This recipe for a Mini Blueberry Angel Food Cake is just that – mini! We use a 7-inch angel food cake pan to make a perfectly portioned small batch cake. The cake is delicately sweet, super light, and topped with a light and fluffy blueberry whipped coconut cream.
Mini Angel Food Cake From Scratch
I love angel food cake. Always have. The angel food cakes I remember were only served at Easter and were topped with a marshmallow fluff frosting, covered in coconut flakes, and adorned with jelly beans.
This is not that cake.
Angel food cakes rely on whipped egg whites to give the cake the monumental lift. And to make sure the cake has a delicate texture, we use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. Cake flour is finer than all-purpose flour and has a lower protein content. All of these special baking nuances sounded daunting when trying to figure out a small batch of angel food cake batter.
Come to find out it wasn’t that hard. Thus, making a Mini Angel Food Cake from scratch is just as easy as baking a regular-sized cake.
What Is An Angel Food Cake
There are a few things that make an angel food cake, well, angelic.
- Egg whites-only cake – The cake gets its texture and height from whipped egg whites. And that is it. There are no other leaveners (i.e. baking powder) in the cake.
- Cake flour + powdered sugar – The lighter cake flour is sifted together with powdered sugar to contribute to the light and airy texture of the cake. The cornstarch in powdered sugar behaves like a stabilizing agent for the whipped egg whites.
- Delicately sweet cake – It may seem like there is a lot of sugar going into the cake, but when you compare it to the amount of egg white and flour, the ratio isn’t as high as other cakes.
Mini Angle Food Cake Pan
The iconic angel food cake is baked in a tube pan – meaning there is a tube in the middle of the pan – which gives you the hole in the middle of the cake.
For this Mini Angel Food Cake, we use a 7-inch angel food cake pan. Angel food cake pans have a removable bottom, which makes getting the cake out of the pan easy. And the pan has ‘feet’. The cake should be cooled inverted in the pan (upside down) so it keeps the light and fluffy height. The feet on the pan make this easy.
Also, we do not line or grease the pan (don’t do it!). As the cake bakes it will ‘crawl’ up the sides of the pan = height. And cooling the cake upside down, it won’t fall out of the pan!
Blueberry Whipped Topping
Angel food cake is the epitome of Spring desserts. Probably because of the whole angel food cake with coconut and jelly beans for Easter dessert. Maybe that’s just me.
However, angel food cake is a classic Spring and Easter dessert. For this cake, we are utilizing all of the beautiful berries that have started to show up in our grocery stores. And to keep with the lighter theme, the Blueberry Whipped Coconut Cream is the perfect pairing.
Ingredients
- Cake Flour
- Powdered Sugar
- Salt
- Egg Whites
- Granulated Sugar
- Cream of Tartar
- Vanilla Extract
- Almond Extract
Helpful Tips
- Warm egg whites – Egg whites whip up better when they are at room temperature.
- Be careful separating the eggs – Egg whites will not beat to peaks if there are any traces of egg yolk in the egg white. Further, any grease or oil that may be on your bowl or beaters will impact how the egg whites whip up. I recommend wiping your bowl and beaters with a little lemon juice or vinegar before using, to clean up any residue.
- Sift the cake flour and powdered sugar – Please do not skip this step. This aerates and combines the two. The cake is light and fluffy and we want to make sure the dry ingredients are light and free of clumps.
- Fold the batter gently – You don’t want to undo all of your hard work to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks when adding the flour mix. Use a spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the eggs – this is easier on the batter than whisking.
- Do not grease or line the cake pan – I cannot stress this enough. Greasing the pan has the potential to make the cake collapse and fall out of the pan when cooling it upside down. Part of what makes an angel food cake so tall is that the batter ‘crawls’ up the side of the pan when baking. Greasing the pan won’t allow this to happen.
- Cool the cake upside down – Hence the feet on the angel food cake pan. And, cooling upside down prohibits the cake from collapsing on itself.
Mini Angel Food Cake
Ingredients
- ¾ cup cake flour
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 5 large egg whites, room temperature
- 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- Blueberry Whipped Coconut Cream (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Use a 7-inch angel food cake pan – do not grease or line it.
- In a small bowl, sift together the cake flour, powdered sugar, and salt.¾ cup cake flour, ¾ cup powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Beat the egg whites – I recommend wiping the bowl and beaters with lemon juice or vinegar to clean off any potential grease or oil – so the egg whites whip. In a medium bowl, add the egg whites, granulated sugar, cream of tartar, and the extracts. Using one of the whisk attachments, whisk the ingredients until just mixed. Then, using a hand held mixer, attach the whisk attachment you used, and beat the egg whites on high speed until medium peaks form. The egg whites should be white and glossy, and when you lift the beaters, the peaks should stand on their own with a soft curl at the tip.5 large egg whites, room temperature, 5 tablespoons granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 of the flour mixture into the egg whites. Fold the mixture gently, as you do not want to deflate the egg whites. Repeat with the remaining flour, two more times. You want to make sure the flour is fully incorporated into the egg whites, and there are no lumps.
- Pour the batter into the un-greased and un-lined angel food cake pan and using the rubber spatula, gently smooth out the top.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until slightly golden brown. The top should no longer be sticky.
- Invert the cake to sit on the ‘feet’ of the angel food cake pan. Let the cake cool inverted in the pan for at least 1 hour. Then, using a very thin paring knife (or offset spatula), run the knife along the edges of the cake – don’t forget around the tube in the middle! – and remove the cake from the pan. Place the cake top-side up, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Top with whipped cream and fresh fruit!Blueberry Whipped Coconut Cream
RECIPE NOTES
- Room temp egg whites – Egg whites whip up better when they are at room temperature.
- Be careful separating the eggs – Egg whites will not beat to peaks if there are any traces of egg yolk in the egg white. Further, any grease or oil that may be on your bowl or beaters will impact how the egg whites whip up. I recommend wiping your bowl and beaters with a little lemon juice or vinegar before using, to clean up any residue.
- Sift the cake flour and powdered sugar – This aerates and combines the two. The cake is light and fluffy and we want to make sure the dry ingredients are light and free of clumps.
- Fold the batter gently – You don’t want to undo all of your hard work to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks when adding the flour mix. Use a spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the eggs – this is easier on the batter than whisking.
- Use an angel food cake pan – The height of the pan gives you the classic angel food cake. And, the feet on the pan are instrumental to cool the cake upside down.
- Do not grease or line the cake pan – Greasing the pan has the potential to make the cake collapse and fall out of the pan when cooling it upside down. Part of what makes an angel food cake so tall is that the batter ‘crawls’ up the side of the pan when baking. Greasing the pan won’t allow this happen.
- Cool the cake upside down – Hence the feet on the angel food cake pan. And, cooling upside down prohibits the cake from collapsing on itself.
- Use a thin knife or offset spatula to remove the cake from the pan – Once the cake has cooled, using a smaller sharp utensil will help to separate the cake from the pan. Delicate cake equals delicate removal from the pan.
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about the author ...
I'm Erin and I'm all about desserts - and a little bit of butter!
I've tested, written, and photographed hundreds of recipes on my website. Here you'll find the tastiest small batch desserts - all homemade, all simple, and all for you! Click here to learn more about me!