Party Angel Food Cake

Rainbow sprinkles, crunchy hazelnuts, and smooth chocolate ganache makes this a PARTY angel food cake.

SBA followers: I’ve got a new post up in my photography section today. ♥

Prepare your eyes! Your tastebuds! Your stomach!

I’ve been working on perfecting angel food cake for the past few months and to finally reveal my beloved recipe, I obviously had to add some flair.

Sally sprinkle style.

Do you like angel food cake? I personally love it with strawberries and whipped cream. No more, no less. That’s how my mom always made it. When my friends at Diamond of California asked me to prepare a fun sprinkle-loaded cake, I combined my (1) determination to perfect angel food cake (2) monstrous craving for chocolate and (3) obsession with all things rainbow. PS: these sprinkles are from Sweetapolita!

You might be an angel food cake purist, but if you’re not. This recipe is for you! Today I’m sharing the fluffiest angel food cake. So fluffy that it’s like bouncing on clouds with a huge smile and a fork in hand. In a totally non-creepy way of course. To this light-as-air cake, I added rainbow sprinkles, rich chocolate ganache, and crunchy hazelnuts.

I didn’t know how else to describe this recipe other than the word PARTY.

Angel food cake is nothing to take lightly. This cake is so particular! I don’t want to intimidate you, I simply want to encourage you to try something new and exciting. And I’m here to help guide you! Let me tell you a few things I’ve learned.

First, angel food cake is mostly all egg whites. Beaten egg whites, whipped to fluffy oblivion. Make sure there are no yolks whatsoever. None! There’s no baking powder or soda– rather, angel food cake depends on air and steam for leavening.

There’s also flour, salt, sugar, cream of tartar, and vanilla. That’s it. For an extraordinarily fluffy cake, I’ve learned that it’s important to use cake flour– the lightest of all flour varieties. Using all-purpose flour produced a dense, almost bread-like texture. Not good. Just… not.

I’ve also learned that it’s important to aerate the ingredients to obtain that soft sponge cake texture. By aerate, I mean fluff up the flour and sugar. You know, make it lighter. Process the sugar in a food processor until powdery, then process the flour and salt. Pulse it just a few times to incorporate air. The aerated ingredients will dissolve quicker in the whipped egg whites. Meaning– the egg whites won’t deflate and lose their shape.

Look at this fluffball batter!

It’s like marshmallows, unicorns, and puffy pillows all in one.

It’s nearly impossible waiting for this cake to cool! Actually, one thing about cooling. Make sure you cool the cake upside down. Angel food cake is so light that it can be crushed by its own weight. Always cool it upside down.

Ok. Now the ganache! Unlike angel food cake, chocolate ganache requires little thought or work. It’s only 2 ingredients: chocolate and heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream/double cream). Use pure chocolate. With only two ingredients, it’s important to make sure they are quality. I use semi-sweet chocolate for a dark chocolate flavor; use milk chocolate for a sweeter ganache. But trust me– dark semi-sweet is ridiculously good with this light angel food cake!

And finally, a garnish of sprinkles and hazelnuts are the final invitees to the angel food cake party. It’s never a party without some confetti right?? For added flavor, toast those hazelnuts.

This cake is a texture lover’s dream come true. Light cake, silky smooth dark chocolate ganache, crunchy hazelnuts, and sweet sprinkles. It’s a party like no other.

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Party Angel Food Cake

Yield: serves 10-12

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours, 10 minutes (includes cooling)

Rainbow sprinkles, crunchy hazelnuts, and smooth chocolate ganache makes this fluffy angel food cake a huge party!

Print Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake

• 1 and 3/4 cups (350g) granulated sugar


• 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons (130g) cake flour (measured correctly)


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 12 large egg whites (room temperature)*


• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar


• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


• 2/3 cup (127g) rainbow sprinkles*

Ganache +Topping

• 8 ounces (226g) semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped*


• 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream


• 1/2 cup (75g) chopped hazelnuts, such as Diamond of California hazelnuts


• rainbow sprinkles

Special Equipment

• 10-inch angel food cake pan (aka tube pan)*

 

Directions:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position and preheat oven to 325°F (163°C).


2. Make the cake: In a food processor or blender, pulse the sugar until fine and powdery. Remove 1 cup and set aside to use in step 3; keep the rest inside the food processor. Add the flour and salt to the food processor. Pulse 5-10 times until aerated and light.


3. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar together on medium low until foamy, about 1 minute. Switch to medium-high and slowly add the 1 cup of sugar.  Whip until soft peaks form, about 5-6 minutes (see photo above for visual). Add the vanilla and beat just until combined.


4. Sift the flour mixture into the egg white mixture. Sift slowly in 3 additions, while gently folding it in with a rubber spatula. Then, very gently fold in the sprinkles. Scrape mixture into a 10-inch angel food cake pan. (Don't grease the pan!)


5. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 40-46 minutes. Make sure you rotate the pan halfway through baking. Cool the cake completely upside-down set on a wire rack, about 3 hours. Once cooled, run a thin knife around the edges and gently tap the pan on the counter until the cake releases.


6. Make the ganache: Place chopped chocolate into a large bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once it begins to boil, immediately remove from heat then pour over the chocolate. Stir gently and slowly using a wooden spoon until the ganache is smooth. Allow it to cool for 15 minutes. During this time, it will slowly thicken. Then pour or spoon over the cake. Top with sprinkles and hazelnuts. There will likely be leftover ganache. It's great over ice cream!


7. Cover leftover cake and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.


8. Make ahead tip: Prepare the angel food cake one day in advance and cover tightly at room temperature overnight. The ganache can also be prepared in advance; cover and keep in the refrigerator overnight. Then, warm up before drizzling over cake. Angel food cake can be frozen up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Recipe Notes:

1. I strongly recommend using real egg whites instead of egg white substitutes or egg whites from a carton. For the extra yolks, you can make pudding (great recipe in my cookbook), hollandaise, batches of cookies, or some of these recipes.


2. Make sure you use rainbow jimmies (the long strand sprinkles) or quins (the flat circle/shaped sprinkles). I find both don't bleed their color nearly as quickly as nonpareils (the little balls). For this cake, I used these.


3. Use high quality pure chocolate. Do not use cheap chocolate chips. You need the real thing here!


4. An angel food cake pan (aka tube pan) is imperative. Do not use a bundt pan or a regular cake pan. Angel food cake's structure and stability needs the pan's particular specifications. Some angel food cake pans come with little feet, which makes cooling the cake upside down easy. Mine does not. I simply cool the cake upside down on a wire rack. No problems there.

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

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This chocolate ganache. You’ll eat it straight from the bowl.

Bye bye current size pants.

I’m working with Diamond of California to bring you this recipe!

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