Chocolate Cream Angel Food Cake
Angel food cake is the perfect spring dessert and this chocolate cream angel food cake takes it to a new level of deliciousness!
Please meet the cake that graced my home during my growing up years on 90% of the family birthdays (unless, in our childish minds we had a brain lapse and requested something out of the norm, like Funfetti or something equally disastrous).
It is the perfect addition to an Easter menu, and like I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be doing my best to fill up your arsenal of spring recipes over the next two weeks.
This cake is so very, very simple. An angel food cake takes center stage and after being doctored up a bit after baking (see the pictures below the recipe), it is filled and frosted with a chocolate whipped cream frosting and sprinkled with toasted almonds.
The entire confection is smooth and chocolatey, soft and cakey, silky and creamy.
Thanks to the tunnel snaking through the center of the cake, you are able to divulge in a thick layer of chocolate cream frosting not only on the outside of the cake but smack dab in the middle.
A perfect spring dessert, this cake brings back so many memories of my birthdays – like the time I got a purple ten speed bicycle with curvy ram-like handlebars and pencil thin wheels for my 10th birthday.
I rode around the neighborhood like I was the queen of the world. A queen with tinted, large, blue-framed glasses and braces. But a queen, no less.
One Year Ago: Skillet Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
Two Years Ago: Easter Dinner Delights
Chocolate Cream Angel Food Cake
Ingredients
- 1 Angel Food cake, baked and cooled completely
- 3 cups heavy whipping cream
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup cocoa
- ½ cup toasted, slivered almonds
Instructions
- In a large glass bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until it begins to thicken. Carefully add the powdered sugar and cocoa gradually and continue whipping. I find the best way to do this is to place the bowl in the kitchen sink and whip with a hand mixer so that when it splatters, it doesn’t get the entire kitchen messy. The cocoa will look like it is separating and lumpy but continue to beat until stiff peaks form and by then, the cocoa should be evenly combined. (If you are worried about lumps you can sift in the cocoa and powdered sugar with a fine mesh sieve.) The frosting should be thick and spreadable – but not overly whipped or it will look a bit curdly. Just beat to stiff peaks.
- When the angel food cake has been baked and cooled completely, follow the pictures below and cut the cake in half to form two round circles. Lay the top half to the side and gently remove pieces of the angel food cake to form a ditch in the bottom portion of the cake (taking care not to dig all the way to the bottom of the cake, you want a layer of cake on the bottom underneath the ditch). Spoon frosting into the ditch you made and lay the top circle of cake back on top. Frost the sides, top and middle of the cake. Top with toasted almonds.
- Refrigerate until time to serve. A serrated knife works best to cut the cake into slice
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Recipe Source: My Kitchen Cafe
Here’s the lovely cake after having baked and cooled (am I the only one that loves the fact that angel food cakes cool upside down? Clever).
Now, take a serrated knife and insert it about halfway up the cake and gently begin sawing your way around the cake.
It helps to gently hold on to the top of the cake as you go. Take care not to lop off your precious fingers.
After you have cut all the way around, gently lift off the top half of the cake and set it aside.
Now comes the fun part. Gently start peeling sections of the cake up from the bottom half so you form a ditch around the middle part of this cake. Don’t dig all the way to the bottom – you want a layer of cake to hold all that frosting in.
Just get your fingers in there and work at it. I won’t tell if you eat the yummy cake bits you are pulling out. My kids love to be around “helping” with this part. Make a little ditch all the way around the cake.
Until it looks something like this.
Take your delectable bowl of whipped frosting and start dolloping frosting into the cake ditch.
Keep going. You don’t want to skimp on this part.
It won’t take long before the frosting has completely filled our muddy, chocolatey ditch.
Now put the top back on the cake. Hello, skewompis cake!
The rest is pretty easy. Using a handy-dandy offset spatula or just an everyday rubber spatula, start frosting. I start with the middle.
And if I get bored, I move to the top.
Then the sides. Use large sweeping strokes, this cake isn’t about being smooth and perfect. That’s why it’s perfect for non-cake-decorators like me.
When it is frosted, top with toasted almonds.
And try not to dig in right away! Hope you enjoy…
This cake was always the #1 request of us five kids for birthdays in our childhood, and Mom was the best baker! This recipe has been on my mind for sometime, but I was never able to locate it in mom‘s recipe books so grateful to find it here and to keep the tradition of this cake going for our family! Thank you so very much!🩵
This is the birthday cake of my childhood. My mom is long gone and today I am missing having someone make this for me. Thank you for posting! And- thank you for helping me remember my Mom and all those wonderful memories! <3
Love this recipe…found it years ago in Betty Crocker, and have been making it for special occasions ever since!!!
I have been making this for at least 40 years, I also got it from my Betty Crocker cook book. I am making one this weekend.
how do you make angel food turnovers filled with whip cream. They are about 1/2 inch thick folded over and whip cream in the middle. I think they are made in a jelly roll pan and the cut into round cake and folded over and then when cool put in the whipped cream. I can not find out if this will work and how to really do it.
I have typically been unsuccessful in making my own angel food cakes from scratch. However, last year my daughter requested it for her birthday, and I dared to make another attempt. However, this time I decided to go back to the tried and true recipes of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook…you know, the red and white checkered book that you saw in your grandmas house! I am happy to say that I made both the choc and the white and they were perfect and turned out the very first time!
I’ve been looking for this cake in my mom’s recipe books (difficult to do now that they remodeled the kitchen and not as many books are there since my dad took over the cooking) and we could not find it. We are thinking it came from the original Betty Crocker cookbook with the red hearts or paisley cover. Not from Joy of Cooking or the ’70’s BC cookbook. We used to make if for my sister for her birthday, and plan to do it today for her celebration tonight, 40 years later or so, right down to the toasted almonds on top. I remember the picture of the cake in the cookbook, and it called something like Waldorf Cake…but that yielded no angel food cakes on the internet search.
BTW why do so few cooks credit the cookbooks they get their recipes from?
Thank you for posting so I can make it tonight.
i made this not with the round angel food but with a rectangle loaf and cut it in three sections and putbthe whipped cream in between layers and can add any fruit you want then spread on outside if want to
Thank you so much! I’ve been searching for this cake; I grew up on it, too! I thought it would be perfect this Easter, but couldn’t find the recipe. I’m looking forward to tasting it again, and sharing it with my family.
We make chocolate whip cream too, except we put in granulated sugar and cocoa and let it sit together in the fridge for an hour or so. Then the granulated sugar and cocoa dissolve more, no worry about lumps.
Great site!
Can you cut the top 1/3 off and get a deeper “well”? Have you tried this?
Karen – by all means! I think that would work just fine!
I wanna jump in this cake and swim around!! Yum!! Angel Food is my absolute favorite. Add the chocolate and toasted almonds. . .HEAVEN! I can’t wait to make this. I might try it this weekend (even though I am supposedly on a diet!). 🙂
Turned out great with a homemade Angel Food Cake. I am not an experienced baker to say the least, but my mom suggested I try the recipe out of The Best Recipe by America’s Test Kitchen, and it worked wonderfully. I love this cookbook, it’s a must with good tutorials and info. I think I want to make an Angel Food Cake every week. Mmmm… You should give it a try. If I can do it, anyone can!
Sally – so glad this worked out and you’ve convinced me to try a homemade angel food cake next time (I love America’s Test Kitchen!).
Tanya – thanks for the chuckle! Loved your reaction…and love that you loved the cake.
H E A V E N!!! That’s all I’m saying! (Actually, I’d say more, but my mouth is still full of cake…)
Thank you so much for this cake. I made it for easter dinner to go along with our traditional “bunny cake” and my family LOVED it! They ate all of this cake and only part of the other.
Theresa – I’m so glad this cake was a hit! Thanks for checking back in to let me know.
Hi Tanya – I wouldn’t make it more than a few hours before. It definitely tastes best as fresh as you can make it, but I’ve made it three or four hours in advance, stored it in the fridge, and it still tastes really good.
Mel, how far in advance can you put this together? I want to make it for Easter dinner, and am concerned about the whipped cream either soaking into the cake too much, or “decomposing” if I do it too far in advance. Any thoughts?
idahomichele – I’ve been dying to hear back from someone who has tried this. I’m so sad that you had a volcano of angel food cake in your oven. Bummer! Thankfully the cake was worth it. Thanks for letting me know!
Yummy!!!!! We loved it so much! I learned that If you don’t have the right pan, the bundt pan will not cut it– after the cake became a small volcano– I put a cookie sheet under it, I had to reshape it into a cake shape 😉 Oh well, live and learn! I whipped up the cream– delish! so much cocoa(perfect)– I put it in my hand sifter with the powdered sugar and not a lump in sight. Then– frosted and almonded and waited for dessert! It was a hit with kids and my husband. This cake will be made again and again!! Thank you again.
we make something similar with graham crackers, whipping cream and hershey syrup and the kids love it.
Pete – yes, it is a standard size angel food cake.
I sooooo want a nice thick wedge of that cake right now!! Oh my gosh I am fainting away to a mere ton just from the want of it!
Mmmm this cake sounds awesome!1 Erin has told me about this Walker favorite before. I think I would love it! Thanks for sharing!
Enjoyed your pictures of the angel food cake. I do this with raspberry jello and frozen raspberries added to whipped cream. My children love this cake and always ask for it. So easy but very good. I also use the box mix angel food cake and it tastes good. Easy too. Thank you for sharing your chocolate frosting, I will try this too.
I have never left a comment before, but after watching Julie/Julia I figured I should. I LOVE your blog; I have been sneaking recipes for at least 6 months if not longer. I appreciate how the ingredients your recipes call for are ones that I have heard of and have access too.
You are an amazing cook! I have gotten into making a menu again, thanks to your helpful tips, and it really does make a difference. It saves so much time and money! I have also realized that since you have 4 boys and still have time to make amazing meals, then there is no excuse for me…with 2 kids; well 3 in few months. 🙂
This cake looks amazing! I can not wait to try it out. I’ve never made an angel food cake, I don’t even own a spring form pan…but guess I need to get one since I’ve been dying to try your best homemade cheesecake recipe.
Ok sorry to ramble on and on. Guess I’m making up for all the months of not leaving a comment! Thank you for your recipes, it has helped me love to cook all over again. 🙂
Stephanie
My birthday is in a few weeks. I believe I have found my Birthday Cake!! Wow! This looks WONDERFUL!!
a hidden ring of frosting is an amazing idea. angel food cake is so light and sinless, one practically MUST add some decadent chocolate frosting to make it worth the while. 🙂
Two things:
1. Never knew how to spell “skewompis” before–actually, never heard anyone but my mother USE that word before.
2. Best and most useful food blog EVER.
I have never had anything like this! Angel food cake is one of my favorites and my son’s absolute favorite–he eats it plain. He’ll die over this!
Mel:
Looks delish! How large is that cake? 10″X4″?
I love this recipe, we have one similar to this one except it also has instant coffee that has been disolved added to the frosting so it becomes a Mocha icing. Oh. So. Good! I think I might have to make this one again, very very soon!
You and I are on the same wave length right down to posting similar cakes!
Nothing tastier than angel food and sponge cakes. There are so many things you can do with them!
We used to have this same cake every Christmas Eve! The only difference was I think a little less cocoa, and my mom would melt chocolate chips and then stir them in. the chocolate would turn into thin bits of chocolate all over. Like mint chocolate chip ice cream. Does that make sense? Anyway, good memories. I love it!
Jaesi – I have to confess that a box mix angel food cake does the trick for me. Prebaked angel food cakes at the grocery store aren’t very good, in my opinion, and I’ve tried my hand at homemade and it also did not shine (heavy, waste of a dozen eggs), so I’m afraid I take the easy route on this one.
now we just need a FAB recipe for an angel food cake! got one up your sleeve?
This looks divine (love the step by step photos)! Somehow the angel food cake seems to make it feel “light”!
I just love how food can bring back so many memories, don’t you? I can just picture you on your purple ten speed…I bet you were adorable! 🙂