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These Angel Food Cupcakes with Compote Filling are little bites of heaven containing:
- Airy homemade angel food cake in different cupcake sizes
- Strawberry limoncello compote filling
- Dreamy marshmallowy 7-minute frosting
But wait! It gets even better. These heavenly cupcakes are part of a #BloggersDoEaster Virtual Party. Make sure you check out all the other drool-inducing recipes from other bloggers down below!
Jump to Recipe
Scratchy Easter Day Dresses and Boat Hats
Easter plays a prominent role in my memories. I had a love-hate relationship with it. I loved decorating eggs and going on Easter egg hunts. But it was the holiday with the biggest dress code. My sisters and I were shoved into scratchy Easter day dresses, boat hats, and forced to smile for pictures.
I loved the dresses and hats for the first ten minutes. But then I would start to wiggle, scratch, and dream of roller blading down the street to play hockey.
Easter has essentially become an extinct holiday for my family. Food blogging has reinvigorated it a little, but purely for the sake of food.
When I said I would participate in this Easter Virtual Party I had a moment of panic. All I remember from Easter is ham, candy in plastic eggs, and decorating hard-boiled eggs. None of which really appealed to me.
I asked my mom what she associated with Easter and the only thing that came to mind was Angel Food Cake. My mom’s birthday is April 5th, which sometimes happens to fall on Easter.
These Angel Food Cupcakes with Compote Filling were my way of killing two birds with one stone. I got to make my mom a special treat for her birthday and get an Easter themed blog post out of it as well.
I’m really happy she enjoyed these because as a mom, she gets short-changed a lot. Last April 5th, she was sitting in a doctor’s office with me at UCSF Medical Center listening to my last resort treatment options for my ulcerative colitis. She’s been an angel of care and she deserves the food of angels.
Tips for Making Angel Food Cupcakes with Compote Filling
This is a basic angel food cake recipe because all cake batters can be made into individual sized portions. You just have to adjust the oven temperature and cooking times.
Angel food cake has a bad rap because it’s a cake whose only leavener is egg whites. That means it is extremely important the egg whites are treated properly. You don’t want to hurt their fragile feelings because they’re sensitive like that.
Before you start, make sure your egg whites are at room temperature. Then you will beat them in 3 different stages:
- Beat on Medium-low speed with cream of tartar until the egg whites are frothy. The cream of tartar helps stabilize the egg whites.
- Increase the speed to medium-high and beat the egg whites until they are soft and billowy.
- Add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until soft peaks form and then a little more until the egg whites are shiny and have formed soft peaks.
Folding
Not going to lie: folding scares the crap out of me. I’m always asking myself, “Am I folding too fast, too much, too hard, not enough???” This is one technique in baking that I’ve yet to master consistently and I feel like it’s pure luck that I do it right most of the time.
Anyway, you sift 1/4th cup of flour over the airy egg whites at a time, folding it into the egg whites. You don’t want to see any clumps but seeing streaks of flour is all right. The batter should look really soft, airy, and puffy, like a cloud.
Baking
This cake batter makes 12 large 4-inch cupcakes or 24 standard sized cupcakes. I did a mix because I only had one large cupcake tin. Only butter the bottoms of the muffin tins. If you butter the sides the batter will have a hard time climbing up.
Angel food cake cools suspended upside down, so it’s best not to use cupcake liners because they will fall right out of the tins. I didn’t put cupcake liners on the large 4-inch cupcake tins but I did on the standard. Momentary forgetfulness.
I had to get really creative in how I cooled my lined cupcakes. I placed them in glasses that had narrow tops so that they were able to hang upside down.
This ended up being a nice test though because I didn’t have enough glasses for all the cupcakes. About 6 had to cool right side up on cooling racks. They still tasted great but they kind of seized up really tight, making the cake a little denser.
Filling and Frosting
For the standard sized cupcakes, use the wider bottom half of a frosting tip to punch wells in the middle of the cupcakes. Use a 2-inch biscuit cutter for the large cupcakes.
You’ll have to push the tip down and it will feel like you’re squishing the cupcake. Don’t worry, the cupcake will bounce back up. You might have to get a knife to help cut out the circle.
Dig out the plug of cake, fill with the Strawberry Limoncello Compote, and put the plug back in. Wipe away any compote that seeps up but don’t worry how it looks because the frosting will cover it.
7-minute Frosting is the best. It’s the perfect mix of marshmallow and meringue, taking the best of both. It does require you to stand over the stove whipping the egg whites with an electric mixer but it’s 7 minutes that are 100% worth it.
Feel free to just plop the frosting on top of the cupcakes. I piped my frosting and used a round decorating tip because I wanted it to look like fluffy clouds.
Storage
Keep in mind when you will be serving the cupcakes. I wouldn’t recommend letting them sit at room temperature for longer than 4 hours. I left one frosted cupcake at room temperature overnight and the frosting turned into a crunchy meringue by morning.
However, they keep really well covered in the fridge. You can also freeze them and unthaw them in the fridge.
A quick note: don’t throw away those egg yolks! Repurpose them to ice cream, like this Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream.
If you saw my Instagram story, you know there’s going to be some Angel Food Cake Ice Cream coming your way soon too.
I hope you have a happy Easter and enjoy all the other delicious food brought to you by all these other amazing bloggers!
Check out the other recipes in this #BloggersDoEaster Virtual Party:
Spring Roasted Carrot Noodle Salad with Thyme Vinaigrette from No Spoon Necessary
Earn Serious Bunny Points, And Make Easter Basket Cupcakes from The Sweet Nerd
Mini Egg Chocolate Bundt Cake from Girl Heart Food
Maple Bacon Deviled Eggs from Beyond Mere Sustenance
Lemon Curd Pavlova from Seasons and Suppers
Cookie Cutter Chocolates from Contemplating Sweets
Blood Orange Wheat Ale Pound Cake with Blood Orange Glaze from Beer Girl Cooks
Easter Mini Egg Cookie Bars from Salt and Lavender
Ham and Cheese Scones from Kevin is Cooking
Marbled Easter Egg Truffles from Sugar Hero
Easter Hazelnut Meringue Layer Cake from From Scratch Mostly
Spring Green Salad with Asparagus from Seasonal Cravings
Angel Food Cupcakes with Compote Filling
Ingredients
Strawberry Limoncello Compote
- 5 cups strawberries, sliced in half and quartered
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup limoncello
- lemon juice, to taste
- salt, to taste
Angel Food Cupcakes
- 1 and 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup cake flour
- 10 egg whites, at room temperature about 1 and 1/4 cups
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 Minute Frosting
- 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup cold water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Strawberry Limoncello Compote
- Combine 3 cups strawberries, sugar, and limoncello in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 8 minutes, until the fruit is soft.
- Let the mixture cool to room temperature and then puree in a blender or food processor until smooth.
- Pour into a bowl and mix in the remaining sliced strawberries (2 cups). Add till the taste is right: lemon juice, salt, and a little more limoncello. Add more sugar if necessary.
- Pour into an airtight container and store in the fridge.
Angel Food Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. This cake batter makes 12 large 4-inch cupcakes or 24 standard sized cupcakes. Only butter the bottoms of the muffin tins. Don’t put butter on the sides-that will stop the batter from climbing up. Angel food cake cools suspended upside down, so it’s best not to use cupcake liners because they will fall right out of the tins.
- Whisk a 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 cup cake flour together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the rest of the sugar (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) and the salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- In a large stainless steal or glass bowl use a beater with a whisk attachment to whip the egg whites and cream of tartar together on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute.
- Increase the speed to medium-high and whip the egg whites until they are soft and billowy mounds, about 1 minute.
- Gradually whip in the sugar and salt mixture a tablespoon at a time, about 1 minute.
- Keep whipping the whites until they are shiny and have formed soft peaks, 1 to 3 minutes.
- Fold in the water, lemon juice, and vanilla extract by hand.
- Sift 1/4 cup of the flour mixture over the top of the whites and gently fold together with a large rubber spatula until there are just a few streaks of flour remaining. Repeat with the remaining flour mixture a 1/4 cup at a time.
- Fill the cupcake tins 3/4 of the way full, trying your best to pour equally.
- Bake the large cupcakes for 30 minutes and the small cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Turn the muffin tins upside down and suspend them. I placed the edges of the muffin tins onto mason jars. Let the cupcakes cool hanging upside down for 2 hours. You will have to run a knife along the edges to get the cupcakes out.
Filling the Cupcakes
- For the standard cupcakes: use the wider bottom half of a frosting tip to punch wells in the middle of the cupcakes.
- For the large cupcakes: use a 2-inch biscuit cutter to punch wells in the middle of the cupcakes.
- Push the frosting tip or biscuit cutter down in the center of the cupcake and twist a little. It will feel like you’re squishing the cupcake. Don’t worry, the cupcake will bounce back up. You might have to get a knife to help cut out the circle.
- Dig out the plug of cake, fill with the Strawberry Limoncello Compote, and put the plug back in. Wipe away any compote that seeps out of the crack. Prepare the frosting.
7 Minute Frosting
- Put water in the bottom of a double-broiler, making sure that it doesn’t touch the top pan. Bring it to a boil.
- While the water is coming to a boil, combine the sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in the top portion of the double broiler (you’re doing this off the heat). Cream of tartar prevents sugar crystals from forming, keeping the frosting smooth and not grainy.
- Add the cold water and beat for a 1/2 minute on low speed. It should look well combined but not fluffy.
- Place over the boiling water and beat constantly on high speed with an electric mixer for about 7 minutes till the frosting has formed stiff peaks. Stiff peaks mean that when you pull the mixer out, you could turn it to the side and the frosting peaks won’t fall because they’re stiff.
- Remove from the heat and add vanilla extract, beating for about 2 minutes on high until the frosting is at a spreadable consistency. It should be smooth and fluffy. This type of frosting does not last long so consider when the cupcakes will be eaten before frosting.
Notes
- Once frosted, only leave your cupcakes at room temperature for a maximum of four hours. If you leave them at room temperature longer, the frosting starts to harden and turn into a type of meringue.
- Store covered in the refrigerator and the frosting will keep perfectly.
- You can also store the frosted cupcakes in the freezer. To unthaw, put the cupcakes in the fridge.
- Depending on the sweetness or tartness of the strawberries, you will have to adjust the flavoring to your taste. Adding a little fresh lemon juice and salt will help elevate the flavors but if it’s still not perfect, add a little bit more limoncello or sugar.
- If you don’t have a double broiler just put a glass bowl on top of a saucepan.
- You could probably frost all of the cupcakes with 1 batch of frosting if you’re stingy. If you like big fluffy mounds of frosting like in the pictures, you won’t be able to frost all the cupcakes. You can either make a double batch of frosting or save unfrosted cupcakes to make Angel Food Cake Icecream.
Oh, look at cute little baby you in the Easter dress! Too adorable. 🙂 Speaking of cute these…these cupcakes are to die for! So darling and I’ll bet they tasted amazing!
I had to chuckle at your description of scratchy Easter outfits. My mom was an amazing seamstress, and she made MATCHING dresses for me and my two sisters. This wasn’t a good thing (in my mind) because they were 1 and 5 years younger than I. Who wants to dress like their baby sister on Easter?
I love the idea of these cupcakes, especially that strawberry limoncello compote! I don’t make many desserts, and this looks a little intimidating, but so totally worth the effort!
Oh yes, the matching dresses! I didn’t have it as bad as my sisters, who are twins, but I still had to wear the matching clothes my mom made for use as well. And they are totally worth the effort!
I don’t celebrate Easter BUT- I’d totally devour one of these angel food cupcakes! I’m not much of a baker, and have never made a cupcake OR angel food cake.. so I’m a little intimidated. How about you just send me some? LOL
I’ve started making cupcakes a lot because they’re less intimidating than cakes and more fun too. I’m a brownie/cookie person, which are a lot more forgiving than cupcakes and cakes, so I was a little intimidated too. I wish there was such thing as a blogger to blogger delivery system!
These are so beautiful! I feel like hopping into this post and giving you a big old hug for introducing me to that awesome filling! Strawberry limoncello is genius. I can totally relate to the 7-minute frosting wing and a prayer thing, but somehow it does always seem to come together. So gonna try this with my boys. (And I promise not to put them in scratchy bunny outfits). Cheers –
Thank you, Cindy! I foresee doing a lot more with strawberry limoncello in the future. And LOL, you have no idea how often I wanted to be a boy whenever I was stuffed into dresses for the holidays.
Oooooh you’re right, the frosting looks just like clouds! So cute!
Right? I just want to float away on them.
Happy belated birthday to your mom, what a lovely treat you made here. I adore angel food cake – and I think I could do some serious damage to a half dozen of these! Delicious!
Thank you Shashi, I’ll tell her you wished her a happy birthday!
YES! I love this. My mom used to make angel food cake a lot when I was younger and I had forgotten about it until now. What a great idea to make cupcakes! I like to think that will limit what I eat, but not likely.
I had completely forgotten about them too! And hey, the calorie count isn’t that bad at all so…there’s not that much damage, right?!
That photo is awesome and so are these cupcakes! It’s perfect that you can share them for Easter and with your angel mom!
These are pretty amazing! Love this! Pinned, Tweeted and Shared!
Ohh I’m loving these cupcakes, Meg!! The perfect sweet treat for Easter. I must admit I had a dress like yours in that old photo haha. Memories!
Thanks, Natasha! And I’m glad I wasn’t the only one subjected to those fancy dresses!
OMG, I remember those frilly Easter dresses and hats! And the lacy socks with fancy shoes!! I loved dressing up for Easter when I was younger too.. for exactly, like, 10 minutes as well. 😉 LOVE that picture of you and your family all dressed up when you were little! And I love love looooove these cupcakes!! So sweet that they double as a little sweet treat for your Mom too! These are just fabulous, girlfriend! I’m an angel food cake freak, so these are totally calling my name! Pinned! Cheers!
Oh yes, we can’t forget the lacy socks and fancy shoes! Thanks so much Chey!
Love the photo! How cute are you girls? I always loved getting a new Easter dress each year! These cupcakes look so light, airy and delicious with that frosting piled high. Love all of your step by step photos!
Haha, thanks Karen! I hadn’t seen the picture in ages and I laughed hysterically at my sister Katy’s expression.
Oh yes! You just triggered a memory with that picture and yes, those stiff, scratchy dresses 🙂 Absolutely love angel cake and the filling and 7-minute frosting is perfection!
You had me at marshmallowy 7-minute frosting. Dang. These look delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad my mom told me to use 7-minute frosting! I had totally forgotten about it which is a shame because it’s the BEST!
That pic is too cute!! It’s so fun to reminiscence and look back at old pics, isn’t it? Happy belated birthday to your mother! These angel food cupcakes sound divine. Love the compote!! So spring-like with the strawberry and limoncello 🙂 I would happily eat these over any store bought Easter eggs!
It is Dawn! I lost a few work hours because I ended up looking through photo albums. And thank you! My mom’s enjoying all the birthday wishes she’s getting!
Wow, my friend! This is a gorgeous post! These angel food cupcakes would make a perfect addition to the holiday table! What a sweet sweet gesture to make them for your awesome Mama! Happy Easter, Megan!
Thanks so much Annie and happy Easter to you too!