There’s something truly heavenly about a fluffy angel food cake. It’s so delicate–light, airy, and fluffy. Angel food cake offers just a hint of sweetness amongst a tasty sponge. Low in carbohydrates, high in protein, and the absence of fat makes this cake a popular choice for a healthy dessert option. This blueberry orange angel food cake is a sure winner, bursting with fresh fruits and vanilla whipped cream.
Typical angel food cakes are baked in a special pan and yield large portions. But in reality, I often struggle finding justification in baking such large quantities for a small group of people (party of one, here!). But mini angel food cake pans are pricey and single-functional, not something I’d want to keep in my kitchen just for the occasional craving… So I was so incredibly pleased to find that I could bake perfectly risen angel food cakes in regular cake pans!
To clarify, the cake pans are best in smaller sizes, 6″ rounds and smaller. And it’s also important to not have non-stick coatings or any oils or fats in the pan. Why? Recall that angel food cake is leavened and gains structure primarily through a french meringue. This means, that the batter needs the ability to cling to the sides of a cake pan during the baking process to maintain its rise. A cake pan too large will result in a center that droops down, while oils or fats in the pan will prevent the batter from clinging and cause the entire cake to fall flat.
I’m happy to report that the 6″ layer blueberry orange angel food cake was both a beautiful and delicious success! A hint of citrus, macerated fresh blueberries, and slices of juicy oranges made for an incredibly light and guilt-free dessert! I ate more that I’d care to admit in one sitting… but that’s a different story.
Do you have any favorite healthy desserts, or fun tips on how to downsize large, tricky recipes? I’d love to hear from you so please leave your thoughts in the comments below! Thanks for dropping by and please visit again soon!
– E
- 5 (~180 g) egg whites, room temperature
- ¾ tsp cream of tartar
- ¾ c (165 g) granulated sugar, divided (1/4 c + 2 Tbs each portion, about 83 g)
- ½ c cake flour (60 g)
- pinch salt
- 3 drops (1/8 tsp) orange extract
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 300 g heavy cream, cold
- 45 g powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla OR ¼ vanilla bean, seeds scraped
- 1 c fresh blueberries
- 1 Tbs granulated sugar
- 1 Tbs orange juice
- ½ orange, thinly sliced
- orange zest
- Preheat oven to 325F. Line two 6-inch cake rounds with parchment on the bottom, but DO NOT grease. Any grease will prevent the cake from "crawling up" and rising.
- In a separate bowl, combine and sift cake flour and remaining one portion of divided sugar.
- In a stand mixer, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar on med-low until frothy.
- To the egg whites, slowly add in salt and the other portion of divided sugar (in three additions) and whip to meringue with medium peaks. Add extracts as meringue approaches medium peaks. Meringue should be shiny and maintain its peaks. (If you're brave, when the bowl is inverted, the meringue should not fall out!)
- Fold dry ingredients into meringue. Do not overfold to maintain volume.
- Divide batter into two cake pans. Run knife through the batter to remove air pockets.
- Bake 25- 30 minutes until tops are golden brown, do not appear wet, springs back to touch, and an inserted toothpick/skewer comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. If possible, cool upside-down in pan to avoid deflation.
- When cool, loosen edges with a small spatula or knife and unmold.
- Combine all ingredients together and whip until soft peaks form.
- Optionally transfer to pastry bag to pipe.
- Combine all ingredients together in bowl.
- Let sit 1-2 hours to macerate blueberries.
- Place one 6-inch cake on a cake board.
- Apply a generous layer of vanilla whipped cream. Add a generous layer of macerated blueberries on top of the whipped cream layer.
- Place the second cake layer on top.
- Again, apply a generous layer of vanilla whipped cream. Pile macerated blueberries in the center of the cake and decorate with thin orange slices and orange zest.
- Cut, serve, and enjoy!
- Leftovers can be loosely covered in plastic and stored in the fridge for 3-5 days.
This cake is so delicious. I made it in the 2 separate pans first and mine came out looking very wonky but tasting so amazing. Few days later I used the same exact recipe but baked it in a tall 6” springform, just adjusted the bake time (started checking at 20, think it went to 31) and had to use a chopstick to check for doneness bc it was so tall. Absolutely delicious and excellent texture… soft and fluffy but strong enough to handle torting with a SUPER sharp knife (not serrated, that would’ve torn it to bits). Thanks so much for the recipe!
Hi Emma! Thanks so much for the kind words! I’m sorry to hear that it didn’t come out when separating the batter, but I’m glad to hear it worked with the springform pan–I can only imagine how tall it got! :)
so beautiful!!
you and the cake!!!