Angel Food Cake With Whipped Chocolate Frosting

Angel food cake with chocolate frosting is a dreamy dessert that requires a delicate touch. If you’re starting with store-bought cake, make sure it’s fresh and springs back when you (gently) touch it. Our go-to angel food cake recipe gets its ethereal texture from cream of tartar and finely milled cake flour, which forms less gluten than all-purpose flour and produces an airy crumb. Cocoa powder provides all the chocolate flavor in the frosting, so it’s worth shelling out for a quality brand. An electric mixer is the easiest way to combine the chilled cocoa mixture with the heavy whipping cream, but you can also whisk it by hand in a large bowl until stiff peaks form.

To ice the cake, place it on a platter or cake stand atop a lazy Susan or cake wheel if you’ve got one; otherwise, use your non-dominant hand to gently rotate the platter as you spread the airy chocolate frosting on the sides of the cake with an offset spatula. Decorate the top of the cake with swirls of chocolate icing, or add cocoa nibs, toasted coconut flakes, a handful of raspberries, or thinly sliced strawberries or bananas. This chocolate-frosted angel food cake is delicious as is, though we doubt anyone will complain if you serve it with vanilla ice cream or extra homemade whipped cream on the side.