Chocolate Orange Angel Food Cake
Are you guys getting sick of citrus recipes yet? I sure hope not because I’m sharing another one today! 🙂 I think we all know how well citrus, orange especially, pairs with chocolate. I wanted to do at least one dessert that used this pairing, but something a little lighter. Angel food cake came to mind. It’s light, fluffy, but still richly flavored.
Let’s get to it!
First, preheat your oven. Next you’ll sift together half of the sugar with the cake flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. I just ran mine through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of any lumps. This is going to be folded in later so it’s important those lumps are gone.
Now you’ll whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form, which basically means the whites are fluffy but when the whisk is lifted up a peak forms but the tip doesn’t stay up. Letting your eggs come up to room temp will help them whip up even fuller than if they were chilled.
Soft peak
Now slowly add the remaining sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Add the vanilla and orange zest and whip until fully combined.
It’s time to add the sifted dry ingredients. Gently fold them in making sure to stir up from the bottom also so everything is mixed. Don’t over mix, though, because the air in the egg whites is what is going to make your cake nice and fluffy. Just stir until you don’t see many white streaks in your batter.
Now you’ll pour the batter into your angel food cake pan, evening it out and tapping on the counter to get any large air bubbles out. A few things to note about the pan. An angel food cake pan is taller than your average bundt cake pan and has straight sides. It also really important that you do NOT grease the pan. I know this totally seems like a no-no but it’s a must for angel food cake. I learned this the hard way the first time I ever made angel food cake. I got a brand-new pan and the recipe I was using didn’t mention greasing the pan. I stupidly assumed I knew better, though (ha!), and greased the pan. This becomes important once you take the cake out of the oven…
Bake 30 minutes, or until it bounces back when you press.
The cake is going to be cooled upside down for an hour in the pan. This ensures the cake stays tall and doesn’t sink. Well, if you grease your pan the cake will plop right out. So learn from me a few years ago and do not grease the pan! I also have a pan that has little legs on the bottom (when flipped upside down) so that air can circulate when it’s turned over. If you don’t have a pan with these little legs, put the pan on a bottle or something so that it’s upside down but still has air underneath.
Once it’s cooled for an hour upside down, run a knife all the way around and flip it onto your serving dish.
Now it’s time to make the whipped cream! Pour the cold heavy cream into a bowl and whip until it’s stiff.
Whip in your Triple Sec and you’re ready to serve!
Serve the cake in slices with a generous dollop of whipped cream. This cake definitely hits the spot! It’s chocolatey with that citrus hit but still light and fluffy.
Enjoy!
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Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 large egg whites at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 tablespoons grate orange zest
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon triple sec
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Sift together half of the sugar with cake flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Whip egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form.
- Slowly add remaining sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla and orange zest and whip until fully combined.
- Gently fold in remaining dry ingredients.
- Pour batter into (UNGREASED) angel food cake pan, evening it out and tapping to get any large air bubbles out.
- Bake 30 minutes, or until it bounces back when pressed.
- Cool upside down for an hour in the pan.
- Once it's cooled for an hour upside down, run a knife around the cake and turn it out onto serving dish.
- Pour cold heavy cream into bowl and whip until stiff. Whip in your Triple Sec!
- Serve the cake in slices with a generous dollop of whipped cream.
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