Vegan Angel Food Cake
It’s finally here…. A recipe for vegan Angel Food Cake that actually works!
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Why you’ll love this vegan angel food cake…
- It tastes like a real Angel Food Cake!
- There are no eggs or dairy in this cake!
- It’s sweet, fluffy and airy!
- It goes perfectly with vegan whipped cream and fresh berries!
- You can even make it gluten-free!
Angel food cake was always my favorite cake as a child and it’s been my mission for nearly 2 decades to make a vegan Angel Food Cake! It is my white whale and I have joked with my family that I will crown myself “The Veganizing Queen” if I can figure it out!
After too many attempts too even count, I have finally un-cracked the code and figured out the right chemistry to make a vegan Angel Food Cake that works!
Note: The taste of this cake is very close to that of the Angel Food cakes I remember. The texture is slightly different, but still very close. I don’t believe that there is any vegan recipe out there that is closer to the real deal than this one.
Why is it so hard to make a vegan Angel Food Cake?
Traditional Angel Food Cake calls for 12 eggs that you beat up into a meringue. It is essentially a meringue with some flour and sugar baked in. It is super light, fluffy and spongy.
Most vegan egg replacers work as a binder to hold your baked goods together and you can use them in place of eggs when a recipe calls for 1-3 eggs, but they do not work to replace something that is mostly egg.
You can use aquafaba (the liquid from a can of beans) as a replacement for egg whites to make the meringue, but it doesn’t have enough protein content to bake like egg whites and will collapse in the baking process.
What goes into a Vegan Angel Food Cake and why?
- Aquafaba – (the liquid from a can of chickpeas) This replaces the egg whites in a traditional recipe and beats up into a fluffy meringue
- Cream of Tartar– this helps to break down the protein and stabilize the meringue. You can read more about the chemistry here.
- Powdered Sugar– to sweeten the cake without weighing it down.
- Vanilla Extract– for flavor.
- Garbanzo Bean Flour (aka chickpea flour)- For extra protein added to the meringue to hold it together. *This is essential!
- Flour- you can use white pastry flour or my all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.
Can this vegan Angel food cake be made gluten-free?
The cake is slightly more authentic tasting when made with a gluten flour, but if you need it to be gluten-free, my gluten-free flour blend is the only type of gluten-free flour that will work.
I created this flour blend by default in one of my many attempts to get this recipe to work. I was trying to get a flour with a high amount of protein to bake up like wheat. It worked in this recipe and then I tried it in my other gluten-free baked goods and it has worked perfectly in everything else too.
Note: You must double the amount of garbanzo bean flour when making it gluten-free.
How do you make a vegan Angel Food Cake?
- Pre-heat the oven to 330° F.
- Start with ¾ cup of aquafaba from a can of chickpeas. Place it in a large mixing bowl with 1 ½ tsp. of cream of tartar.
- Beat the aquafaba for 6 minutes on high until you get a fluffy meringue, then add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract to the meringue and beat again for another minute until it turns white again.
- Add the powdered sugar slowly while continuing to beat the meringue on high for another 1-2 minutes.
- After you have beaten the aquafaba for at least 8 minutes add a tablespoon of garbanzo bean flour and beat for another minute.
- Turn off the mixer and use a spatula to fold in the flour ¼ cup at a time until it is all incorporated, but DO NOT OVER MIX. (Once the flour has been added the meringue will start to deflate.
- Quickly pour the batter into an ungreased Angel Food Cake pan.
- Bake at 330° F for 1 hour. (It will pull away from the edges and be slightly golden when done).
- Allow to cool in the pan. (Do not flip upside down like you would a traditional Angel Food Cake).
- Once it has cooled to room temperature, cut it out of the pan with a large knife.
- Frost with my vegan whipped cream recipe before serving and top with fresh strawberries or a simple strawberry sauce.
Tips for making a perfect vegan Angel Food Cake:
- Follow the recipe exactly! Measure carefully and use a timer to make sure you are beating the meringue long enough.
- Sorry, but no substitutions can be made to this recipe. I have tried it with a ton of variations and slight changes to this recipe cause it to fail completely.
- Do not taste the batter once you have added the garbanzo bean flour. It tastes terrible before it is cooked!
- You must use an Angel Food Cake pan to be able to remove the cake without having it fall apart.
- Frost with whipped cream just before serving.
- This cake will be about 3 inches high. I have tried to double the recipe, to make it the height of a traditional Angel Food Cake, but it does not work.
- If you want a larger cake, simply make a double batch and bake it in 2 separate cake pans and stack them on top of each other.
- Slice with a serrated bread knife.
Want some more desserts that are made with aquafaba? Give some of these a try!
- Aquafaba Chocolate Mousse
- Vegan Grasshopper Pie
- The Best Vegan Lemon Meringue
- Vegan S’mores Pie
- Homemade Vegan Peeps
Be sure to follow me on Instagram or on Pinterest for daily vegan inspiration and recipe ideas! Tag me at #thehiddenveggies! I love to see what you made too!
Vegan Angel Food Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup aquafaba, (the liquid from a can of chickpeas)
- 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp garbanzo bean flour , (aka chickpea flour) double if making with gluten free flour
- 1 cup white flour, (or my gluten free flour mix if you need it to be gluten free)
- 3 cups vegan whipped cream, (for topping the cake)
- 1 cup strawberries, sliced for topping the cake
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 330°F (165°C).
- Put ¾ cup of aquafaba from a can of chickpeas into a large mixing bowl with 1 ½ tsp. of cream of tartar.
- Beat the aquafaba for 6 minutes on high until you get a fluffy meringue.
- Add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract to the meringue and beat again for another minute until it turns white again.
- Add the powdered sugar slowly while continuing to beat the meringue on high for another 1-2 minutes.
- After you have beaten the aquafaba for at least 8 minutes add a tablespoon of garbanzo bean flour and beat for another minute. (Use 2 tbsp of garbanzo bean flour for gluten free).
- Turn off the mixer and use a spatula to fold in the flour ¼ cup at a time until it is all incorporated, but DO NOT OVER MIX. (Once the flour has been added the meringue will start to deflate).
- Quickly pour the batter into an ungreased Angel Food Cake pan.
- Bake at 330°F (165°C)for 1 hour. (It will pull away from the edges and be slightly golden when done).
- Allow to cool in the pan. (Do not flip upside down like you would a traditional Angel Food Cake).
- Once it has cooled to room temperature, cut it out of the pan with a large knife.
- Frost with my vegan whipped cream recipe before serving, and top with fresh strawberries.
Notes
- Follow the recipe exactly! Measure carefully and use a timer to make sure you are beating the meringue long enough.
- Sorry, but no substitutions can be made to this recipe. I have tried it with a ton of variations and slight changes to this recipe cause it to fail completely.
- Do not taste the batter once you have added the garbanzo bean flour. It tastes terrible before it is cooked!
- Frost with whipped cream just before serving.
- This cake will be about 3 inches high. I have tried to double the recipe, to make it the height of a traditional Angel Food Cake, but it does not work.
- If you want a larger cake, simply make a double batch and bake it in 2 separate cake pans and stack them on top of each other.
- Be sure to double the garbanzo bean flour using 2 tablespoons instead of just 1.
- Make sure to use my gluten-free flour recipe. (I developed the mix especially for this cake and no other gluten-free flour works as well)!
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review below!
Do you have any tips for making this cake at a high altitude?
This recipe can be tricky. I tested it many times before publishing and slight changes made it fail, so I’m not sure about high altitude. I would usually say 2-3 extra tablespoons of flour will work, but I can’t guarantee it.
I’m probably going to try to make this recipe, but this comment is actually because I’m hoping the creator of the recipe is still answering questions and I have a vaguely related question. I hope this mostly off-topic comment isn’t too annoying.
I have a cake recipe I’m trying to veganize. The thing is, it’s a recipe that predates chemical leavening. The leavening is beaten egg whites. 2 9-inch cake layers, in total 6 eggs. You whip your egg yolks and wet ingredients until they spin a ribbon, then you whip your egg whites until they’re very stiff, mix the egg yolks + egg whites + dry ingredients (a bunch of ground walnuts + some breadcrumbs) together.
I was researching angel food cakes because, like angel food cake, the leavening in this cake comes from whipped egg whites, and the proteins cooking is what causes the crumb to set. I’m thinking that the trick in this recipe, the aquafaba + chickpea flour, might work for the egg whites if I want to veganize this recipe, but I’m not sure about the egg yolks and beating thereof. Just water + oil + sunflower lecithin? Maybe I should add some chickpea flour to that, too, since egg yolks do also have _some_ protein, and I have no idea if water + oil + lecithin + mostly sugar will beat to spin a ribbon.
Again, sorry for the largely off-topic comment. What makes me vaguely hopeful about this recipe as a starting off point for trying to make a vegan alternative to my cake is that the crumb of the angel food cake you show here looks pretty similar to the crumb of this sponge cake.
Hi Kat, this sounds like a difficult recipe to veganize and it may take a couple tries to get it right. You are on the right track though. I think that I would use a combo of aquafaba and chickpea flour for both parts.
This was great! I did all the substitutions I could to not compromise health; homeground whole wheat flour, stevia, lemon juice, salt and aqua Faba. A double batch made 12 cupcakes, they are perfect fluffy little imploded cups for our shortcake. The family is so excited!
Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so happy that you liked the recipe. Cupcakes is a great idea.
My family member is allergic to eggs, and Angel Food Cake was her favorite before she got the allergy. This recipe is perfect! The only thing I changed is I made it in 2 4 inch Angel Food cake tins filled completely, and cooked it for 40 minutes. They came out perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe!
I’m so happy that you liked the recipe, Val! 🙂
Hi. Thanks for the great looking recipe. I find any vegan cake I’ve bought from bakeries has this heavy/dense feeling when I’m eating it. I’m not sure if they’re making them gluten-free too which may be the reason. I’m not a fan of dense cakes. Would you happen to know if this recipe is like most nice fluffy white cakes (like non-vegan wedding cakes)?
This chocolate cake is very light https://thehiddenveggies.com/vegan-chocolate-cake/ You may also like this sponge cake recipe https://thehiddenveggies.com/vegan-sponge-cake/ it is super light and spongy.
I eat plant-based and I am extremely allergic to gluten and corn. It is quite challenging at times locating vegan recipes that are both gluten and corn free. I just found your angel food cake with a gluten free option and I am eager to try it (will have to leave out the xanthan gum being corn-based). However, I don’t like my food very sweet and try to avoid using lots of sugar. 1 cup of powdered sugar seems too sweet for my taste. Would the recipe turn out if I use only half the amount? Thank you for your time. Look forward to your reply.
I’m not sure if it would work or not. This is a very fuzzy recipe. I tested over and over again trying to get it to come out right. The exact recipe given is the only way that it worked for me. I’m worried that if you reduce the sugar too much the cake will be too wet.
Can I use cake flour for this recipe? Thanks
I’m not sure. This recipe is very fussy and any slight changes make my angel food cakes turn out flat, so I wouldn’t risk it.
By the way, I Should add that I made the Gluten free version using your suggested flour.
Hi!! I have tried the original and LOVE the way it turned out, but I’m wondering if it can be do with cupcakes? Do you think it could work? Thanks in advance!!
I have not tested it with cupcakes, but let me know how it comes out if you do. I think it would work, but the recipe can be fussy. 🙂
This looks amazing! I don’t have an angel food cake pan that comes apart. Do you think this recipe would work in other cake pans?
Thanks so much,
Molly
I haven’t tested it in a regular pan, but I think that it would work if you lined the bottom with parchment paper. Enjoy! 🙂
This recipe looks absolutely amazing, I cannot wait to try it. I really appreciate that you took the time to develop a gluten free version too! I love reading about the chemistry behind vegan meringues, have you trialed this with xanthan gum to stabilize the foam?
Thank you. It was very difficult to replace all of the eggs and give it a similar taste and texture to Angel food cake. I have not tried xanthan gum to stabilize it. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
Since we’re not vegan, can I use egg whites instead of aquafaba? Would love to try this recipe.
If you are not vegan, I would recommend using a regular recipe for Angel Food Cake. The 12 eggs that it usually calls for is very hard to replace. Although this is the best vegan version I have tried, it is not the same as one with eggs.
If I make a double batch (for two cake pans) is there any difference in the whipping times?
I don’t recommend doubling the batch. For some reason, every time I tried it, the cakes didn’t turn out as well.
Do you recommend baking one and then baking another for the double layer?
Yes, I do. I wish there was an easier way, but that seems to work best.
This was the first recipe I used my beater with! I made this for my partner’s birthday. We were craving a sponge cake and this came out very close to the non vegan version. I had to scrape the cake out of the angel food cake pan. Next time I would try greasing the pan first. It came out a little tough, but it still was delicious. I wonder if I baked it for a little less than an hour if it would be more light. Thank you for sharing this recipe! I will be making this again 🙂
I’m glad that you liked it, Blair. You need to cut the cake out of the pan. Did you use an Angel food cake pan? It comes apart so you can cut it off of the pan. Enjoy! 🙂
Why don’t you turn it upside down to cool like a traditional angel food cake? What happens if you do?
Great recipe by the way!
I never purchase canned chickpeas, Can I make my own and reserve the cooking liquid to make this cake? Sounds really cool. I’m not vegan, because there are just some foods I am not yet willing to part with, angel food cake being one of them 🙂
I tried this recipe today and mine only is about an inch high. Any suggestions on what may have gone wrong? I think you said yours was 3 inches?
Thanks!
Jenn
It’s hard to say, maybe you stirred it too much before putting it into the cake pan, or you didn’t beat the aquafaba enough in the beginning. Did you use enough cream of tartar? That helps hold the protein bonds of the aquafaba. It sounds like it must have deflated quite a bit.
While tasty, I had the same experience. It was less than an inch thick and was more like a biscuit texture. And it was very tough to remove from the pan. Definitely put parchment paper in your pan or dish. Perhaps it should be renamed. I called it vegan lemon biscuit cake and served it with the circle cut in half to make a two- layered cake with vegan lemon pie filling in the middle and vegan coconut whipped cream on top. It served four with room for a bit left over.
Hi there,
Thanks so much for make one and only vegan and gluten free angle cake available online :-). I haven’t tried it yet, but would love to give it a try. Can you please tell me which size of the angel cake pan have you used for this recipe?
Thanks in advance,
You’re welcome! I use a 10 inch angel food cake pan. Enjoy! 🙂
Hi Monica,
I still haven’t made the cake, but have occasionally read more material relevant to protein-based foams, so here is a little more of that if you’re interested in it.
Some of it is from this reference and some from various other knowledge:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/686b/fb9d81adb67b881b2cec9d689df80a80faeb.pdf
“A Study of the Factors Affecting the Foaming Properties of Egg White – a Review” by Lomakina and Mikova.
– You might want to try a flour other than garbanzo bean flour because that has fat in it which destabilizes the foam. One can make a high protein essentially no-fat flour from pinto beans or white navy beans (or kidney beans) pretty easily, but it takes time (e.g. sprout the beans, cook them, dry them, then grind them into a fine powder using the blender or food processor).
– To make it a little more “vegan lite”, you might try substituting isomalt and inulin (e.g. psyllium husk) for the sugar.
– Use copper mixing bowls and baking pans, if possible.
– Consider adding papain (proteolytic enzyme from papaya to hydrolyze the proteins).
– If you have industrial kitchen equipment, could use ultrasound to mix the proteins more evenly throughout the fluid.
– Note that the processes of aeration in “aerated chocolate” and “sourdough fermentation” are interesting, but they don’t use air for aeration. I made very tall, aery, vegan-lite, whole grain scones using sourdough fermentation and baking powder, as another multi-stage aeration example.
🙂 -Nichole
This is very interesting information! Thanks for sharing!
I’m not one to gush about my family, but my husband knocked it out of the park for my birthday yesterday! I’ve been vegan for 2 years & vegetarian for the 7 years prior. Friends & family know that angel food cake was my favorite (especially the next day after it’s a little stale and crispy/chewy!). So after calling every bakery in town looking for a vegan angel food cake, my husband decided to take the day off from work and make me a cake. Well, thankfully he found your recipe!! He and my daughter made two layers and it turned out great! They though it was a little tough, more like a biscuit (they might have slightly over beat, or over cooked) but I thought it was divine!! The flavor and consistency were exactly what I love about angel food cake the next day, and once the berry syrup soaks in – perfection! Thanks for cracking the code on this one! I’m more of a savory cook and have tossed my fair share of vegan baking fails, but I’ll be giving this one a try myself very soon! Great job!
I’m so happy to read this Alecia! Angel food cake was my favorite cake before I went vegan and asked my mom to make it for me every Birthday as a kid. I’m happy that I was able to help you have the taste that you remember! 🙂
Thank you so much for your commitment to creating a vegan angel food cake! I can’t wait to try. One question: will the cake itself be okay to make a day or two ahead of time? Or is it best made/frosted/served same day?
You’re welcome! I think the cake would be okay to make a day ahead, but don’t put the whipped cream frosting on it until you are ready to serve it. I usually serve it a few hours after making it though. Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I have made this twice already and it is so delicious!!! Thank you for perfecting a vegan recipe. I have tried several others and was left disappointed every time. I do have one question, though. I know you mention to just layer two cakes as doubling the recipe didn’t work for you for a taller cake. What happened as a result? I am using the cake as part of a dessert for which I break the cake up into pieces and mix it with CocoWhip and strawberries. Instead of making multiple cakes I was wondering if I could double the recipe to make a bigger one (more convenient) but wasn’t sure what your actual results were when doing so. Thank you so much!
Sara, you’re very welcome! I’m so happy that you liked it! Unfortunately, you can’t double it or it doesn’t turn out well. You have to make it in small batches or it doesn’t cook through in the center. 🙂
Not bad! Followed the recipe exactly as stated but instead used silicone muffin cups rather than a big pan. The inside of the cakes was pretty light, however the top turned into a crispy, chewy, candy-like texture which isn’t bad but was definitely unexpected. Thanks for taking the time to work out the chemistry of vegan ingredients so I could make this!
I’m glad that you liked the flavor. Like I said in the post, this recipe is very fussy, any change to the stated recipe doesn’t come out as well. I can’t even count how many times I made this recipe testing and tweaking it to come out perfectly. Whenever I deviated from the recipe above, it did not work as well. The muffin tins are a nice idea, but you would probably need to adjust the baking time significantly.
Your recipe turns up first with a search for vegan angel food cakes. I haven’t tried it yet, but would like
to one day. I wanted to add a quick note that if the recipe is limited by the strength of binding
of proteins in aquafaba to 3 egg substitutes, then the recipe could be divided into pieces by the
number 3 of total egg replacements needed.
Then could use a metallic springform cake baking pan with checker/chess board
dividers to cook the separate batches as cakes that fit the total shape – each being light and
having enough binding power. Thanks for posting your recipe.
Hi Nichole, That’s a good idea. This recipe is very fussy. While I was testing it, if I changed anything from the posted recipe, it wouldn’t come out, so I’m not sure if it would work or not. If you try it let me know. 🙂
Hi Monica, I read a research paper a few months ago about the chemistry details of building foam for lattes and although the temperature, density, pH, etc are different for your cakes, it is probably also ttue for them that high protein to fat ratio helps with making stable smaller aerated bubbles that bind to the side of the cup and build from there.
One more quick note is just a clarification that a recipe needing 12 egg substitutions would need to be 4 different batches of the recipe ingredients divided by 3 if the limit is due to binding strength of 3 substitutes…
Thanks again for posting your recipe!
There is an exact chemistry that goes into this cake for sure. I’m not a food scientist, but the science behind it is fascinating. 🙂
Can you substitute white flour with whole wheat flour? Just curious…
I don’t think that it would work well. This recipe is very fussy and does not come out unless you follow the directions exactly. I can’t even count the times I had failed attempts at this recipe by just changing one ingredient slightly. I never tested it with whole wheat flour, because I was just trying to achieve an authentic Angel Food cake, but let me know if you do try it. 🙂
This looks light and delicious! Of course I love that it can be gluten free too!
Thanks Jules! It does come out amazingly fluffy thanks to all of that aquafaba! 🙂
Hi! Looks delicous and I cant wait to try!
I have one question though –
Is it possible to find a nother sub for the creame of tartar?
Thanks Mathilda, you can use lemon juice instead of the cream of tartar in most recipes, but I didn’t try it in this one. The cream of tartar gives it that specific Angel Food cake taste. You could try it, but since this recipe is fussy if you change for the stated recipe at all, I can’t promise anything. 🙂
Thanks
You’re welcome Getty! 🙂
Hi Monica,
I’m not a baker at all, but I would really love to order your vegan angel cake for my sisters birthday on Oct. 23.
She’s in New Jersey. Is there any way that you could make it and ship it?
Thanks so much.
Thanks for asking, but I don’t sell any of my food, just post recipes. If you are not a baker and want a super easy fool proof cake, my easy vegan cake recipe or my vegan chocolate cupcake recipes are super easy and always come out well.