This gluten-free angel food cake recipe tastes exactly like you remember angel food cake tasting. And because it depends on egg whites for its rise and structure, there's no need for gluten anyway!
Sift together 6 ounces of the sugar with 4 ounces of the flour. Set flour-sugar mixture aside for later. (The remaining 6 ounces of sugar should be reserved for use in the egg white mixture.)
Add 12 ounces of egg whites to a large bowl attached to your standing mixer (or use your hand mixer). Using the whisk attachment, mix egg whites on medium speed for 1 minute.
Add salt, cream of tartar, lemon juice, and vanilla to egg whites and continue mixing on medium-high speed for another 1 minute. Slowly add the remaining 6 ounces of sugar while the mixer is mixing and mix for another 1-2 minutes until egg whites form weak peaks and the mixture is pourable. Do not overmix. Stiff peak will affect the cake's ability to rise. You want weak peaks that are still pourable. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
Add 1/4 cup of the sifted flour-sugar mixture to the egg white mixture at a time, gently folding the flour-sugar mixture into the egg white mixture until all of the flour is incorporated into the batter. Do not overmix.
Pour the mixture into a 9" inch non-stick angel food cake pan. See alternative pan options in the Notes section. Do NOT grease the pan.
Add the cake to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove cake from oven and allow it to cool in pan for 5 minutes before flipping it onto a cooling rack. The cake will not budge when flipped, rather, as it cools, it will slowly move down the pan. Allow cake to cool for 2+ hours in the inverted position before pressing the detachable centerpiece down to gently wiggle the cake from the pan. Be gentle. Before removing the top piece from the cake, you can use a flat spatula to gently loosen it too.
Cut the cake with a serrated knife to get fluffy pieces. Serve with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, optional.
Notes
I highly recommend investing in an angel food cake pan. An angel food cake pan is a large bundt-like pan with a detachable bottom and a hole in the center. You could also use a large springform pan with an oven-safe glass inserted in the center. See my full article for more reasons why an angel food cake pan is a wise investment.You'll get better results when you use egg whites from eggs vs. store-bought egg whites from a carton. The egg whites should be whipped to perfection. Over-whipping or under-whipping could affect the rise of the cake. Whip the egg whites over medium speed until you achieve weak peaks that are still pourable. The cake's ability to rise will be impacted if the peaks are too stiff.Do NOT grease the pan. This will cause the cake to fall out of the pan too quickly when inverted to cool. You also want to allow the cake to rise by crawling up the sides of the pan, which it can't do if you grease the pan.It is best to measure ingredients by weight vs. volume. I recommend investing in a kitchen scale if you don't have one.Nutrition values were calculated without strawberries and whipped cream.