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.
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| 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.
If you've tried this recipe, please RATE THE RECIPE and leave a comment below!
Angel Food Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake Ingredients
- 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
Vanilla Whipped Cream Frosting Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
Cupcake Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 F.
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In a small mixing bowl, combine one cup of the sugar with the cake flour and salt.
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk egg whites, water, vanilla extract, and cream of tartar until frothy.
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Slowly mix in the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar.
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Keep beating until the mixture looks like a fluffy white cloud (medium peaks).
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Dust the top of the foam with a little bit of the flour mixture and, using a spatula, gently fold it in.
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Continue adding flour and gently folding it in until all of the flour mixture is incorporated.
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Fill cupcake liners almost all of the way to the top.
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Bake for 20 minutes or until cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.
Vanilla Whipped Cream Frosting Instructions
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Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream.
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Mix in vanilla extract and sugar until just combined.
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Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.
Recipe Notes
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.
These cupcakes are SO cute!!! I love these – totally the perfect thing to put actual wings on angel food cupcakes! :)
Wow they looks damn cute..
I think those are the most adorable cupcakes I’ve ever seen! Where did you get the cookie cutters?
adorable! great use of the cutter :)
Wow, the cupcake look so heavenly.. so divine. Love the clody background in the first pic.
Stef, you’re so creative! These are adorable. :) And Jonathan made a great photo shoot.
Of course angel cupcakes need wings. These look wonderful. Very sweet. I really like the photo of the bowl with the wings as well.
I have got to buy me some of these!!! LOVE THEM! <3
I am so glad I stumbled on this recepie because I’m planning on making a peppermint cocoa cupcake…This would be an angel food cupcake with white chocolate peppermint mousse filling and cocoa whipcream frosting. So Thanks!
I just made these for my mother-in-law’s birthday. I live in Germany where they don’t have the special tube pans and I was worried about making angel food in a normal pan. This was the perfect solution! What’s weird is that I made 3/4 of the recipe (and I’m sure all the measurements were correct) but I got about 24. The texture was perfect though! I’ll definitely make these again when I have lots of egg whites. Thanks for the recipe! :)
I didnt even know I liked angel food! I made these tonight for my boyfriends homecoming after a business trip becuase angle food is his fav and I dont have a proper cake pan… THESE WERE ABSOUTLEY AMAZING! My 8 year old son said “I’m going to put my taste buds into retirement after this” “please make a lifetime supply of these cupcakes” lol they were so amazing. Thank you for sharing!!
Angel food cake is great to work with because it is so versatile and great for carving. Forget making the best cookies in Orange County – we do our best work with cakes like these. The wings are also a great idea!
These cupcakes were delicious! However mine shriveled so much that they were almost a mini cupcake size after they cooled! Do you have any ideas what I could have done wrong?
I was wondering the same thing…with a traditional angel food cake you flip it over to cool so it doesn’t do this. Hmmm, I wonder how this could be done with angel food cake.
Did you figure this out or get a response? I have been wondering the same thing. Thanks!
Have you ever used whole milk for whipped cream? I know it’s not quite the same but we bought a gallon forgetting we already had a full one at home and now need a way to use it! Same with eggs…hence the angel food cupcakes I’ll be making tonight :) Thanks for the recipe! I was stressing because I don’t have a tube pan, but now I can make these!
I haven’t but I don’t think it would work well. You really need more of the cream. Good luck!
Can I use a carton of ” Just Whites” instead of using a dozen of eggs?
I was wondering if you cooled these upside down to prevent shrinking? Any tips ? I have tried angel food cupcakes in the past & they shrank a lot. Thanks :)