Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake

Oh. My. Goodness. This cake is perfection! I confess that even before I stopped eating gluten I had never made an angel food cake. I'm not sure why I didn't. Several people in my family have angel food cake as their favorite cakes, and I enjoy eating it too. For some reason, it never occurred to me to try and make it myself.

Shortly after starting my blog, I had a request for a gluten-free angel food cake recipe that tasted like the real deal. I *love* being asked to help others create recipes, and so, I decided to give it a shot! I fully expected my first attempt to be a flop, especially after reading stories others had written about cakes that flopped. So, I was nervous, but very excited to try.

One of the keys to a fluffy angel food cake that doesn't fall in is inverting the cake after it bakes. Many angel food cake pans are being made with "feet" on the bottom to help with this. For those that don't have the little feet, you can turn the pan over the top of a bottle. Or...if you get a highly dysfunctional pan like mine that is too small for any bottle tops and doesn't have any feet, you can turn it over on a cooling rack or over three coffee cups spread around the edges of the pan.

Many recipes use a stand mixer, but I don't have one. So, I beat the eggs with an electric hand mixer and it worked out perfectly fine. Also, I'm too lazy for sifting. So, I "sifted" my flours and sugar with a fork.

And so, here it is!

***Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake
1 1/2 cup egg whites (using between 10-12 eggs), brought to room temperature
1/2 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup corn starch
2 Tbsp. tapioca starch/flour
1 1/4 cup sugar for mixing with flour, 1/4 cup sugar for mixing with eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. cream of tartar
Pinch of salt

Move oven rack to lowest position. Preheat oven to 350. Separate 10-12 eggs, until you have about 1 1/2 cups of egg whites. (If you hate the thought of wasting 12 egg yolks, check out this link for methods on freezing egg yolks. I froze three packages of 4 yolks - two stabilized with sugar, and one stabilized with salt. Hope to use them in future recipes!) Allow the egg whites to come to room temperature, slightly colder than room temp. will work fine. While waiting for the egg whites to warm up, combine white rice flour, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, corn starch, and 1 1/4 cups sugar in a bowl. "Sift" by stirring with a fork until the dry ingredients are well-mixed. With electric hand mixer, beat eggs until frothy. Add in salt and cream of tartar. Continue beating the eggs until they have risen significantly and begin to form stiff peaks. Add in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until the sugar has mixed in.You do not need to beat the eggs until they are dry. But they should look something like this.

Gently fold in vanilla extract. Add in dry ingredient mixture 1/2 cup at a time, folding into egg mixture gently. Pour mixture into ungreased angel food cake pan. Bake for around 45 minutes, or until cake has turned a deep golden brown and springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan on cooling rack, three coffee cups spread around outside of pan, or over a narrow-necked bottle (or using the little feet on the bottom of the pan, if yours has them). Cool for at least an hour. Using a butter knife, go around the outside edge, inside edge and bottom of the cake pan until it comes cleanly off the pan.

Serve as is, with berries, whipped topping, or drizzled icing.

Doesn't that look awesome?! A slice for you...