Mini angel food cake made in a loaf pan for fewer servings! Small angel food cake for two!
You're looking at two slices of my all-time favorite and death-bed dessert: angel food cake. But not just any angel food cake: a mini angel food cake made in a loaf pan, doused with freshly (barely-sweetened) whipped cream and fresh raspberries.
I've always loved angel food cake, even the store-bought variety. The boxed mix isn't too bad either because you can't deny the convenience of not having to separate one dozen eggs. You might also like my angel food cupcakes.
In this case, I made several batches of my small cheesecake recipe made in a loaf pan for a recent book signing I did in Dallas, and so I had leftover egg whites. I also made many batches of my small-batch sugar cookies, too!
Whenever I acquire the magical number of seven leftover egg whites, then I make this small batch angel food cake.
Side note: If you're interested in living la vida small batch desserts, I have separate every single recipe on this site into recipes that use egg whites and recipes that use only egg yolks. You can always find these categories on my recipe index page, just in case you need to bookmark that.
This mini angel food cake is made in a standard 9" bread loaf pan, and it has a few non-negotiable steps.
Rules for this mini angel food cake:
- You must use a regular pan, not a non-stick pan. The cake needs to stick and climb up the sides of the pan in order to reach its full height potential. Do not, I repeat DO NOT grease the pan. If your loaf pan is non-stick, it won't work! Use a metal, plain loaf pan. I promise the cake will come un-stuck later when you're ready to serve with a simple knife run around the edges.
- You must beat the egg whites to soft, floppy peaks, and not any further.
- The cream of tartar is optional; leave it out if you don't have it. When I use it, my mini angel food cake rises higher but then it also cracks (which is totally fine, too).
- You must cool this cake upside down, as shown below. If not, the cake might sink or deflate.
Things to serve with this small batch angel food cake:
- Serve slices with whipped cream, my microwave lemon curd and fresh berries.
- Spread two slices with jam and stick it in a kid's lunch box for a fun dessert.
- Dip leftover pieces in custard and cook like French toast for breakfast!
If you own my cookbook Sweet & Simple: Desserts for Two, you'll recognize this as the angel food cake with jam. In the cookbook, I sliced this cake horiztonally into 3 sections (it's best to use an electric carving knife for this), spread it with jam, and then stacked it back together, tightly wrapped it with plastic wrap and left in the fridge for 6 hours.
Small batch mini angel food cake for one or two people. Made in a loaf pan! *If you don't have cream of tartar, leave it out. The cake won't rise as high, but it will still taste great! Mini Angel Food Cake in a Loaf Pan
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8
Serving Size:
1
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 126Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 115mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 0gSugar: 19gProtein: 4g
Paloma says
The only loaf pans I can find that aren’t non-stick are 8 inches.
One is 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5-in. and the other is 8 x 3 3/4 x 2 3/8 in.
The pan you linked to is 9 inches. Would it be okay to use one of these or is it better to use 2 mini loaf pans instead?
Christina Lane says
That's ok! The 8.5" one will work great :)
Gina Pereda says
Hello, I have a silicone loaf pan - would that work, or is this considered "too non-stick?" Thank you - I am really enjoying all of your recipes. Our family of 4 loves desserts, but do not need to eat the extra calories of large desserts - your recipes are helping teach my teenagers about how portion control and deliciousness can work hand in hand!
Christina Lane says
Unfortunately, angel food cake batter won't climb up a silicone pan. Silicone is super nonstick, like the best nonstick product on the market. I love it for other things (like muffins), but I'm sorry it won't allow angel food cake to rise :(
Ellie says
Amazing recipe! So lovely and light. It only finished cooling about 10 minutes ago and hubby has already demolished about a quarter.
I used a disposable (foil) bread tin which worked really well as I could basically just peel it away from the cake after it cooled
Cindy Roy says
I have a Pampered Chef "stone" loaf pan and am wondering if it would work?
Christina Lane says
Ok, I haven't tried that, but a stone loaf pan would be not non-stick, correct? I think the cake could climb up the sides of the stone? Any pan that is NOT non-stick works :)
Brian says
I used mine, and it worked very well.
Christina Lane says
Thanks for chiming in :)
Mary Ann says
Hello,
To clarify: do the egg whites need to be room temp for this? I've read other recipes that say they should. I can't find it in your post, or I missed it. Thanks for the help! Excited to try to make a MINI angel food cake! Perfect! Thanks for your work of making recipes small sized for us small size families!
Christina Lane says
I found it doesn't matter :)
Ren says
I used refrigerated eggs and it came out fine.
Ren says
I used King Arthur gluten-free flour and it turned out great. No adaptations required.
Sandra says
Has anyone used Sauer’s egg white magic?
Virginia says
Would it work to make this in a disposable foil loaf pan?
Christina Lane says
Yes :)
Kim says
I have a question about the pan. I don't know if mine are nonstick or not so could I just line them with some aluminium just to be sure? Or is aluminium nonstick too?
Christina Lane says
Hmmm...have you baked anything else in the pans before? Did it stick to the sides? I'm not sure I recommend lining with aluminum, though it is not non-stick...I just haven't tried it yet, so I'm not sure, I'm sorry! I would try your plain pans first and see :)
Kim says
They are non-stick, unfortunately :( So would it be better to try it with aluminium foil lining? Or ?
June says
Is cornstarch required? Can I leave it out if I don't have any on hand?
Christina Lane says
You can try leaving it out, but I'm not sure how it would turn out. I didn't test the recipe with ingredients missing.