Preview: Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache is a scratch angel food cake with a chocolate tunnel. Frost with whipped cream and chocolate ganache.
Except for a few attempts to win a blue ribbon in 4-H, I’ve always made angel food cakes from a mix. While it seems good enough most of the time, homemade angel food cake taste better (especially the batter.)
Besides, I’m tired of throwing away egg whites. So I resolved to learn how to bake a light and fluffy cake that rises so high it peeks over the side of the pan. Follow me and let’s do it.
Black and White Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache Icing is a classic angel food cake with a tunnel or layer of chocolate angel food cake running through it. Top it off with whipped cream icing and chocolate ganache. The whole experience will remind you of a dipped cone from the DQ.
Hey, come back here. If I can do it, you can too.
Yes, you can bake an angel food cake from scratch. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it’s also not that hard.
The basic recipe for angel food cake comes from my good friend, Joan.
I combined my friend Joan’s recipe for angel food cake with an interesting idea I saw on Confections of a Foodie Bride (she’s a fellow Texan who seems to like Mexican food as much as I do). In much the same way Foodie Bride did, I folded cocoa into part of the batter and carefully poured it over the vanilla batter to make an irregular but pretty pattern.
Here’s where it gets good:
Frost this cake with whipped cream icing, then drizzle with chocolate ganache. Thankfully, imperfect drizzling that actually feels a bit dangerous adds charm.
Try this for Valentine’s or Easter or any time you want a grand finale to a nice dinner.
Ingredients and substitutions:
- CAKE FLOUR: Cake flour contains less protein than all-purpose flour. If you must substitute, use 1 cup of all-purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons. Some people recommend replacing the 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. I have not tried that myself.
“Cakes made with lower-protein cake flour will have a finer, more tender crumb than those made with all-purpose flour.”
—Nigella - SUGAR: Granulated sugar will work. Superfine sugar is even better. Giving granulated sugar a spin in a food processor will result in superfine sugar. But don’t do it too long. You don’t want powdered sugar.
- EGG WHITES: They whip higher if allowed to come to room temperature.
Any speck of egg yolk will keep the egg whites from whipping. If you inadvertently drop some egg yolk into your egg white mixture, try using part of the shell to scoop it out. Works much better than a spoon. - CREAM OF TARTER: Cream of tartar helps to stabilize your egg whites. Don’t leave it out.
- SALT: I use Diamond Crystal Kosher salt in all my baking because it dissolves quickly. You can substitute table salt.
- ALMOND EXTRACT: This extract gives angel food cake its classic flavor.
- DUTCH CHOCOLATE COCOA: Use dark chocolate cocoa for maximum chocolate color and flavor. Regular cocoa can be substituted but the color contrast with the white batter will be less.
Layering the cake batter:
How to master the chocolate ganache “drizzle” technique:
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More recipes for cake lovers:
Coffee Angel Food Cake Recipe
This coffee-flavored angel food cake recipe is covered with coffee-flavored icing and studded with toasted almonds.
A Carrot Cake to Celebrate
This is our family recipe for carrot cake with cream cheese icing. A lighter version of cream cheese icing made with marshmallow creme is included.
Kay's Swiss Chocolate Cake--A Crowd Favorite
Kay's Swiss Chocolate Cake is a feather-light Swiss chocolate cake (mix) iced with whipped cream. It is my sister's most requested cake.
Did you enjoy this recipe? If so, you can help others and me by leaving a 5-star 🤩 rating in the comment section below. No comment is required.
p.s. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can email me privately: Paula at saladinajar.com.
Hope to see you again soon!
Paula
Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
Cake:
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1-1/2 cup sugar–divided - I like superfine
- 1-2/3 cup egg whites - 10-11 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons Dutch chocolate - sifted
Chocolate Ganache:
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
- 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate bar
Whipped Cream Icing:
- 1-1/2 cup heavy cream - chilled
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cake:
- Sift together cake flour and 3/4 cup sugar. Using stand mixer and wire attachment, begin mixing egg whites and cream of tartar on low for one minute. Add salt. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until egg whites are thick and billowy.
- With mixer running, pour the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar in from the side–slowly. Continue beating egg whites until glossy and soft peaks gently tip over when you pull the wire beater up. Add extracts and turn the mixer on for a couple of seconds to incorporate.
- Use your largest rubber spatula to delicately and carefully fold sifted flour and sugar into whipped egg whites. I add only about 1/4 cup of the flour and sugar mixture at a time. Slice with spatula perpendicular to whites down to bottom of bowl and turn spatula slightly to pull up batter from the bottom and lay over the top.
- Turn bowl 1/4 turn and repeat slice with spatula until flour and egg whites are just mixed. The folding process should be done with patience and a light hand. Practice helps. If you overdo the mixing, your cake won’t be as high as your hopes.
- Pour slightly more than half of cake batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan with a removable bottom. Use a spoon to draw a trough around the middle. Carefully fold sifted cocoa into remaining batter until completely mixed. (Do not skip the sifting or you will have little chunks of cocoa in your batter.) Fill trough with the chocolate batter and then smooth over the top.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately turn over to cool for several hours. I recommend overnight. Use a firm hand and a skinny knife to loosen cake from edges of pan and invert cake onto cake plate.
Chocolate Ganache:
- Heat heavy cream in small glass bowl for 1 minute in microwave oven. Add chocolate bar broken in several pieces to hot cream and allow to sit and melt while you ice the cake.
- When chocolate is completely melted use small wire whisk or spoon to mix making small circles at first, then larger and finally, mixing chocolate and cream until smooth.
Whipped Cream Icing:
- Whip cream in chilled bowl with wire attachment. When thick with soft peaks, add powdered sugar and whip until cream makes stiff peaks. Go too far and whipped cream will be dry looking or turn into butter. Watch it! Spread smoothly over angel food cake.
Assembly:
- Pour warm chocolate ganache into a small Ziplock bag. Snip one corner about 1/4 inch. (Eyeball it.) Turn over a cereal bowl and practice running chocolate along the edge till you get the effect you want. If it's too thick to make nice "runs", add a few drops of warm cream. If too thin, let cool a while longer.
- Here is where it gets a little tricky. Run ganache along the upper/outer edge of cake. Slowly squirt ganache from the small hole in the corner of your Ziplock bag making "runs and drips" around the entire cake. Do the inner edge the same way. Squirt the remainder of ganache over top of cake and the cake. Then, use a spoon to spread the ganache quickly and evenly.
- You have a small window to get it smooth because the cold whip cream icing will harden the ganache on contact. Chill at least one hour before serving. Best eaten within 24 hours but still amazingly good for a couple days.
Randi Harrity
Wednesday 20th of October 2021
Can you make this in a bundt cake pan?
Paula
Thursday 21st of October 2021
Hi Randi, Good question. When making angel food cake, using an ungreased pan with straight sides enables the batter to climb the side more successfully. Hopefully, this results in a light and fluffy cake. That might happen with a bundt cake pan, too. I haven't tried it. However, there is the issue of getting the cake out of the pan without damaging it. The batter sticks to the sides like glue once baked because you haven't greased the pan. With straight sides, it is easy to run a thin knife around the edge. When you separate the bottom from the sides (thanks to the way an angel food cake pan is made), again, it will be easy to separate the cake from the flat bottom. I'm thinking it will be most difficult to extract an angel food cake from a bundt pan without damaging it. If you try it, please send me a picture. I would love to know how it works.
Tip: I was at a thrift store last week and saw several angel food cake pans on sale for pennies. You could try it for not many $$.
Janice
Sunday 27th of January 2019
I made this cake for my daughter's 30th birthday. The first time I made an angel food cake from scatch. It was easy to follow your directions. It was a huge hit. Thanks for sharing
Piper@GotItCookIt
Sunday 27th of January 2019
How did I miss this cake? It looks fantastic!!! I have never made an angel food cake (gulp)... I need to just do it. I've had an angel food cake PAN for 20 years... now that is just crazy. This is the recipe to try first.
Alexis
Thursday 6th of February 2014
my cake won't whip to soft peaks!! what did i do wrong???
Patricia
Wednesday 29th of January 2014
Thank you for this recipe. I was a first-timer in the angel food cake "department" and did this recipe as instructed. It turned out pretty good for my first time, I must admit. The Icing and Ganache are to die for and I will be using them on other cake recipes from here on out.
Thank you so much!! I was scared but with your help, I made my first angel food cake!