Pillow-soft fluffs of Angel Food Cupcakes topped with cloud-like milk chocolate meringue buttercream.
Jump to:
The best way to describe these cupcakes are literal clouds – springy, fluffy, squishy, pillowy goodness. Even the milk chocolate frosting is light and heavenly!
They are so satisfying to bite into – not just because of the delicious flavours, but for the inimitable texture.
Neither box mix nor commercially made Angel Food could ever yield that kind of fluffiness. Clouds this adorable could only be completed with a sprinkling of pastel jimmies and sugar hearts. So stinkin’ cute, right?!?!
I baked up these fluffy nuggets in extra-large cupcake liners. Unlike most other cupcakes, you are going to want to fill the liners nearly to the top! Trust me.
Since there is so much whipped air in the batter, the cakes won't be fully set until they cool.
That being said, they will shrink down just a touch as they cool.
Ingredients
- Egg whites
- Cream of tartar
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Cake flour
- Lemon juice
- Vanilla extract
- Unsalted butter
- Mascarpone
- Semi or bittersweet chocolate
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
See recipe card for quantities.
Tools and Equipment
- Electric mixer (stand mixer recommended)
- Muffin tin
- Spring-loaded cookie scoop
- Saucepan
- Offset spatula
- General kitchen tools (measuring cups, spatula, etc.)
Tips for Fluffy Angel Food Cake
What I didn't know about Angel Food Cupcakes is that they are pretty much a French meringue but with less sugar and just a tiny bit of flour.
Since these cupcakes are like 87% meringue, here are tips for working with eggs whites:
Make sure there are no traces of fat or grease. We are all about reaching the maximum potential when it comes to whipped egg whites. What that means is volume, volume, VOLUME! Fat and grease can inhibit us from reaching that potential.
I'm talking fat from any drips of egg yolk or grease in the mixing bowl (and accompanying attachments). Slight traces of fat/grease will probably not kill your meringue on the spot, but try to stay clear of fats as best as possible.
Increase the speed gradually. From foam to peak, increase the speed very gradually as you go. For a better illustration of what this might look like at ever stage, check out this visual.
Add the sugar gradually. By slowly adding in the sugar a tablespoon at a time, it will dissolve easier and not collapse the delicate whites. Increase the speed and overall amount of sugar in tandem.
Fold! Fold! Use a large rubber spatula to scoop down to the bottom of the bowl, and turn the contents on the bottom up to the top. Use one hand to fold and the other to spin the bowl 90 degrees between each turn. Be delicate and deliberate at the same time.
Cream of tartar as a stabilizer. You might notice ingredients such as cream of tartar, lemon juice, and vinegar in meringue recipes. All of these ingredients act as stabilizers. They won't necessarily increase the volume of your egg whites, but they will help keep them from collapsing too quickly.
Temperature of eggs. Eggs are easiest to separate when they are cold. However, room temperature egg whites have the ability to whip up with more volume.
Substitutions
Cake Flour - in most cases, I would give you a cake flour substitute. But for Angel Food Cupcakes, I highly recommend using cake flour.
Cream of tartar - you may use equal parts lemon juice or white vinegar as a stabilizer for the egg whites.
Mascarpone - you may use softened cream cheese in place of the mascarpone in the frosting.
Serving and Storage
Serve cupcakes at room temperature. Store then in a cake box or cupcake caddy at room temperature for up to 3 days.
I do not recommend freezing Angel Food cupcakes.
Join the Style Sweet Bake Club!
Get exclusive recipes and articles sent straight to your inbox. Become a subscriber today! Click to join.
More Cupcakes to Bake
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes
Please leave a star review if you loved this recipe! Make sure to share your recipes and tag me on Instagram @stylesweetdaily.
Recipe
Angel Food Cupcakes
Ingredients
Angel Food Cupcakes
- 6 large egg whites
- ½ teaspoon cream tartar
- ¾ cup + 1 tbsp sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cake flour
- ¼ teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Milk Chocolate Cloud Frosting
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter softened
- 4 tablespoon mascarpone softened
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 oz dark chocolate melted and cooled
- 1 to 2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
Angel Food Cupcakes
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with extra large liners and set aside.
- Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or use an electric hand mixer). Sprinkle in the cream of tartar. Start by mixing on low speed until the egg whites begin to form bubbles.
- As the egg whites begin to foam and become more opaque, gradually turn up the speed and start slowly adding in the sugar, a tablespoon or two at a time. Continue adding in the sugar, followed by the salt. Over the course of about a minute or so, all of the sugar/salt should have been added and the speed will have increased to medium-high.
- Continue whipping the egg whites until medium-stiff peaks. They whites should still be pillowy but not dry or clumpy. Unlike a true meringue (with twice the sugar), they will not be particularly glossy.
- Add in the lemon and vanilla. Whip again until just combined.
- Stop the mixture. Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold in the flour in two to three batches. You can be a bit more deliberate and heavy-handed with the first batch of flour as you temper the two ingredients together, but then use a lighter touch as you go. Be thorough, but do your best not to deflate the batter.
- Use two spoons to plop the batter into the cupcakes liners. Fill the liners nearly to the top. With the back of a spoon or small offset spatula, smooth out the tops of each cupcake.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 to 23 minutes. When done, the tops should be browned and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Remove from the oven and let cupcakes cool in their pans for about 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack.
Milk Chocolate Cloud Frosting
- Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Whisk by hand to combine. Fill a medium saucepan with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer.
- Place the mixer bowl on top of the saucepan to create a double-boiler. Whisking intermittently, warm the egg mixture until it reached 160 degrees on a candy thermometer.
- Once hot, carefully replace the mixer bowl back on the stand. Whisk on high speed until stiff peaks and the outside of the bowl returns to room temperature (about 8 minutes).
- Turn the mixer down to low and add in the butter and mascarpone, a couple tablespoons at a time. Stop the mixer and swap the whisk for the paddle attachment.
- Add in the vanilla, melted chocolate, and cocoa. Mix on medium-high until the buttercream is smooth, fluffy, and cloud-like.
- If the buttercream looks like it has cuddled, the butter was probably too cold. Just keep mixing.
- If the buttercream looks soupy, you probably added the butter in too soon and before the meringue returned all the way back to room temperature. Chill the mixture (inside the bowl) in the fridge for 15 minute and try whipping again until smooth.
kathrine Bowerman-Parry
Hello. I love the straight sides of your cupcake liners. Or are they regular liners but baked in a straight sided pan? Can you share the source/s? I appreciate it. Thank you! LOVE your work.
Bella Greco
Katherine,
I recently saw on Tessa's instagram that she uses extra large (sometimes they are called jumbo) cupcake liners and puts them in a normal sized cupcake tin and bakes them that way. I noticed in her instagram video that she aIso inverted the cupcakes in the muffin tin once they were out of the oven to let them cool upside down which is the classic way of cooling an angel food cake. I am trying this method today and i'm excited to see how/if it works!