Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake

I am beginning to think that almost any bread or cake recipe can be changed to make it gluten-free. It just takes some time and maybe a couple of flops now and again, to make a recipe that even my (sometimes) hard to please family will enjoy.

With this mindset I resolved to make a gluten-free Angel Food Cake from an old family recipe given to me by my mother-in-law.

It is a recipe that she got from the Swans Down Cake Flour box. I have used it with great success over the years and I really appreciate my husband's mom for giving me this great recipe. I also found it in a cookbook someone gave me years ago called, Best Recipes From the backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars, by Ceil Dyer.

Long ago I wore out the paper I wrote the recipe on and I have now cracked the binding of my book. I can always open the book right to the Angel Food Cake recipe page. While I know the recipe came from Swans Down, I consider it my mother-in-law's recipe.

My gluten-free Angel Food Cake closely follows my old recipe but I used alternate flours and created a cake that closely equals the Angel Food Cake I have made through the years.

By the way, Angel Food Cake is so much better homemade than store bought. I will admit that when it is raining or when I am pressed for time I have been very thankful for a store-bought Angel Food Cake -- especially when I bought it at Publix.

I also want to add by way of a disclaimer that this is not a Vegan recipe. It contains egg whites -- which incidentally is the part of the egg that more people are allergic to -- but I digress.

There are some tips you should know when making an Angel Food Cake:

Never make one when it is raining.

Make sure you use a stand mixer -- not a hand-mixer. (My mother-in-law used to hand whip egg whites. She is a super-human. Maybe an Iron Chef can do it and certainly Julia Child could do it but normal people like me can't whip egg whites by hand. I wouldn't even try. That is why God allowed man to invent the mixer!) Above is an example of eggs beaten until stiff peaks form. They stand straight up and don't curl or bend. That is what you need for an Angel Food Cake.

When making a regular Angel Food Cake with wheat flour ALWAYS use cake flour like Swans Down. Regular flour can work but it usually isn't quite as light and fluffy as when using cake flour.

Make sure you have a sifter. You MUST sift the flour like the directions say -- even when using cake flour. Sifting is not any fun but it doesn't take that long and is not really that hard.

Be sure NOT to get any yolks mixed in with your egg whites. They will not whip and you will be wasting your time. I always break my eggs on a small plate or bowl and then pour the egg white into my mixing bowl. I wait until I am sure the yolk is not broken. I have thrown away a whole dozen eggs before because I broke all the eggs and caught the white into one big bowl. Then when separating the last egg, the yolk broke and it fell into the bowl with the rest of the egg whites. I thought it was a tragedy at the time but I learned a very hard lesson.

When making a gluten-free Angel Food Cake be sure to use light flours. The flours I used are only suggestions. Use your favorites but make sure it is the lighter ones. I used mostly garbanzo/fava and potato starch. I was concerned that tapioca would be too gummy, but I may be wrong. I only used a small amount. Sorghum is not very light but it has a sweet flavor which makes it good for making sweets so that is why I chose that flour. Brown rice flour will be too heavy and grainy but white rice flour might be a good option. They are making new superfine versions of white rice flour to make products lighter so I might try it later with that.

And last, Angel Food Cakes are not hard to make and they are worth it.

Now for the recipes.

First the recipe from the Swans Down Cake Flour:

Angel Food Cake
(From Swans Down)

1-1/4 cups sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups (about 12) egg whites (at room temperature)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1-1/3 cups sugar
Frosting or Glaze

Sift flour with 1/2 cup sugar four times. Combine egg whites, salt, cream of tartar and flavorings in a large bowl. Beat with a flat wire whip, rotary beater or high speed of electric mixer until moist and glossy; soft peaks will form. Add 1-1/3 cups sugar, sprinkling in 1/3 cup at a time and beating until blended after each addition, about 25 strokes by hand. Sift in flour mixture in four additions, folding in with 15 complete fold-over stokes after each addition and turning bowl often. After last addition, use 10 to 0 extra strokes. Pour into an un-greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed lightly. Invert on rack and cool thoroughly. Then remove from pan and frost.

Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake

(I used Bob's Red Mill flours for this cake, pictured above)

1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour

1/2 cup potato starch

2 tablespoons sorghum flour

1-1/2 tablespoons tapioca flour

1/2 cup sugar

12 egg whites (at room temperature)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1-1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/3 cups sugar

Sift flour with 1/2 cup sugar four times. Combine egg whites, salt, cream of tartar and vanilla flavoring in large mixer bowl. Beat on the high speed of an electric mixer until moist, glossy soft peaks form. Add 1-1/3 cups sugar, sprinkling in 1/3 cup at a time and beating after each addition. With the mixer on lowest setting add flour mixture in four additions, beating just until blended. Pour into an un-greased 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the top springs back when pressed lightly. Invert on rack and cool thoroughly.

I usually top a slice of cake with strawberries and whipped cream. For this recipe I would suggest coconut whipped cream. It is better for people with milk allergies.