Pink Peppermint Angel Food Cake (with Chocolate Glaze)

If you love the light, airy texture of angel food cake but you’re looking to add an extra twist, you’ve come to the right place! This doctored cake mix takes an ordinary Angel Food Cake and amps up the volume, adding peppermint and chocolate drizzle.

Doctor Up an Angel Food Cake Mix

I’m always on a quest to find new recipes and my sister-in-law is a wealth of information. She has passed down several recipes, including her grandmother’s Old-Fashioned Pound Cake, which I also used as a basis for my Cinnamon Sugar Pound Cake and Bananas Foster Pound Cake.

Recently, she reached out to me with a note that suggested I try my step-mom’s angel food cake. I was mesmerized! So, I shot off a note to my step-mom to ask for the recipe.

Imagine my surprise when she said, “It’s a boxed mix but I changed it up.” Does that jive with this blog’s theme. . .or what?

She was gracious enough to send the recipe card, which you will find below.

I was so surprised to see the recipe and even more surprised when I bought the box of Betty Crocker Angel Food Cake mix and saw that the only instructions were “Just add water.”

What? Is that a thing?

Why “just add water?” What about the eggs and the oil and the milk? No butter? Nothing substantial? What is angel food cake, anyway?

What is Angel Food Cake?

Turns out angel food cake has no oil or butter component. It’s composed of egg whites, flour, and sugar. Often cream of tartar is added.

Interesting, right? I can’t imagine making a cake without oil or butter. And yet. . .this delicious cake starts that way.

The reason it’s called an “angel” cake is because it’s as light as angel’s wings. The cake never loses its spongy texture, in spite of its lightness.

And this particular Angel Food Cake? It’s easier still because it’s a doctored cake mix. Yep, you read that right: a doctored angel food cake mix, to be precise.

Ingredients for this Pink Peppermint Angel Food Cake

Wondering what you’ll need for this easy-breezy cake?

You can see in the image above that the ingredients are minimal. You’ll find a full printable recipe card at the end of this post but here’s a quick glance at what you’ll need:

FOR THE CAKE:

• Betty Crocker Angel Food Cake mix
• water
• pink coloring gel (or red liquid food coloring)
• peppermint extract

FOR THE GLAZE:

• chocolate chips
• butter
• powdered sugar
• vanilla
• water

How to make this luscious Angel Food Cake

This recipe was so easy! I couldn’t believe I’d never made an angel food cake before. (Literally) the hardest part was easing the cake out of the pan at the end.

First, start by preheating your oven. If you’re using a non-stick pan you can set it at 325 degrees. if you’re using a traditional tube pan, set it at 350 degrees.

Do not grease your pan. It’s not necessary. In fact, the cake won’t be able to “crawl” up the sides if you do.

Mix up your cake. Add the cake mix, water, peppermint extract, and pink food gel to a large mixing bowl. You need to use a metal or glass bowl.

Whip slowly for thirty seconds then turn up to high speed and mix for another couple minutes or until foamy with soft peaks. Those egg whites really make this batter look different from other cake mixes. These aren’t stiff peaks like you would have with whipped egg whites. . .but close!

You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer with paddle attachment if you like, but I used the whisk attachment. I figured I wanted all of the fluff I could get!

Pour your batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan (a traditional angel food cake pan) and place in preheated oven. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes. It should be golden in color. Make sure the cake springs back to the touch. You can always use a cake tester to make sure it’s done in the middle.

There’s a method to cooling an angel food cake that calls for hanging the pan upside-down on a wine bottle (or some such thing) but I didn’t have anything that would work so I just flipped mine upside down on a wire rack to cool.

After a few minutes I ran a knife around the edges and the center core to loosen, then flipped it back upside-down again.

After a few minutes I was able to tap on the bottom of the pan to free up the cake inside. I separated it from the outside and then peeled off the bottom and turned it right-side up.

Make the Glaze

While the cake was baking I made the glaze.

Start by melting the butter and chocolate chips together in the microwave. I set my timer for 30 seconds and stirred, then set it for an additional 30 seconds and stirred again.

Add the chocolate liquid to your powdered sugar, then add hot water and vanilla extract.

Stir until smooth and creamy.

This frosting is a lot like the frosting on a Texas sheet cake, almost hot-fudge-like. Yum!

Pour the glaze over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides. Mine was a little thin so it really took off running! I didn’t mind.

I threw in a few sprinkles, since I planned to take this cake to a birthday lunch for my granddaughter. I needed to make it more festive!

What to Expect

Cut with a serrated knife so that you don’t mash the cake. This is a lighter cake, perfect to serve with cool whip if you opt not to do the chocolate glaze. (Ore even with the glaze!)

This is also a luscious, spongy cake, even though it starts with a box mix! The frosting is absolutely amazing and the cake, itself, is just what you would expect. The added hint of peppermint is just enough to make it extra-special. And the color? My grandkids loved it!

How to Doctor an Angel Food Cake Mix

Here at Out of the Box Baking we love to doctor a cake mix. I’ve done post after post after post on the subject! And I promise, this recipe tastes just like a homemade angel food cake mix.

Today’s post has shown you how to doctor up a boxed angel food cake mix with peppermint and chocolate glaze. This version would be great for the holiday season. (Christmas cake, anyone?) This is a lovely angel food cake dessert!

But there are others ways to doctor an angel cake mix.

• Add crushed peppermint to the top of the chocolate glaze in place of sprinkles. (Festive!)
• Add 1/2 cup cocoa powder to the cake mix to turn it into a chocolate angel food cake.
• Add 1/3 cup powdered sugar and a teaspoon of cream of tartar to light up and sweeten up your cake.
• Follow the directions on the cake but add a bit of lemon juice in place of water, along with 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to sweeten up the lemon. You can also add lemon zest to add more punch. Add a dot of yellow food coloring then coat with a citrus glaze and top with blueberries or fresh berries of your choice.
• Speaking of berries: Make a lemon cake but top with strawberry glaze and fresh strawberries for a strawberry lemonade flavor profile.
• Speaking of strawberry: Make a strawberry angel food cake by adding strawberry puree in place of some of the water.
• Turn it into an orange cake by adding orange juice in place of some of the water. Top with chocolate glaze. (Yum!)
• Skip the peppermint extract and choose almond extract. You can top the cake with slice almonds, as well.
• Cover with a light, luscious cream cheese frosting instead of chocolate glaze.
• Serve with fresh fruit or a scoop of ice cream.

Note: Store leftover cake in an airtight container for up to four days at room temperature or a bit longer in the refrigerator.

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Learn more about doctored cake mixes, the theme of this blog. 

For the master list of all doctored cake mix recipes on this site, visit Doctored Cake Mix Recipes, Master List. 

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See this recipe at

Full Plate Thursday 

Weekend Potluck

Sunday LinkUp

Other Easy Cakes from Out of the Box Baking

If you love baking in a tube pan or bundt pan you’ll adore these simple recipes:

• Old-Fashioned Pound Cake
• Easy Banana Berry Cake
• Old-Fashioned Banana Bread with Mayonnaise
• Luscious Brown Butter Walnut Cake

That’s it for this post, folks! Thanks for stopping by. Let me leave you with an “angelic” verse that I love.

For He will tell His angels to care for you and keep you in all your ways.

Psalm 91:11 NLV

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About the Author

Janice Thompson is an author, baker, and all-around mischief maker! She has overcome a host of baking catastrophes, including a toppled wedding cake, to learn more about the baking process. Janice has published over 150 books for the Christian market but particularly enjoys writing recipes and baking devotions. To learn more about Janice or to drop her a note, visit her About the Author page.