It does look really good. Cutting into it while warm might have created the issue. That can haven with breads, but Im not sure if the same applies to a cake like this.
Did you let it cool (in the pan) upside down? It still looks good to me but they can collapse to one degree or another if not inverted while cooling. Many pans have little 'feet' on them to help with air flow but we always used to stick a glass pop bottle into the hole in the middle to hold it up.
My pan has those feet and I always invert it, but I feel like it gets little soggy due to condensation building up on the countertop from the warm cake. Using a bottle solves that and is by far the best way đ
I made one yesterday too and mine was a little soggy on the bottom. Definitely saw it on the serving dish. I remember my mom telling me not to wake on when the humidity is high. It was high since it was rain yesterday my me. I made one 3 weeks ago and no problem with the condensation. It was a sunny day lol
Donât know about other designs but my panâs feet are pointy so they go through the cooling rack holes. Even if they donât, I think itâs still not enough space.
The bottle just goes on the counter but you could put it on a plate, I suppose. The pan with the cake is inverted over it, with the top of the bottle's neck inserted into the middle hole of the pan. It's a little precarious but should work out unless you knock it over.
Oh, btw, you may know this already but you shouldn't grease the pan for angel food cake. It needs to climb up the sides.
It doesn't fall out of the pan. When it's cool, you have to run a dull knife around the edges (flip it back over to do that and then invert again). Then the cake will come out with the middle part of the pan still attached. You run a knife between the cake and the center part of the pan and then it should be totally free.
This answers a lot. My grandmother always used her footed pan, and I guess in my mind's eye, it was a long drop from the top of an old Coke bottle. But you're right, it doesn't just tumble out and fall 5 or 6 inches onto your countertop! Can't wait to try this out!!
Glad to help. Check out whichever episode of the Great British Baking Show/Off (title differed depending on the country of viewing) where they did the angel food cake. LOTS of learning by experience went on, LOL. I felt bad for them but it was kind of funny to see the results, too.
Then my second guess would be a mixing issue. Did you fold in the dry ingredients with all the egg whites at once? You might try separating about a third of the whites, folding in your dry mix to that at intervals, and then folding in that mixture to the remainder of the egg whites. If you did all that, too, maybe try a different recipe if you're still not happy?
The angel food cakes I've made at home are not exactly the same texture as store-bought so if that's what you're expecting, I'm not sure it's possible. I've wondered if adding dough conditioner would change anything but I've never tried it. That said, I'd be very happy to have one turn out like yours. I wouldn't have thought it needed any of what I suggested if you hadn't asked about it.
Cool it upside down to keep it big. Also, the first few times I made angel food cake it came out more like pound cake despite that, and I learned as soon as I put in the cream of tartar it needs to immediately go in the oven, and that was the biggest thing that helped mine be poofy
the angel food cake looks as if god himself came down and handed it to you after you saved like an entire city. i love angel food cake but sweet heavens i would throw a boulder for that.
Probably didn't pop out cause it wasn't greased maybe? Idk if that's a thing with angel food cake as I've never made one before. But personally I always grease my pans with crisco and flour then when baking cakes so it could help.
Angel food cake is different- because there's no leavening agent the air that gets whipped into the egg whites is the only air that's gonna be in the cake. As it heats and expands the batter actually *needs* to stick to the sides of the pan in order for it not to collapse and release all the air. There's no fat in an angel food cake also for this reason, the air needs to be as trapped as possible. At the end, after cooling fully, the cake gets cut out of the pan.
Whiskeyed77 definitely *didn't* want the cake to fall out of the pan, I think they must have meant that some previous cake actually did fall out when cooling. It's hard for me to imagine how that could happen... There must have been some fat in the mix, maybe?
Edit: fixed typos
That's cool! I didn't know that, thank you for the in depth explanation! I've never made one myself so I wasn't sure, I make like pound cakes/sponge cakes. đ
Listen, I'll be right over with some strawberries, and after eating a big old slice of what looks to be a perfectly light angel food cake, I'll let you know how to fix it. Actually, right after my second slice.
Angel food cake is my specialty. Iâm not perfect but itâs my favorite go to that people ask for often. Always looking for ways to improve it. I now do mine gluten free and itâs better than ever.
Itâs hard to tell from your picture what kind of raise it has. Most of everyone here has already provided the best tips. Humidity in the air can also play a factor. Keep it low otherwise you wonât get a good rise.
Looks perfect to me. Remember that homemade will never be as fluffy as boxed for basically any baked good because of the added chemicals. But that doesnt mean the homemade thing is bad. This is a perfect homemade angel foodcake. Looks awesome. Next time swap out 1/4 cup of flour for cocoa powder to have chocolate angel foodcake. Its awesome too.
It looks ok to me but maybe use caster sugar instead of powdered? I donât know what recipe you are following but all recipes I know of angel food cake use caster/super fine sugar. Have you used cream of tartar to stabilize the egg whites?
Here are some other tips:
⢠Donât fold it too much, just until dry ingredients get incorporated into the whipped egg whites so that you donât lose air bubbles.
⢠Never open the oven door in the first 50% of baking time.
⢠When done baking, invert it upside down on a tall glass bottle to prenvent collapse and let it cool down completely. Avoid touching it for 2 hours.
Hope this helps.
Caster sugar (also known as bakerâs sugar or superfine sugar) is ground more finely than granulated sugar, but not as finely as powdered or confectionersâ sugar (also known as icing sugar). Powdered sugar traditionally does not contain an anti-caking agent, but nowadays itâs sometimes treated as a synonym for confectionersâ sugar, which necessarily does contain an anti-caking agent (generally either a starch of some kind or tricalcium phosphate).
Caster sugar which I think called super fine sugar in the US is different than confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar in Europe). Caster sugar is a fine sugar, similar to fine sand but doesnât have the texture of cornstarch like powdered sugar. It is somewhere in the middle between granulated and powdered sugar.
overmixing the flour (must very gently fold in) or not allowing to cool *completely* while upside down before serving are the most common culprits for mine going flat... but yours looks good imo!
My Mom would round up my siblings & I and make us play in the basement or outside while she baked Angel food, because she said us kids running around while her cake was in the oven would make it flop or not rise properly.
Flat? It looks perfect.
It does look really good. Cutting into it while warm might have created the issue. That can haven with breads, but Im not sure if the same applies to a cake like this.
Did you let it cool (in the pan) upside down? It still looks good to me but they can collapse to one degree or another if not inverted while cooling. Many pans have little 'feet' on them to help with air flow but we always used to stick a glass pop bottle into the hole in the middle to hold it up.
My pan has those feet and I always invert it, but I feel like it gets little soggy due to condensation building up on the countertop from the warm cake. Using a bottle solves that and is by far the best way đ
I always thought the bottle was a requirement
I made one yesterday too and mine was a little soggy on the bottom. Definitely saw it on the serving dish. I remember my mom telling me not to wake on when the humidity is high. It was high since it was rain yesterday my me. I made one 3 weeks ago and no problem with the condensation. It was a sunny day lol
Spellcheck messed up âbake itâ
Hmmm thatâs an interesting discovery, thanks for sharing it. Inverting the cake on a bottle seems more crucial to me after knowing that đ
Why not just put it on a cooling rack? That way condensation doesnât build up?
Donât know about other designs but my panâs feet are pointy so they go through the cooling rack holes. Even if they donât, I think itâs still not enough space.
Are the feet on the open end?
I usually put my pans on a cooling rack or on a stove burner to cool.
I'm so curious. Did you set the bottle on a plate? Where did the cake land when it came out? That's so interesting.
The bottle just goes on the counter but you could put it on a plate, I suppose. The pan with the cake is inverted over it, with the top of the bottle's neck inserted into the middle hole of the pan. It's a little precarious but should work out unless you knock it over. Oh, btw, you may know this already but you shouldn't grease the pan for angel food cake. It needs to climb up the sides. It doesn't fall out of the pan. When it's cool, you have to run a dull knife around the edges (flip it back over to do that and then invert again). Then the cake will come out with the middle part of the pan still attached. You run a knife between the cake and the center part of the pan and then it should be totally free.
This answers a lot. My grandmother always used her footed pan, and I guess in my mind's eye, it was a long drop from the top of an old Coke bottle. But you're right, it doesn't just tumble out and fall 5 or 6 inches onto your countertop! Can't wait to try this out!!
Glad to help. Check out whichever episode of the Great British Baking Show/Off (title differed depending on the country of viewing) where they did the angel food cake. LOTS of learning by experience went on, LOL. I felt bad for them but it was kind of funny to see the results, too.
Cooled upside down. Pan has "feet"
Then my second guess would be a mixing issue. Did you fold in the dry ingredients with all the egg whites at once? You might try separating about a third of the whites, folding in your dry mix to that at intervals, and then folding in that mixture to the remainder of the egg whites. If you did all that, too, maybe try a different recipe if you're still not happy? The angel food cakes I've made at home are not exactly the same texture as store-bought so if that's what you're expecting, I'm not sure it's possible. I've wondered if adding dough conditioner would change anything but I've never tried it. That said, I'd be very happy to have one turn out like yours. I wouldn't have thought it needed any of what I suggested if you hadn't asked about it.
Not folded in at once. Maybe just different because I didn't use soft as silk.
Cool it upside down to keep it big. Also, the first few times I made angel food cake it came out more like pound cake despite that, and I learned as soon as I put in the cream of tartar it needs to immediately go in the oven, and that was the biggest thing that helped mine be poofy
the angel food cake looks as if god himself came down and handed it to you after you saved like an entire city. i love angel food cake but sweet heavens i would throw a boulder for that.
Looks pretty good to me. I just made this disaster. At least this one stayed in the pan: https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/s/9KVsexvlMW
Just curious, were you using a springform pan?
Nope. Aluminum angel food pan. Ungreased.
Probably didn't pop out cause it wasn't greased maybe? Idk if that's a thing with angel food cake as I've never made one before. But personally I always grease my pans with crisco and flour then when baking cakes so it could help.
Angel food cakes shouldn't be greased as it allows the batter to cling to the sides of the pan as it bakes.
Gotcha! Hopefully you can figure out what works for you. đ
Angel food cake is different- because there's no leavening agent the air that gets whipped into the egg whites is the only air that's gonna be in the cake. As it heats and expands the batter actually *needs* to stick to the sides of the pan in order for it not to collapse and release all the air. There's no fat in an angel food cake also for this reason, the air needs to be as trapped as possible. At the end, after cooling fully, the cake gets cut out of the pan. Whiskeyed77 definitely *didn't* want the cake to fall out of the pan, I think they must have meant that some previous cake actually did fall out when cooling. It's hard for me to imagine how that could happen... There must have been some fat in the mix, maybe? Edit: fixed typos
That's cool! I didn't know that, thank you for the in depth explanation! I've never made one myself so I wasn't sure, I make like pound cakes/sponge cakes. đ
Just taking a guess, but maybe it had less flour at the bottom?
Looks perfect
Seiving that many times shouldn't help. but over mixing will cause issues.
Listen, I'll be right over with some strawberries, and after eating a big old slice of what looks to be a perfectly light angel food cake, I'll let you know how to fix it. Actually, right after my second slice.
Iâm drooling over here!!! It looks so good!!!
Angel food cake is my specialty. Iâm not perfect but itâs my favorite go to that people ask for often. Always looking for ways to improve it. I now do mine gluten free and itâs better than ever. Itâs hard to tell from your picture what kind of raise it has. Most of everyone here has already provided the best tips. Humidity in the air can also play a factor. Keep it low otherwise you wonât get a good rise.
Looks perfect to me. Remember that homemade will never be as fluffy as boxed for basically any baked good because of the added chemicals. But that doesnt mean the homemade thing is bad. This is a perfect homemade angel foodcake. Looks awesome. Next time swap out 1/4 cup of flour for cocoa powder to have chocolate angel foodcake. Its awesome too.
Might try that. Sounds tasty.
It looks perfect to me.
Idk if it's flat but I would eat that entire thing. Looks amazing.
Be sure to slice with a serrated knife. Many knives will smush it.
It looks ok to me but maybe use caster sugar instead of powdered? I donât know what recipe you are following but all recipes I know of angel food cake use caster/super fine sugar. Have you used cream of tartar to stabilize the egg whites? Here are some other tips: ⢠Donât fold it too much, just until dry ingredients get incorporated into the whipped egg whites so that you donât lose air bubbles. ⢠Never open the oven door in the first 50% of baking time. ⢠When done baking, invert it upside down on a tall glass bottle to prenvent collapse and let it cool down completely. Avoid touching it for 2 hours. Hope this helps.
I think (and am American so I could be wrong) that caster sugar is a European term for the same item that Americans call powdered sugar
Caster sugar (also known as bakerâs sugar or superfine sugar) is ground more finely than granulated sugar, but not as finely as powdered or confectionersâ sugar (also known as icing sugar). Powdered sugar traditionally does not contain an anti-caking agent, but nowadays itâs sometimes treated as a synonym for confectionersâ sugar, which necessarily does contain an anti-caking agent (generally either a starch of some kind or tricalcium phosphate).
Caster sugar which I think called super fine sugar in the US is different than confectioners sugar (aka powdered sugar in Europe). Caster sugar is a fine sugar, similar to fine sand but doesnât have the texture of cornstarch like powdered sugar. It is somewhere in the middle between granulated and powdered sugar.
Cool thanks for the clarification
overmixing the flour (must very gently fold in) or not allowing to cool *completely* while upside down before serving are the most common culprits for mine going flat... but yours looks good imo!
It looks great to me!
No it looks amazing!!
Put strawberries and cool whip on itđ Done. Yum!
The cake is perfect and not flat.
It doesnât look like it to me. It just looks like you laid it upside down.
Yeah I know. It was upside down.
And thatâs not necessarily a bad thing honestly. Especially if you want to put an icing on it.
My Mom would round up my siblings & I and make us play in the basement or outside while she baked Angel food, because she said us kids running around while her cake was in the oven would make it flop or not rise properly.
No advice, it looks amazing
Is your oven unbalanced?
Looks dense to me like it needs more leavening agents
No, itâs round.
No
Looks like mine! Perfect!
What plate is this? I like it!
Cake!! đ°đđđ