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. In the bowl of a food processor, process the flour, cornstarch and powdered sugar together until smooth, about 30 seconds. Set aside.
- 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.
- Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on high until starting to foam then add the salt and cream of tartar.
- Add the vanilla and almond extract and continue whipping on high speed.
- Add the granulated sugar slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time to the egg whites while they are whipping.Continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
- Slowly fold in the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time with a spatula. Do this carefully and slowly so you don’t deflate the egg whites. (This is the key to good angel food cake.) Scoop into a ungreased 10-inch round pan.
- Bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes until lightly golden. Immediately invert pan onto a cooling rack when you remove it from the oven. Cool completely then run a knife along the edges of the pan and carefully plate the cake. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Source: Inspired by King Arthur Flour
Any suggestions for high altitude ?
I made this angel food cake yesterday for my daughter’s birthday, and it was absolutely perfect! The taste and texture were spot-on, and it rose up beautifully. I used Gluten Free Jules flour and 11 egg whites. So good, everyone loved it, and my daughter was thrilled with her favorite cake. Thank you for another fabulous recipe!
First time for me making angel food cake. It turned out exceptional! I didn’t have exactly what your recipe suggested so I used 1.5 cups Burnbrae Naturegg egg whites (liquid) and 3/4 cup Anita’s Gluten-free flour (made with oat flour). Worked like a charm!
Thank you for sharing such a tasty, perfect recipe!!!
Can store bought egg whites work? I can’t bring myself to waste yokes. I looked up some egg yoke only recipes and nothing was appealing
Yes I use store bought egg whites all the time! It works great 🙂
thank you for this recipe, my granddaughter loves her angel-food birthday cake every year. This year we have a GF family member and I found this!!!! I have it in the over right now, THEN I read the comments, ugh. I missed that the flour had xantham gum added, and I used Monk Fruit. sugar. I’ll be surprised at the outcome, but I did make it the night before, so I’ll still have time tomorrow if it fails. Thanks again !!!
I LOVE this recipe! There used to be a link to the 7-minute frosting recipe too, but now I can’t find it. Can you please share it? Thank you.
Can I make this recipe in a loaf pan?
Unfortunately that won’t work!
Love this recipe, I just made 2x . The only difference is I never pre-heat my oven always start it when putting the cake in. Start oven cold.
Been making Angel food cakes with grandma for 45 years and that was her one trick. Perfect every time
That’s great to know! I’ll have to try the cold over trick next time I make this 🙂
I halved the recipe and baked it in a loaf pan. It turned out great!
Do I need to have an angel food cake pan?
Yes – an angel food cake pan is crucial for this recipe turning out correctly!
First time making angel food cake and I was beyond delighted with this recipe.
I was delighted to discover this angel food cake recipe. I have a daughter with celiac, but her very favorite dessert is tiramisu. I substitute slices of this angel food cake for the lady fingers. This works especially well if I slice them and let them dry out just a bit overnight. We also have used it for birthdays, trifles, etc. Excellent recipe, comes out perfect every time. Thank you!
What a great idea to use it for tiramisu! All of those uses sound delicious. Thanks for the comment! 🙂
Back when I could use boxed cake mix I would mix in a can of crushed pineapple and coconut flakes. How could that be incorporated into this recipe?
Can this be made with monk fruit sugar mixed with erythritol? Like the Lakanto brand?
Unfortunately that won’t work! The sugar is important for the structure of this cake.
My mother in law cannot have sugar, is there any substitute that would work?
Thank you
Triciah
Unfortunately sugar is crucial for the structure of this cake. A substitute won’t work!
Do you think Cup for Cup GF flour would work? And do you have the recipe for that 7 minute icing?!?!?
Yes Cup for Cup will work great! I need to share the 7 minute frosting recipe!
Do I want a flour blend with or without xantham gum? I have both just making sure!
Thank you, i’m going to try this next weekend.
I use a flour blend with xanthan gum. I hope you enjoy it!
How long will the angel food cake last? I need to make one for a Saturday baptism but will be gone all day on Friday. Can I make it two days before and seal it in tupperware cake holder?
I think that will work great actually! This cake keeps better than other cakes. I hope you like it!