When I was growing up, my grandmother always used to make angel food cakes. The angel food was the cause of many a misadventure and funny story. When making an angel food cake, you’re supposed to take it out of the oven and turn it upside down to cool. Supposedly it keeps the cake from deflating like a flat tire. I’m not sure how true this is or not, but my grandmother had a special pan with feet on it so you could stand it upside down.
She got this pan after flipping her old pan upside down on a 2 liter soda bottle. Hee hee, the heat from the pan gradually melted the bottle which released the soda into a huge fizzy mess… right inside her gorgeous golden angel food cake. So I can definitely say that soda exploding into your cake will deflate it. 😉
The professional angel food cakes I’ve seen have always been drizzled with a pretty glaze, but for some reason my grandmother always used to frost hers like a regular cake. Bizarre but that’s what she did. Of course, there were always sprinkles on top. Little pastel flower sprinkles to make me smile. I wonder why she started frosting it instead of using glaze. I guess we’ll never know her secret.
For Thanksgiving this year, I was trying to come up with a fancy yet sorta good for you idea for dessert and I though back to the angel food cakes. I decided to try a much smaller version. An angel food cupcake actually. I thought it might be a nice light way to end the evening as opposed to feeling stuffed like the turkey.
I was planning to frost these in honor of tradition, but The Kid dug into them before I had a chance and asked me not to. Since she has a huge sweet tooth, that says a lot to me about their flavor. Low in calories, not too bad in sugar, and The Kid didn’t think they needed any glaze or frosting on top. I’d call that a pretty devilish dessert. I also like the fact that I was able to sneak in just a pinch of chocolate too.
Chocolate Chip Angel Food Cupcakes 
- 6 Tbsp sugar
- 6 large egg whites
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp lime juice
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line 24 muffin cups with liners. I recommend using either the silicone liners or the foil ones since angel food can be sticky. The paper liner may be harder to remove from the cupcake but I didn’t risk it so they may work fine. Place egg whites in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy.
Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks start to form. Add in the sugar, a couple tablespoons at a time while beating until stiff peaks form. Beat in the vanilla and lime juice. Once the egg whites are stiff, sift the flour over the egg whites and gently fold it in with a spatula. Don’t mix too hard because you don’t want to deflate the egg whites.
Fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon approximately 3 tablespoons batter into each muffin cup. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven and take the cupcakes out of the pans to cool on a wire rack.
Makes 24 cupcakes at 36 calories each – 1g protein, 6g carbs, and 1g fat.
They turned out to be pretty cute too. Since these are seriously low in calories, you could even enjoy a few of them. I saved the yolks and beat them with carton egg whites for breakfast the next day. You can also use them to make a custard or pudding. Don’t just toss them out. Waste not want not. 🙂
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