Strawberry Angel Food Cake

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This strawberry angel food cake is a wonderfully refreshing dessert made from fluffy cake, creamy cheesecake filling and a fresh strawberry topping. Like any wonderfully semi-homemade dessert, this layered cake dessert comes together quickly and easily thanks to simple ingredients like angel food cake, cream cheese, cool whip and strawberries. It’s a dessert that’s perfect for spring and summer entertaining.

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Why Should You Make This Recipe
Ingredients
How To Make
How To Make Ahead and Store
M’s Expert Tips
FAQs
Other Strawberry Recipes To Try
Strawberry Angel Food Cake

Why Should You Make This Recipe

I love a good no bake dessert that’s made with fresh berries. My Philadelphia No Bake Cheesecake, Strawberry Pretzel Cheesecake, Blackberry Tiramisu Icebox Cake and Summer Berry Icebox Cake are all incredibly delicious berry desserts. I know you’ll love this angel food cake recipe with strawberries because:

It has the perfect contrast of taste and texture. This layered angel food cake dessert has layers of wonderfully delicious flavors textures. The angel food cake is light and fluffy. While cream cheese filling is sweet and tangy, which pairs perfectly with the cool whip topping and strawberry glaze topping .
Easy to make with simple ingredients. This strawberry angel cake is made with pantry basics such as strawberry, sugar, lemon juice, angel food cake, cream cheese and cool whip.

Ingredients

This strawberry angel food cake dessert requires only a handful of ingredients to make. Here’s what you’ll need.

Strawberry Glaze Ingredients: Gather strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and vanilla extract.

Strawberry Angel Food Cake Ingredients: Gather angel food cake, cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, cool whip and the strawberry glaze.

Substitutions

Here are my recommended substitutions to make this strawberry angel cake if you need them:

Angel Food Cake: I like to use a store bought angel food cake. You could also make one using a recipe you like or with a cake mix. Other delicious options are pound cake, chocolate cake, vanilla cake or even brownies!
Cream Cheese: I love the extra boost of creaminess in the filling from the cream cheese. Adding the cream cheese has the added benefit of making the filling taste a bit more like cheesecake. If you don’t have cream cheese, mascarpone would work well. Otherwise, omit and add more cool whip or whipped cream.
Lemon Juice: This provides a lovely balance to the tanginess of the cream cheese and complements the strawberries beautifully. Omit or use another citrus if you like.
Cool Whip: I typically prefer making my own whipped cream, but for this dessert, I found that cool whip was more stable and held together for days whereas homemade whipped cream did not.
Strawberry Glaze: Feel free to use store bought strawberry glaze to mix with fresh or frozen strawberries. However, making your own takes less than 10 minutes and it so much better!

Variations

Strawberry Glaze from Jello: Mix ¾ cup (177 ml) boiling water with a 3 oz. package of strawberry jello mix. Once combined, pour over 16 oz. (454 g) fresh or frozen strawberries that have been cut in half.
Vintage Strawberry Angel Food Cake Recipe: Prepare the strawberry glaze and cream cheese filling according to the recipe directions. Then mix with the cubed or torn pieces of angel food cake until all the pieces are fully coated. Transfer to a 9 x 13 dish. Cover the cake and strawberry mixture with the remaining cool whip and chill for 4 hours.
Strawberry Angel Food Cake Trifle: Layer ½ of the cubed angel food cake, and top with ½ of the cream cheese filling and strawberry glaze. Repeat with another layer ending with the strawberry glaze. This can be done in a trifle dish or individual serving dishes like weck jars.

How To Make

Here’s how to make this strawberry angel food cake recipe in a few easy steps.

Wash, clean, de-stem and halve 1 pound ( 16 oz, 454 g) fresh or frozen strawberries. Purée ½ of the strawberries in a food processor. Reserve the other 1?2 strawberries for serving. Transfer the strawberry purée in a sauce pan with the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Heat over medium heat until boiling. Reduce the heat to low-medium until the mixture thickens enough to easily coat the back of a spoon.
Pour the strawberry glaze through a mesh strainer into a bowl with the other ½ strawberries. Stir the fresh or frozen berries with the glaze for strawberries until fully coated. Cool to room temperature. Transfer to the fridge to chill until you're ready to serve.
In stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or with an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese on low until smooth. Beat in the sugar and lemon juice until smooth and well combined. Beat in ½ of the cool whip (about 2 cups) until smooth and well combined.

Transfer the cubed angel food cake into a 9 x 13 pan. Pour the cream cheese filling onto the food cake. Gently mix the cake with the filling until the pieces are mostly coated. Gently press the cake pieces back into an even layer. Top the cake and creamy filling with the remaining cool whip (2 cups).
When it’s time to serve, spoon the strawberry glaze on top of the angel food cake and enjoy!

How To Make Ahead and Store

Make Ahead: The strawberry glaze can be made 2-3 days ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the fridge. I suggest waiting to mix the whole berries into the glaze until the day you are ready to make the dish and serve. The angel food cake can be made the same day or up to overnight.
Store: This strawberry angel food cake dessert should be stored covered in the fridge for up to 1-2 days. Wait to top the dessert with the glazed strawberries until you are ready to serve.

M’s Expert Tips

Make your own glaze for strawberries. Making your own strawberry glaze is so easy and it tastes so much better than the store bought kind.
Decide how you want to present the dessert. In the variations section, there are several different ways to present this strawberry angel food cake using the same basic ingredients.
Gently mix the cake and filling. This allows the cake to soften ever so slightly. It also allows the cake to stick together a bit better for slicing and serving.
Wait to top the dessert. The strawberry glaze looks the best when it tops the dessert right before serving.

FAQs

What is the difference between angel cake and angel food cake?

They are essentially the same thing. Both are cakes made from egg whites, flour, sugar and cream of tartar.

Should I use store bought or homemade angel food cake?

This is completely up to you! If you are short on time or just don’t feel like making a cake, stop by the store and pick on up. If not, use a box cake mix for a semi homemade cake or make one from scratch using your favorite recipe.

Can I freeze this recipe?

Parts of the angel food cake dessert can be frozen before assembling the dessert. The angel food cake, cool whip and strawberry glaze (without the larger pieces of strawberries) can all the frozen and thawed before making the dessert. I do not recommend freezing this strawberry angel cake after it has been made.

Other Strawberry Recipes To Try

If you try this Strawberry Angel Food Cake recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking!