Angel food cake is a popular dessert with endless toppings variations to customize any way you like. But is there milk in angel food cake?
A traditional angel food cake is made without any milk. Angel food cake typically only contains six ingredients and gets its light, fluffy texture from whipped egg whites. However, some popular toppings for angel food cake, such as whipped cream, contain dairy.
What else goes into an angel food cake? If angel food cake doesn’t contain milk, does it contain dairy?
In this article, I’ll discuss the ingredients, variations on the standard cake, and showcase toppings for your fluffy desserts.
Is There Milk in Angel Food Cake?
A traditional angel food cake doesn’t contain any milk. Typically, angel food cake is made with six ingredients:
- Egg whites
- Sugar
- Flour
- Salt
- Vanilla extract
- Cream of tartar
As you can see, there’s no milk on this list!
Is There Dairy in Angel Food Cake?
Just because angel food cake doesn’t contain milk doesn’t necessarily mean it’s dairy-free.
But luckily, none of the traditional ingredients in angel food cake contain any dairy!
This naturally dairy-free recipe makes angel food cake an excellent choice for anyone with dairy sensitivities or allergies.
Related: Is There Milk in Cake?
What is Cream of Tartar?
Cream of tartar is a type of salt made primarily from potassium bitartrate and is used to stabilize egg whites and make whipped cream light.
It’s also used in other baked goods, like cookies, brownies, strawberry shortcakes, and pound cakes.
Does Cream of Tartar Contain Cream?
Cream of tartar is an essential ingredient in a traditional angel food cake, but you may not know what it is.
In fact, the presence of the word “cream” may make you think there’s dairy in this ingredient - but there isn’t!
So you can feel free to use this handy ingredient without worrying about dairy.
Dairy-Free Toppings for Angel Food Cake
If you’re conscious about dairy consumption, angel food cake is an excellent choice. But what toppings will you put on your light and fluffy cake?
Some traditional angel food cake toppings contain dairy, like whipped cream and ganache.
If you’re looking for a dairy-free topping, try fruits! Strawberries, blueberries, and bananas are excellent choices!
If you’re looking for a hit of tart flavor, lemon curd makes a great angel food cake topper!
And if you’d like to enhance your already fluffy cake, go for a meringue! In fact, why not do both together? Yum!
Final Thoughts
So, is there dairy in angel food cake?
Now you can confidently answer that question - nope!
Angel food cake is a naturally dairy-free dessert with a variety of delicious dairy-free toppings to go with it.
With its simple recipe and light, fluffy texture, angel food cake is the perfect dessert for experimenting with different combinations and flavors!
