Believe it or not, you can enjoy a wonderfully fluffy and airy angel food cake on a low-carb and keto diet! And the best thing about the recipe for this light-and-dreamy cake is that — you guessed it— you need only 5 ingredients to prepare it!
Tips for making the Amazingly Airy Angel Food Cake
As with any angel food cake recipe, this one calls for lots of eggs. They are the bulk ingredient in this voluminous keto cake, so they’re also the most important. You’ll get the best result when your eggs are at room temperature, so if you store your eggs in the fridge, make sure to take them out at least a few hours before baking.
The next tip for success is (naturally!), beat everything until it’s as fluffy and airy as possible. You really want to incorporate all the air you can into the eggs—and that goes for both the egg whites and the egg yolk mixture.
If you’re feeling ambitious, feel free to sift the dry ingredient mixture three times — just like you do when you make regular angel food cake. Personally, I tend to be lazy and I skip this step because I’ve never noticed any real difference whether I sift the dry ingredients or not. But if you’re aiming for a really fluffy cake, it’s better to be safe than sorry, so you might want to just go ahead and sift the dry ingredients three times. (Or you can simply do it because it’s a tradition!)
Other than that, this is a surprisingly simple cake to make. So, let’s take a closer look at how to prepare it:
First, combine the dry ingredients: that is, the coconut flour…
…and the baking powder.
Mix well. (And sift three times, if you like.)
Next, separate 8 eggs.
Place the whites into a large bowl.
Beat until stiff peaks form.
Like this.
Next, you’ll need the 8 egg yolks and the remaining 2 whole eggs. Place them into a clean bowl.
Add the sweetener.
Now, beat this egg yolk and sweetener mixture…
…until very fluffy, voluminous, and pale. As thick as you can get.
Add the vanilla extract.
Beat again until well combined.
Now, take the dry ingredient mixture and start adding it little by little to the egg yolk mixture while gently stirring with a rubber spatula. Don’t add the dry ingredient mixture too fast: otherwise you’ll lose some of that lovely volume.
When you have added all the dry ingredient mixture, work fast (before the coconut flour starts thickening the batter) and combine the egg yolk mixture with the egg whites.
Mix with a rubber spatula…
…until smooth.
Pour into a very well-greased angel food pan or your preferred cake pan (with capacity of 10 cups = 2.4 L). I have a gorgeous heart-shaped pan from Nordic Ware here (no, they’re not sponsoring this post! Actually, I wouldn’t mind if they did, their stuff is so great…!)
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the thickest part of the cake.
Remove the cake from the oven…
…and from the pan.
Let cool completely. Frost with your favorite keto frosting (this lemon glaze is wonderful, as is this vanilla frosting!) and enjoy.
Yum!
My keto angel food experiments
You might not know that a few years ago I published a monthly newsletter related to the keto diet and weight loss. Each newsletter contained helpful articles with tips, as well as 12 recipes related to different themes. One newsletter was all about the most delicious keto baked goods, and it included a keto version of angel food cake that I had developed.
I remember it took me lots of trial and error to get the keto angel food cake fluffy but not too dry. If I added fluid, it collapsed and turned out too moist. If I used only egg whites, the cake was like meringue — so dry that it crumbled when you so much as looked at it.
However, soon I found out that the key was to use egg whites as well as egg yolks and whole eggs. After that, finding the correct ratio—plus adding some coconut flour to make it all hold together—wasn’t that hard.
I didn’t want to use almond flour (even though it’s great: here’s one popular 5-ingredient keto cake recipe using almond flour), because you usually need a lot of it and the texture will be more coarse than when using coconut flour, which is much finer. This angel food cake naturally had to have a smooth texture.
Well, I remember I tried also whey protein instead of coconut flour, but it made the cake too dense, plus whey protein is a dairy product and I wanted to make this cake dairy-free.
In the newsletter recipe, I used cream of tartar as well as baking powder to help the cake rise. (I think I used the cream of tartar just because almost all regular angel food cake recipes call for it.)
Fast forward to this spring. I wanted to start experimenting with the keto angel food cake recipe that appeared in my newsletter because I needed a cake base for my son’s birthday cake (he turned 8 at the end of February).
I ended up making three (!) birthday cakes for my son: one for the family, one for the science club he was attending, and one for the visit to Grandma and Grandpa (i.e., my parents). I took the newsletter recipe and wondered what would happen if I omitted the cream of tartar and just used baking powder as a leavening agent, but slightly more than the 2 teaspoons that the original recipe called for.
So, I conducted an experiment that was otherwise identical to the newsletter recipe, except I omitted the cream of tartar and used 1 tablespoon baking powder. The result was superb, and I was really happy the cake turned out so fluffy and airy, even minus the cream of tartar. Now I had a great 5-ingredient cake recipe which I could post here on my 5-ingredient blog!
I made one further change, though: Instead of erythritol crystals, I tried powdered erythritol. In one of my experiments (in which I used a cake pan with lots of nooks and crannies), the erythritol somehow sank to the bottom of the cake pan (right into those nooks and crannies), forming a gel-like layer with some bubbles in it.
Yuck.
I remembered my first experiments with erythritol some 15 years ago, when I ended up with a similar gel-like layer on top of a cake. Using powdered erythritol solved the problem then. (Also, using less erythritol crystals and adding some stevia was another solution.) But now, I wanted to see how pure powdered erythritol would work.
It worked extremely well! No gel-like layer, but a smooth and even surface, even when I used a cake pan with small details. But for a flat-bottomed cake pan, erythritol crystals work almost equally well.
I finally got everything right! Now it’s about time to post the recipe so that you and your family can enjoy it, too!
So, here it is:
- 1/2 cup = 120 ml coconut flour
- 1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder
- 10 organic free-range eggs
- 2/3 cup = 160 ml powdered erythritol OR Confectioner's Style Swerve
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 325 °F (150 °C).
- Combine the coconut flour and the baking powder in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Separate 8 eggs. Place the 8 egg whites in a large bowl. Beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Place the 8 egg yolks, the 2 remaining whole eggs and the sweetener in a clean large bowl. Beat until as thick, fluffy, and pale as you can get.
- Add the vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
- Fold in the coconut flour mixture little by little and mix gently but well with a rubber spatula until well combined.
- Immediately fold in the egg whites (before the coconut flour starts thicken) and mix gently with the rubber spatula again until well combined.
- Pour into a well-greased cake pan (capacity 10 cups = 2.4 L) or angel food pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the pan and let cool completely.
- Frost with your favorite keto frosting and enjoy!
| Nutrition Information | In total | Per serving if 12 servings in total |
| Protein | 89.4 g | 7.5 g |
| Fat | 68.5 g | 5.7 g |
| Net carbs | 16.5 g | 1.4 g |
| kcal | 1085 kcal | 90 kcal |
Tips for variation
You can use this as your go-to basic cake any time you need a birthday cake or a cake for any other celebration. Just add different fillings and frostings.
You can also add different natural flavorings (like cherry, almond, raspberry, etc…) to the batter, if you like. Finely-grated, fresh orange peel or lemon peel would lend a bright, citrusy flavor, too. Orange essential oil (just use a couple of drops!) is another natural flavor enhancer.
Keep this simple recipe in mind next time you need a cake for just about any kind of celebration!
i cannot wait to try your recipe, Elviira! i do have some questions:
1. For a family member who cannot have erythritol, would an allulose-monkfruit sweetener such as Besti work? I would think that the powdered version would be preferable to the crystalized version. I realize that allulose tends to bake faster and browner than erythritol or sugar, so perhaps reduce baking temperature and/or time?
2. Would beating cream of tartar with the egg whites help to stabilize them? I do not mind using more than 5 (or 10!) ingredients. Your genius is in creating delicious keto recipes — the number of ingredients doesn’t matter to me.
3. For those who can have erythritol, any experience with King Arthur’s Baking Sugar Alternative, which is a blend of erythritol, allulose, monkfruit and stevia? i usually avoid stevia because of its sometimes noticeable flavor, but I have heard that this blend works well in baking. It is not, however, powdered.
4. You mention combining the yolk-coconut flour mixture with the whipped egg whites before the coconut flour thickens the yolk mixture. Is there room for adding additional liquid to the yolk-coconut flour mixture, perhaps letting it thicken a bit to compensate for the extra liquid? I’d love to make a passion fruit version adding unsweetened passion fruit juice (Boiron or Goya). That might require a bit more sweetener. But what other modifications would you recommend if I were to try this? Xanthan gum? A bit more coconut flour?
Thanks so much, Elviira, for devoting your time and considerable creativity to making life sweeter (yet still keto!) for so many.
Hi Anita, thank you for your comment and questions. 1) Yes, I think allulose-monkfruit sweetener would work well here, especially the powdered version. I haven’t tried out allulose in baking. 300 °F might be worth trying. 2) You can certainly use 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. Personally, I haven’t noticed that much difference if using cream of tartar or not, but at least it shouldn’t do any harm 🙂 3) I would recommend powdered sweetener for this cake as the texture is so fluffy. The crystals might reduce the fluffiness. 4) Juice or other additional liquid might make the texture more dense. I might add another egg or then 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum. Hope your cake turns out well! I would love to hear how it turned out if you try out the recipe!
Just made this. Amazing! I followed the recipe exactly and baked it in a 9×13 copper non stick pan that I greased with a little butter. It rose nicely, didn’t stick to the pan at all and best of all it is so good! I’m going to go to the store and get some strawberries so I can have my first strawberry shortcake in almost 20 years! I’m more than a little excited! Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Carol, awesome! So happy to hear it turned out well for you! <3
What else could I use for sweeteners? Will regular stevia work
It should work, monk fruit (luo han guo) is another good option
Well, I was coming to thank you for your beautiful recipe. I didn’t think angel food cake could be made keto. But Debbie Butler was a bit rude to you, Elviira…and then you were rude to all Americans in one fell swoop. Not nice. Americans do very well with keto; some of us count net and some of us are more strict and count total. We leave it up to each individual and their metabolism and view both ways as correct. No need to trash us all in your comments.
Hi Strawberry girl, Debbie was spamming my blog for some time with her comments, so I sort of got pissed off. Sorry about it. I removed my comment and all her spam comments because things indeed started getting rude. So, thanks for the intervention! And great to hear you like the recipe!
So I was nervous to grease my pan because it was verbally beat in to me by generations of women in my family not to do so which allows the angel food to climb. I tried it without greasing then inverted the cake pan over a metal funnel for 2 hours as I would normally do. Verdict is in: It rose beautifully and came out ALMOST intact. Next time I do it I will try greasing only the bottom of the pan so it can still climb so well up the sides. A rubber spatula/butter knife released the sides with no trouble but the bottom was trickier. Thanks for the yummy recipe! My husband and daughter like it too.
Thanks, Janelle, for the tip about greasing the pan. So great to hear the cake turned out so well.
i thought you were not supposed to grease an angel food cake pan so it can climb. Do you have any opinion on this? I am making this recipe right now and I’ve decided not to grease! ehhhhh i hope it works out lol
Thanks for the recipe! My mother is doing Keto and I make cakes for everyone’s birthday and didn’t want her to feel left out on her birthday (pretty much the most important birthday of all! Lol) and she LOVES angel food cake, so this is perfect. Thank you SO MUCH for adding your link to the sugar-free vanilla frosting recipe as well – that’s made my life a lot easier! I was thinking about doing what a previous commenter mentioned about sectioning the cake and putting in some filling – any tips for a specific flavor/recipe or filling techniques? I was thinking of doing something live guava or a similar fruit (I know most fruit is not Keto, but she just came back from a long vacay and isn’t super strict again yet, so I figured I could cheat a little, lol)… Thanks again for the super great recipe! Can’t wait to try it this weekend!
Hi Nicole, thanks for your comment! Guava or something fruity sounds great, I personally use often a mixture of whipped cream and (homemade) sugar-free jam. How does that sound? And Happy Birthday to your mom!
I wonder what people are complaining. I’ve made this cake already three times and each time has been a huge success!
Thanks, TammyT! Great to hear it turns out well for you 🙂
Another cake fail here which was so disappointing since I was making it for a birthday celebration. Needless ron say I was very embarrassed. I followed your instructions to a exactly and it was very dense and didn’t rise. What a flop! The taste wasn’t bad but was more of a muffin texture.
Sorry to hear! No idea what could have gone wrong…
I am going to make it today and put it in muffin tins
Also I am so excited that you used egg yoks in this. That makes it a healthy keto food
Awesome!!
I just felt the need to comment yours is one of the few recipe sites that actually puts the recipe or photos in the beginning rather than going through 14 years of history (when I was 5 I wanted chocolate cake sort of deal) and it made me that much more interested in what you had to say about the cake while getting to the ingredients! I am just starting out keto and my birthday is next month. I can’t wait to taste the amazing cake. Thanks so much for going through all the trials and errors for us. 🙂
Hi Addy, so pleased to hear you like my blog! I’m always afraid I’m too wordy, but on the other hand Google requires ridiculously long blog articles that they even consider showing them in search results. That’s why I explain so much about the development process of the recipe, hoping it helps people and that they understand better what is behind the recipe 🙂
My cake had a very strange texture and didn’t rise. On the Pinterest page that features your recipe the ingredients list 1 1/8 cup of coconut flour, but the recipe lists 1/2 cup of coconut flour. Which is correct?
Sorry to hear it didn’t rise. I don’t know who has pinned the recipe and to which board but it definitely doesn’t use 1 1/8 cup coconut flour!!! 1/2 cup is correct like it says in the recipe. That’s why it’s always good to check the original recipe. Btw, which sweetener did you use? That might affect to the texture.
I used Swerve Confectioner’s sugar.
Hmm, difficult to say if that has affected. It shouldn’t make the texture strange.
I followed the directions and my cake came out very dense. It doesn’t look like it ever rose, what do I need to adjust? Perhaps not greasing the pan? Or using tartar?
Sorry to hear. There could be several reasons like adding the dry ingredients too fast, not beating the eggs enough, beating the batter too much after adding the dry ingredients… Also the quality and the temperature of the ingredients can affect.
Is there any way I could omit the powdered sweetener and just use liquid stevia drops?
Well, you can certainly try that out! I didn’t try so I don’t know what happens…
I’m making this recipe today. I want to shread it up and layer with sugar free whipped cream with strawberries and blueberries. Hope it comes out great.
Sounds great! Please let me know how it turned out 🙂
I wonder…. how do you think a bit of vinegar and baking soda might help the rise? I’m all curious and in Chemistry mode now. lol
I bet they would help 🙂
Thank you so very much for this beautiful recipe. I am looking forward to making it. I LOVE your five or less ideas. They are so right. My favorite is your Lemon Curd.
Hi Tammy, so happy to hear you like my recipes <3 I hope you like this cake, too!