Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake

The last time I had angel food cake was a good five or six years ago.  To say that I missed it would be a huge understatement.  I remember going through a phase in high school where I made it constantly (from a box) for my dad and I.  We loved it!  Of course, this was before I found out that it was hurting me to eat it.  So, as I discovered I could no longer eat that, and many other delicious cakes, I eventually forgot about them all together, writing them off as a lost cause.  Until recently, I was searching on the web for new gluten-free recipes to try, and I came across a recipe for gluten-free angel food cake on www.glutenfreemommy.com. (She has some other amazing recipes on there and great info!) I went out as soon as I could to get all the ingredients and tools to make it.  I set aside a couple of hours to do this not knowing how long it would take in case I made any mistakes.  Baking the cake alone takes almost an hour, which of course I hope you would use that hour to do something other than staring at the oven, but be mindful of the time so the top of your cake doesn’t get crispy! Anyway! Here it is….



Ingredients:

• ¼ cup Millet Flour
• ½ cup Tapioca Flour (www.glutenfreemommy.com calls for ¼ tapioca and ¼ white rice flour, I don’t really care for white or brown rice flour so I took a shot by doubling up the tapioca flour)
• ¼ Sweet Rice Flour
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum
• 12 egg whites at room temperature (she specified this on her website, but I have read elsewhere that baking with room temperature eggs always makes for better baked goods)
• 1 ½ tsp. Cream of Tartar
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tbls. Vanilla (McCormick is gluten-free)
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar

First, separate your egg whites from the yoke in a bowl to give them enough time to come to room temperature.  Nesxt, set your oven to preheat to 325° .  In another bowl, mix together all of your flour, salt, xanthan gum, and half of your sugar.  Make sure to mix it really well so that you don’t have spots of certain flours stuck together.  Next, beat your egg whites until they are foamy and then add in your cream of tartar. Try adding in the cream of tartar a little bit at a time, I just tossed mine in there and it didn’t mix up very well.  After it is added you should beat your eggs until they form peaks.  After that, slowly add in the other half of your sugar that you didn’t mix with your flour.  Beat until peaks form again.  Once this happens start to slowly add in your flour mixture and then the vanilla.  Be sure to check your mixing bowl as you go so you don’t miss any dry ingredients that may have stuck to the sides.  When everything is mixed together, pour your batter into your angel food cake pan.  Run through the batter with a spatula or knife to get any air bubbles out (never knew to do this; awesome trick!).  Stick it in the oven and bake for 50-55 minutes. The top of your cake should be a pretty golden color when it’s done.  Take it out and let it cool before removing it from the pan. 

This recipe was pretty easy to follow.  My attempt at it didn’t go exactly as the directions said it should, but it still turned out really good! My egg whites never formed peaks when I added in the cream of tartar or sugar, they just stayed foamy.  I think that happened because I dumped the cream of tartar in really fast.  I’ll have to try it differently next time.  It didn’t seem to make too much of a difference, though.  It didn’t rise as high as a wheat flour version would, but I will say it tasted just as good (the Hubs thought so, too)!  Mine turned out a little lopsided cause some batter leaked out of one side of the pan while it was baking.  Next time I’ll just add some food coloring and serve it at a Mad Hatter themed tea party!  Foamy eggs and the uneven level aside, it turned out great.  I threw on some cool whip and cut up strawberries to finish it off.  Make this for yourself or surprise a friend or family member that can’t eat gluten! If you do, let me know how it turns out!