Angel Food Cupcakes

My favorite part of baking angel food cupcakes was having an excuse to use angel wing cookie cutters.  I fell in love with the cookie cutters the moment that I saw them.

Photo from V.I.P. (Very Important Pastry)

The angel wing cookies are designed to rest on a teacup (as shown above), but they work so well on the angel food cupcakes!

I'm glad that I had a reason to make angel food cupcakes, though, because they were, well, angelic.  The angel food cupcakes were fantastically light and airy (the 12 egg whites in the recipe might have something to do with that).  In addition to the angel wing cookies, I topped the angel food cupcakes with vanilla whipped cream.  I opted for whipped cream over buttercream to keep with the delicate, ethereal feel of the cupcakes.

Angel Food Cupcake Recipe


I got the angel food cupcake recipe by adapting Alton Brown's angel food cake recipe to cupcakes.  I am reprinting his recipe here with my ever-so-slight modifications and notes.

Yield: 18 cupcakes

• 1 3/4 cups super fine sugar (I used C&H's Baker's Sugar.  Alton suggests using regular granulated sugar and spinning it in a food processor for two minutes until it is super fine.)
• 1 cup cake flour, not self-rising 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 egg whites (the closer to room temperature, the better)
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a small mixing bowl, combine one cup of the sugar with the cake flour and salt.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk egg whites, water, vanilla extract, and cream of tartar until frothy.
4. Slowly mix in the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar.  
5. Keep beating until the mixture looks like a fluffy white cloud (medium peaks).
6. Dust the top of the foam with a little bit of the flour mixture and, using a spatula, gently fold it in.
7. Continue adding flour and gently folding it in until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.
8. Fill cupcake liners almost all of the way to the top.
9. Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.

Vanilla Whipped Cream Frosting Recipe

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons sugar

1. Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
2. Mix in vanilla extract and sugar until just combined.
3. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.

Angel Wing Cookies Recipe

I got the angel wing cookie cutters from fancyflours and I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe to make them.  If you try this, don't put the wings on the cupcakes until just before serving; they get soggy and droop.  This is only acceptable if you are making the angel food cupcakes for Halloween and plan to decorate the wings black - then, you'll have perfect fallen angels.