Angel Food Cake With Strawberries and Strawberry Sauce

Angel food cake with strawberries and strawberry sauce is the easiest birthday cake ever.

Angel food cake has to be the easiest cake to make from a boxed mix.  Just add water, that’s really all there is to it.  So much better than the readymade store bought ones you see at the grocery.  The premade angel food cakes are dense, not light and airy like one baked at home.

So is anyone wondering why I’ve had 3 birthday cake recipes in one month?  We have 3 sons, 7 years apart but with birthdays within 31 days from the youngest to the oldest child.  That’s a lot of sweets in a short amount of time!  This angel food cake with strawberries is my oldest son’s “cake”.  I’ve been making this for him since I can remember.  It was also my husband’s cake growing up.  And of all ironic things my grandpa always had the same cake.  It’s becoming apparent that angel food cake with strawberries is a “thing”.  And a delicious thing at that!

You can make an angel food cake completely from scratch, but it’s a lot of work and I really like the boxed mix version………and you can’t beat “just add water”.  The only time I’ve tried making angel food from scratch, I took it out of the oven too early and when I put the cake upside down on a bottle the entire cake fell out.  Off I went to the grocery store to buy a boxed mix!

You will need an electric mixer to fluff up the cake.  You can use either the hand-held mixer or a stand mixer.  I really don’t think it’s worth the effort to do this by hand, it’s a lot of work that way.  But hey, if you consider it an arm workout to whip those egg whites then have at it.

How To Make Angel Food Cake

Use a boxed mix.  You may feel like you are cheating, but personally I really like the boxed mix for angel food cake.  To make this kind of cake from scratch is more laborious than regular cakes.  Using an electric mixer, blend for 30 seconds on low or stir setting.  This is important, or you’ll have angel food cake mix all over you and your kitchen.  Once the dry mix is incorporated with the water, then mix on medium high for 1 minute, no longer.  Use a timer.

Simply pour into prepared pan, bang a couple of times on the counter to get rid of air bubbles and pop in the oven for 35-45 minutes.

Why Add Parchment Paper to Angel Food Cake pan?

Even if you have a non-stick pan, I find it releases better to add a parchment paper ring to the pan.  Lay the pan on the parchment paper and draw around the pan, keeping as close to the pan as possible.  A permanent marker works well on parchment paper.  Try to put the pen through the inner hole of the pan and draw the circle on the parchment paper.

Fold the paper in half, like how you make a Valentine’s heart, and cut the circles out.  You may have to adjust the cutting, just try to fit the paper ring inside the pan and trim as necessary.  You won’t be perfect, just get as close to the wall of the pan as you can.

How To Make A Layered Angel Food Cake

Cut cake horizontally once or twice, depending on how many layers that you want.   Gently remove the layers and lay to the side.  Keeping the long serrated bread knife under the layer and using your free hand will keep the angel food cake layer in tact.

 

Add whip cream and some cut strawberries to the remaining bottom layer on the serving platter.  When coating the layers, add whip cream to the tops of the layers as well as to the inner ring each time.  Add cut strawberries and then repeat as you finish building the cake with the other layers.

Add crumb coating on the sides and top of the cake, chill for 15 minutes. The crumb coat is just a thin layer of the whipped cream that sets the crumbs, you may see some crumbs in it but don’t worry.  Once you chill the cake then you can add the final layer of whipped cream and you won’t have to worry about the crumbs anymore.

 

How To Frost An Angel Food Cake With Strawberries

Follow the instructions for the layer cake above through the crumb coat step.  Chill.

Add whipped cream to the top and sides of the cake.  You can make a wavy, fun design with the tip of a rubber spatula.

Or go for the clean, streamlined look like in the pictures below.  I take a bench scraper and lightly drag it along the whipped cream until I have the look I’m going for.  This is the more sophisticated look for angel food cake with strawberries, the wavy design is the more fun one.

How To Decorate An Angel Food Cake With Strawberries and Strawberry Sauce

Once the angel food cake has been frosted with the whipped cream, slice strawberries and make a wheel design on top of the cake.

Or use whole strawberries and fill the center hole and add a halved strawberries on top of the angel food cake.

How Do You Know When An Angel Food Cake Is Done?

The top will be a beautiful golden brown and will have large cracks in it.  The cracks will be slightly sticky.

Remove the pan from the oven and immediately turn upside down over a bottle.  Put an empty wine bottle to good use and use it as the stand.  Let the cake completely cool, probably an hour or two, before turning back upright and taking out of the tube pan.

You may need to run a table knife around the wall of the cake, both inner and outer wall to release it.  Peel parchment paper off the top of the cake.

What’s The Best Way To Slice An Angel Food Cake With Strawberries?

Definitely with a serrated knife, like a bread knife.  Use a sawing action to cut the slices.

Keep a bowl of warm water and a clean dish towel.  After each slice wipe the knife with the warm water, this will keep you angel food cake with strawberries looking clean and good.

Try These Other Showstopper Birthday Cakes

Chocolate Cake Birthday Cake With Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Turtle Cheesecake With Shortbread Crust