This recipe for light-as-air angel food cupcakes is a wonderful choice if you’re looking for a delightful summer dessert. Topped with fluffy whipped cream and fresh berries, these cupcakes are both refreshing and beautiful.
If we’re talking dessert (and we usually are), we know summer is home to many seasonal favorites. This is the time for key lime pie, peach cobbler, cherry pie, strawberry shortcake, and the list goes on. (Here’s our full summer recipes section.)
Angel food cake is another popular summertime choice. Topped with whipped cream and served with fresh fruit, it is truly the epitome of light summer sweets. So, can we turn our angel food cake into cupcakes without compromising the taste and texture? The answer, we discovered, is yes.
Angel Food Cupcakes Details
- Texture: These angel food cupcakes are cloudlike puffy and fluffy. We’re almost certain you could skip the pool floats this summer because you’ll float away after 1 bite. Ha!
- Flavor: You’ll enjoy a delicately sweet flavor with a lovely hint of vanilla. If our taste buds are anything alike, we’re confident these will be the tastiest angel food cupcakes you try.
- Ease: These cupcakes are completely made from scratch with just 7 ingredients. But we can’t achieve this perfection for free. We need to get our sugar superfine, sift and aerate dry ingredients, whip the egg whites, and in general, handle our batter with care. Because there’s a couple finicky steps, we call this an intermediate baking recipe.
Recipe Testing Angel Food Cupcakes: What Works & What Doesn’t
Prepared without any fat like butter, oil, or egg yolks, angel food cupcakes rely on specific ingredients and careful mixing methods.
Now sift in the dry ingredients in stages, gently folding together after each addition to make a foamy batter:
Angel Food Cupcake Quick Tips
We know that was a lot to take in under Recipe Testing just above. Here is a cheat sheet.
. the light and fluffy cupcake. Taking a few extra minutes to correctly prepare the recipe makes all the difference.
Toppings
We use and recommend homemade whipped cream as the frosting. You don’t want anything to weigh down or take away from these light cupcakes. Something just as light, or even lighter, keeps the spotlight on the angel food cupcakes themselves.
You could also spoon lemon curd on top or serve them with strawberry sauce.
Angel Food Cupcakes Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower position and preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners. Line a second pan with 2-4 liners – this recipe makes about 14-16 cupcakes. Set aside.
- In a food processor or blender (I use this one), pulse the sugar until fine and powdery. Remove 1/2 cup and set aside to use in step 3; keep the rest inside the food processor. Add the cake flour and salt to the food processor. Pulse 5-10 times until sugar/flour/salt mixture is aerated and light.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip egg whites, water, and cream of tartar together on medium low until foamy, about 1 minute. Switch to medium-high and slowly add the 1/2 cup of sugar. Whip until soft peaks form, about 5-6 minutes.. Add the vanilla extract and beat just until incorporated.
- In several additions, slowly sift the flour mixture into the egg white mixture using a fine-mesh strainer, gently folding after each addition. To avoid the cupcakes from deflating or tasting dense, don’t add the flour mixture all at once. Sift and very slowly fold in several additions. This is important! Spoon batter into liners, filling only 2/3 full to avoid spilling over the sides.
- Bake the cupcakes until very lightly browned around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. For around 3 dozen mini cupcakes, bake for about 10-12 minutes, same oven temperature.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Spread or pipe homemade whipped cream onto cupcakes.. Garnish with fresh berries.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
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