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, cornstarch, 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 40 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 (330g) egg whites from 10-11 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (112g) gluten-free measure-for-measure flour
- 1/4 cup (32g) cornstarch
- 3/4 cup (90g) powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (175g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 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
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!
Hi. I can’t wait to make this as my GF son has never tried angel food cake. I’m confused about directions. It says to immediately invert it to allow to cool coming out of the oven. But then it says after cooling to run a knife along and remove from pan. Do you release it from pan right away or after it’s cooled? I don’t want it to deflate. Thanks!!
April I have made this cake before. Invert immediately and cool then scrap and take out of pan.
In theory, you flip the whole pan with the cake still in it, and allow the cake to cool. Then, once cooled, you turn the pan back over, run the knife around all the edges and remove it from the pan.
Having said that, I’ve only made this once (I’m about to try again) shortly after I flipped the pan over, the cake fell out of the pan! This has never happened to me in 50 years of making non gf angle food cakes, so I’m not sure what would have cause this…this I’m going to try again.
Erin, can I substitute the corn starch with arrowroot powder? I have a corn intolerance.
This recipe sounds amazing! I am planning to try this as angel food cupcakes. Do you have any suggestion on how long to bake for regular size cupcakes?
Hello Erin!
Love your chocolate chip cookies and Angel food cake recipes! They taste even better than traditional recipes. Can the angel food cake be frozen?
Thank you!
Sheila
i made a GF vegan trifle for my birthday and this worked great – except initially i had very stiff peaks with the egg whites but when i added the coconut sugar they deflated 🙁 Do you think it was the type of sugar? I don’t like to use refined stuff and don’t mind the cake not being pure white.
Unfortunately coconut sugar won’t work in this recipe. The cane sugar is needed for a light and fluffy consistency. Sorry about that!
Thank you my son and grandchildren were so excited. Celiacs have a rough time hetting taste right. This was perfect. I know I made a little mistake because it was a little too moist and cutting it was tough but delicious…any suggestions?
I have a prepared flour blend with xanthan gum in it. Will that affect the outcome of the cake at all?
Katherine
A blend with xanthan gum will work great! Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Can you use this recipe for Angel food cake with crushed pineapple as in the weight watchers recipe?
Unfortunately I’m not familiar with that recipe! Sorry about that!
I can’t eat wheat and I was going crazy for Angel food cake. This is an AMAZING recipe-moist, fluffy and I think better than its wheat counterparts. This recipe will be a craveable staple!
Can I use liquid egg whites in this?
Yes! That works great!
My whole family loved this. Its the best tasting angel food cake I’ve ever eaten. Will never buy a box mix again or a stor bought cake. Thank you for recipe.
Great recipe! I’m looking for your “Grandma’s 7 Minute Frosting?” I checked your index before asking. Thank you for sharing your talents!
I definitely need to share that recipe! I don’t have it up on my site yet!
Every time I make this I am blown away by how good it is. I use Cup 4 Cup gluten-free flour in this and it turns out beautifully Every. Single. Time. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Cake looks great. I plan on making for my two celiac granddaughters. What can I do with all the egg yolks?
You can use them to make a custard like in this banana cream pie! https://meaningfuleats.com/dairy-free-banana-cream-pie-gluten-free/