hope your next attempt is amazing!
Can 100% egg whites in a carton be substituted for separated eggs? I always hate to waste the yolks.
Yes, carton egg whites work in this recipe! We hope you love the cake, Cathy!
Great cake! My husband says it tastes better than the traditional gluten version
Aww, we love to hear this! Thank you for sharing your feedback with us, Carol. And please tell your husband thank you for the compliment as well!
Compete fail! Every time I start to add the sugar the egg whites turn to liquid.
Hi Ashlee, we’re sorry you had this experience! The egg whites and sugar step can be tricky with angel food cakes. Things that can lead to liquid egg whites are: too cold eggs, adding the sugar too early or too fast, residue/oil on the bowl or paddle (even a tiny amount), a little yolk in the whites, etc. We hope your next bake is a total success!
Have you frozen this cake or slices of it?
Hi Nicole! Yes you can freeze this cake whole or in slices. Just wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and then a layer of foil. It should keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. We hope you love it!
I’m confused on the directions . At the very top where you are describing how to make it you say to whip the egg whites until stiff peaks. But then in the actual recipe in the bottom you say to whip egg whites until it achieves soft peaks. Which is correct? Thank you!
Hi Karen! We recommend following the recipe card as it reflects the most current version of the recipe. We work hard to update posts on a regular basis, but with hundreds of recipes they don’t always get full updates as quickly as we would like. Still, we make sure the recipe cards themselves stays accurate for best results. Thank you for your question! We hope you love the cake!
Hi, Can I substitute 1:1 with APF?
Hi Sami! We haven’t tried regular all-purpose flour, but it is generally considered a 1:1 swap for the gluten-free blend if not needing gluten-free. We’d love to hear how it goes!
This cake was perfect! I haven’t been able to have angel food cake for over 10 years and this was surely a treat! Easy to follow instructions and it came out light, fluffy and delicious!! My family could not tell that it was gluten free one bit. Thank you!!!
Yay! We’re so happy to hear such amazing feedback! Thank you for sharing with us, Rebecca!
I made this for my son’s 42nd birthday. He requested my homemade angel food cake I hadn’t made in 30 years. I’m now GF. I found your recipe. I changed the powdered sugar to Swerve powdered sugar free and used Stevia for the sugar in the egg whites. The Cake turned out beautiful. My son said it was like eating a cloud. He told me that I hadn’t lost my touch. He couldn’t believe it was GF. Lol Thanks so much for a great recipe.
Wow! We’re so happy to hear the angel food cake was such a hit for your son’s birthday! Thank you, Ann. It’s great to know those sugar-free substitutions worked well too!