Angel Food Cupcakes with Whipped Buttercream and Berries
Light as air, these angel food cupcakes shine with a simple whipped cream cheese buttercream and fresh summer berries.
Angel food cupcakes require no special baking pan, and are the perfect single serving dessert for potlucks, barbecues, and picnics. I especially love them in the summertime, but they’re delicious any time of the year!
These cupcakes are super light and spongy, with a subtle sweet vanilla flavor. The topping is a combination of whipped cream and cream cheese buttercream, and it’s the perfect smooth and creamy counterpart to the tender angel food cupcakes. I like to top these cupcakes with fresh berries, but feel free to use whatever you like.
Looking for classic angel food cake? Don’t miss my full-size angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries.
How to make these angel food cupcakes
There are 3 parts to this recipe— angel food cupcakes, whipped cream cheese buttercream, and fresh berries. So let’s get started, shall we?
- Sift powdered sugar and cake flour. Sifting them together 3 times makes sure there are no lumps and that the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Whip egg whites. This is how the cupcakes get their light texture! Use an electric mixer and wire whisk attachment to beat with cream of tarter until foamy, then slowly add granulated sugar and continue to beat until glossy and holds soft peaks. Add vanilla.
- Fold together. Add sifted mixture in 3 additions, do not overmix.
- Scoop into cupcake pan. Fill liners all the way to the top.
- Bake. Bake at 350°F until golden and spring back when gently touched, about 18 minutes.
- Prepare frosting. Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth and creamy, then transfer to another bowl. Beat whipped cream to soft peaks, then stir in the cream cheese mixture in a few additions.
- Top with berries, or as desired. Other options are sliced strawberries or peaches, chocolate sauce, etc.
Then, enjoy!
baking tip:How to fold ingredients
“Folding” is a method of combining ingredients without knocking the air out of the mixture, such as the folding of dry ingredients into whipped egg whites for these angel food cupcakes. Here’s how it’s done:
- Use a rubber spatula and make sure your bowl is big enough.
- Using the spatula, cut through the egg whites at 90 degree angle to the bottom of the bowl.
- Scoop the egg whites and fold it on top of itself, incorporating the dry ingredients.
- Rotate bowl a quarter turn and repeat only just until no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Do not over mix.
More tips for this recipe
- This recipe calls for cake flour and cannot be substituted with all-purpose flour. All grocery stores carry cake flour, or you can make your own.
- You must use cupcake liners for this recipe, as just greasing the muffin pan will not give the cupcakes something to hold onto as they rise.
- Unlike traditional cupcakes, you want to scoop the batter until it’s heaped to the top of the cupcake liner. They will rise as it bakes (but not spill over) and sink slightly as they cool.
- For smooth frosting, make sure the cream cheese has a chance to come to room temperature. See my tips for how to quickly soften cream cheese.
- I prefer these cupcakes the day they are baked, but they can be stored in the fridge for several days. (If I’m serving within 24 hours I don’t worry about refrigeration, but anything longer than that and they go in the fridge.)
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Recipe originally published June 2015.
Angel Food Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- ½ cup powdered sugar (55 grams)
- ⅔ cup cake flour (80 grams)
- 1 cup egg whites (225 grams, about 8 large eggs)
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Whipped Cream Cheese Buttercream:
- 8 oz cream cheese , at room temperature (225 grams)
- 1 cup powdered sugar , sifted (115 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream (450 grams)
- Fresh berries such as strawberries, blueberries and raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
- Sift together the powdered sugar and cake flour 3 times. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or in a bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt on medium high speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and slowly add the granulated sugar 1 tablespoon at a time with the mixer running. Beat until glossy and soft peaks form. Stir in the vanilla.
- In 3 additions, sift the dry ingredients over the meringue and gently fold in after each addition. Do not overmix or meringue will deflate.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan, filling the cups all the way to the top. Bake until golden and spring back when touched, about 18 minutes. Let cupcakes cool completely.
- To make the frosting, either in a stand mixer or with a hand-held mixer, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together until smooth and creamy. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.
- Add the whipping cream to the mixer bowl (no need to clean) and beat with wire whisk attachment until thickened to soft peaks.
- Add cream cheese mixture in a few additions, and beat until smooth.
- Frost cupcakes with buttercream and top with berries.
Beautiful cupcakes! Your tips are always so helpful. Chocolate buttercream so delicious too with angel food cake and berries. Thank you!
These cupcakes are gorgeous and certainly much healthier than the average cupcake 🙂
These look so fresh and delicious! Love this!
SO MANY DONUTS! But I have no regrets. Ha! Great seeing you again. Wish we could have had more time. We were just so busy! These cupcakes are amazing! I’m thinking they are going right on my 4th of July menu!
These cupcakes are lovely! Angel Food is an all time favorite.
Yum!! These sound so light and tasty. I bet they taste amazing with the fresh berries! 🙂
These cupcakes are so ridiculously pretty! (Also – you’re totally allowed to still think about doughnuts because it’s almost national donut day!) I’m so glad I got to see you again this weekend – it was fun catching up, even if the weekend did go by too quickly.
So fun to see you too! Hopefully our paths will cross again before too long. Thanks Sara! 🙂
So pretty! Angel food cake is always such a fun sweet, especially in cupcake form!
Ohhh what a weekend in Portland, and what a gorgeous cupcake!! I missed you girls so much, but I have enjoyed watching the adventures!
Soooo Yummy cakes…. I am a die-hard fan of cup cakes… would love to have if I get these in my plate… :p
These cupcakes made me sick. They taste like sugary eggs.
I know this recipe is from 2015, but made a trial batch of cupcakes today because I wanted to make these for my daughter’s 1st birthday and was so disappointed. The cupcakes look amazing but taste so much like eggs. They do not taste like cupcakes at all. I followed the recipe to a T and am not sure what went wrong. Will be trying another recipe for her birthday.
This recipe is no good. Please do not attempt these. I made the cupcakesoand the buttercream and I was severely disappointed. I previously made an angel food cake at turned out amazing, but tried this recipe for cupcakes. They tasted like egg. 0/10. The buttercream isn’t even good.
the cup cakes are make me hungry i want to try this recipe once.
Being a Foodie I Love to have new dishes, and when I see any new recipe, I Defiantly try that on weekend. Now I will make the same on weekend. However, thanks for sharing the same.
How does turn out if you make a cake instead???
Great website and Very helpful to me
wow..so yummy. I definitely going to try this recipe. Looking for more tasty recipes
wow..so yummy. I definitely going to try this recipe. Looking for more tasty recipes
wow..so yummy. I am going to try this recipe. Looking for more tasty recipes in feature
Great post, thanks for the information.
I Defiantly try that on weekend. Now I will make the same on weekend. However, thanks for sharing the same.
thank you so much for this article
lovely recipe, I really like this.
Thanks & Regard
Biplab Acharjee ( Free job Alert)
the cup cakes are make me hungry i want to try this recipe once.https://kinemastermods.com/kinemaster-lite/
Nice amazing and excellent info providing by your post about cupcakes I really like to read it thank you so much for sharing with us.
This is awesome recipes. I love cupcakes
Nice amazing and excellent info providing by your post about cupcakes I really like to read it thank you so much for sharing with us ❤.
Thank you for your kind words! I’m thrilled that you found the cupcake post informative and enjoyable. Your appreciation means a lot. I’ll continue sharing more delightful content. Thank you for reading!revanced
Wow, these Angel Food Cupcakes with Whipped Buttercream and Berries look absolutely heavenly! The combination of light cupcakes, creamy buttercream, and fresh berries is making my mouth water. This recipe seems perfect for summer gatherings, and I can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks for sharing this delightful treat!
How long to cool in pan or do we transfer to wire rack immediately? I wish I had noticed this earlier! I suppose I’ll leave them in there for a few minutes.
Usually I let cupcakes cool for a few minutes in the pan and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. I hope this helps!