Avoid This Type Of Pan At All Costs When Baking An Angel Food Cake

The delicate angel food cake is a dessert classic, and rightfully so. With its fluffy, airy texture and mild, subtle flavor, it's the perfect treat to serve both as an afternoon pick-me-up and on special occasions. The texture is the main characteristic that sets angel food apart from other types of cakes, but it's also the hardest part to get right. While the choice of ingredients and the methods of mixing certainly have a role in creating an airy texture, the pan you're using plays a vital role in creating a successful dessert. Namely, you should avoid non-stick pans when baking angel food cake.

There are two main reasons why this cake is incompatible with non-stick pans. First is the rising process — the batter for angel food cake doesn't contain leavening agents and relies only on the airy egg whites for the rising. Some recipes, including Tasting Table's very own light and fluffy angel food cake recipe, use cream of tartar for stabilizing and leavening. Either way, the cake needs to stick to the pan to properly expand; otherwise, the beaten eggs would deflate and collapse, ruining the ideal texture.

The second reason for ditching the non-stick pan is the cooling process. You should always cool angel food cake upside down, and the reason once again has to do with the airily beaten egg whites. By cooling the cake "on its head," you're preserving the expansion that occurred during the rising process and ensuring the texture doesn't deflate. But there's an obvious concern here — isn't the cake just going to fall out of the pan when you turn it upside down? Indeed, but only if you're using a non-stick pan, which is why you absolutely shouldn't. When the cake is allowed to stick to the sides of the pan, you won't have any trouble cooling it upside down.

So, what kind of pan should you use instead? Your best bet is a classic tube pan. Don't mistake it for a bundt pan, though — those don't have a flat bottom, which is what you need for angel food cake. Look for an aluminum pan, ideally one that comes in two parts, so the bottom can be removed. As an example, this Fox Run Loose Bottom Angel Food Cake Pan has all the characteristics you'd need from a proper tube pan and even comes with little prongs at the top so you can cool the cake upside down without having to prop it on something else.