Our easy lemon angel food cake recipe only need 2 ingredients to make! You just combine a box of angel food cake with lemon pie filling and bake into a delicious dessert your family is going to be obsessed with.
Ok so I had seen these bars being made on social media here and there. I wasn’t so sure the texture would be very good so I had to try it out myself. Some added lemon juice and zest but wanted to make it with just the 2 ingredients and see if it really needed a third and it didn’t!
Normally when you cook this very airy and light cake it is baked in a flute pan, not this time. I prefer using a 9×13″ pan any way because it is easier to clean, remove each piece and store if we do have leftovers.
If you have made this cake the traditional way (just with water) you do need to know that adding other ingredients makes it dense. If you have made pineapple angel food cake you know what I mean. It rises half as high in the oven, and when removed deflates a bit less than that so it is only about 1.5″ thick. Don’t worry about that though….
What happens when you combine lemon pie filling and angel food cake?
You will create the most delicious lemon cake you can slice into squares and pick up with your hands! Especially during the holidays when you are looking for something easy and quick to fill your dessert table, this is an excellent one to include. It costs under $8 for the ingredients and 10 minutes to prepare too.
If you haven’t thought outside the box (literally) when it comes to angel food cake mix recipes this is going to blow your mind!! You do NOT follow the directions on the back of the box this time. Instead you are going to want to gently combine just the dry mix and can of lemon pie filling.
Ingredient Notes
I have had some people ask what to do if their box has the dry egg whites in a separate pouch. I have never personally seen this in the U.S. but you will want to first dump that into the bag full of mix and combine. You could also make angel cake mix homemade instead.
You would want to combine all the dry mixes in the box first, the same for our lemon bars with cake mix. Then you continue on with the directions below.
Mistakes to Avoid
To keep it as light and fluffy as possible you need to be very gentle when combining the two ingredients. If you can use a rubber spatula that is best. Go around the outside, working in, to get the dry mix moistened. Once all of the dry powder is gone stop mixing! Mixing too long will make the batter less airy and thus make it denser.
You will want to liberally spray the pan with non stick spray. You could even line it with parchment paper if you wanted to. It will want to stick to the outside. In order to lift it out in neatly cut squares you need some help with the pan being coated with oil.
How Long to Bake Lemon Angel Food Cake
You are going to want 30 minutes to bake this so the very center is baked thru and the top is golden brown. Make sure that the rack is in the middle or the top will become too dark before the center can get done.
How do you know when it is done?
The outside inch of the outside will start to pull away from the pan first off. You will see a golden brown color all the way across the top and into the middle. There will be slight cracking across the top as well as you can see from the photo below. You can test further with a toothpick in the center, there should be no wet batter left.
FAQ
You could use lemon curd instead of lemon pie filling to make this although the texture may be a bit different. Curd isn’t quite as thick as the latter so it may not be quite as dense (which is fine) and tangier in flavor.
Yes, for two reasons. You need to allow it to cool in the hot pan to solidify more before slicing or the texture won’t be right. Also allowing it to cool will allow you to lift it out of the pan easier.
When it has cooled transfer slices into an airtight container or on to a plate covered tightly with plastic wrap to keep the air out. Keep on the counter to stay as moist as possible and enjoy within 3 days.
Lemon Angel Food Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 box angel food cake
- 1 can lemon pie filling, 21 oz
Instructions
- Move rack to the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 9×13 inch pan liberally with non stick spray, set aside.
- In a bowl gently combine dry angel food cake mix with lemon pie filling just long enough for the dry mix to be integrated, no longer. Best to use a rubber spatula slowly to combine.
- When oven is preheated add batter to pan and smooth out so it is the same thickness all the way across the pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and set on cooling rack until it is completely cooled before slicing and serving with a bit of powdered sugar sprinkled on the top.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
