How to Freeze Cakes {Angel Food Cake Recipe}

I’ve been crazy busy at school making cakes and pies for our upcoming Thanksgiving Feast. I’m trying to do a little at a time while we’re covering certain items like shortened and unshortened cakes. Last week we made my pumpkin bars only to freeze. We made 2 two-layer cakes and two sheet cakes. One was enough for our class to frost as a class and eat. The other three went into the freezer. I also taught the students how to make homemade angel food cake and I’ve found the Taste of Home recipe to be frugal and easier for students to work with. We didn’t have two-piece bundt pans, only one piece which is more difficult to remove as you can see by the front right one. However, this recipe yields a nice volume for beginner angel food bakers.

After teaching my students how to hang their foam cake upside down on a bottle for about an hour, it was time to gently pry them from the pans. Guess what? I’m able to teach freezer cooking to my students too. I taught them how to wrap the cooled cakes in plastic wrap and place them in a two-gallon size freezer bag which is actually in the curriculum. I show them how I DIY vacuum seal, which is silly, but fun to them. Now we are on a roll with our Thanksgiving baking. We have eight apple pies, three pumpkin cakes and now two angel food cakes for our feast. I’ll be figuring out how many this will feed this week before I make sweet potato pies. We’re  cooking and mashing quite a few sweet potatoes for the freezer.

I hope you enjoy this easy recipe as much as we do!

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups egg whites (about 9)
• 1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1-1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place egg whites in a large bowl; let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Sift 1/2 cup sugar and flour together twice; set aside.
2. Place oven rack in the lowest position. Preheat oven to 350°. Add cream of tartar, extracts and salt to egg whites; beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining sugar, about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating on high until stiff peaks form. Gradually fold in flour mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time.
3. Gently spoon into an ungreased 10-in. tube pan. Cut through batter with a knife to remove air pockets. Bake 35-40 minutes or until lightly browned and entire top appears dry. Immediately invert pan; cool completely, about 1 hour.
4. Run a knife around side and center tube of pan. Remove cake to a serving plate. Yield: 12-16 servings.

HOW TO FREEZE CAKES:

1. Cool completely on a wire rack.
2. Wrap individually in plastic wrap. Do not cut cake.
3. Wrap in foil for further protection, if desired (I do this when I am freezing over a month)
4. Place in an appropriate size freezer bag that has been labeled and dated with a sharpie. (I use gallon and two-gallon size for larger cakes)
5. DIY vacuum seal or squeeze the air out completely.

Are you cooking and freezing for Thanksgiving yet?