How to make a simple Daffodil cake with its two colours of yellow and white is so beautifully light, airy and a perfect cake for a spring day.
The main ingredients are sugar and egg whites beaten together in a similar way that you would when making meringue. This is what makes the cake so fluffy and light.

What is a daffodil cake?
This cake is very similar to an angel food cake; however, the key difference is that half the batter includes egg yolks and traditionally has orange added to it. As a result, this creates a beautiful contrast between the white and yellow cake batters
It was originally served in spring at Easter and on mothers day. So the yellow and white combination brings to mind a daffodil the classic spring flower, hence the name daffodil cake.
Where did the recipe originate?
This cake, like angel food cake, originated in the United States and served as the inspiration for this recipe.
It was created during the depression in the 1930’s by housewives as a way to use up and make the most of the ingredients. I came across the daffodil cake in a few old cookbooks that were given to me recently. These were community cookbooks that are collections of old recipes passed down through generations.
Because the base of the cake used up so many egg whites there is always an abundance of egg yolks left over. By adding them to half the batter it meant you could use up most of the yolks.

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Tools needed
- Mixing bowls you will need at least two medium sized bowls
- Electric whisk or a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
- Kitchen scale or measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Sieve, this is essential for this cake. I usually skip this step in recipes but not for this recipe.
- Angel food cake tin or any tube cake pan this would need to be lined with parchment in the bottom

Ingredients for a Daffodil cake
- Eggs. Try to find eggs with dark yellow or orange yolks, the darker the better. These egg whites and yolks will also need to be separated.
- Sugar. You can use any white sugar, but I have found that a castor, superfine or berry sugar to be the best.
- Flour, any all purpose of cake flour
- Cream of tartar, you will find this in the baking aisle of your supermarket.
- Vanilla extract, real never imitation.
- Orange, you will need the zest and the juice from the orange.
- Lemon, you will only need the zest from the lemon.
- Optionally, if your eggs are too pale, you can add orange or yellow food coloring or even a tablespoon of melted butter for a richer hue.

How to make a daffodil cake
Preheat the oven to 325F, 160C, do not use convection
Prepare the egg whites
Begin by separating the eggs, placing the whites in the main mixing bowl, with the yolks place half into a small bowl the other half into a storage container to be used for another recipe, see my top tips for ideas.
Add the salt then using the electric whisk, whisk the egg whites until they look foamy now add in the cream of tartar.
Continue to whisk on high until the egg whites start to stiffen, and form soft peaks.

Gradually add in half of the sugar, one spoonful at a time, while continuously whisking at medium speed.
Turn off your mixer. You should now have a shiny meringue like mixture.
Make the batter
In a separate bowl sift in the flour and the rest of the sugar.
Turn on your mixer again using a low speed and gradually add in the flour sugar mixture. I like to use the paddle or beater attachments to do this instead of the whisk.

Turn off the mixer as soon as the flour is fully incorporated. Be careful not to overmix the batter, as we want to retain as much air as possible.
Divide the batter
Now equally divide the two mixture placing one half in another mixing bowl.
Fold the vanilla extract into one half of the batter, then set it aside.

For the other half we will add the yolks, lemon zest, orange zest and orange juice. To do this in a small bowl beat together all of these ingredients first. Then add them into the cake batter by gently folding it in.
You should now have two bowls off cake mixture, one that is white and the other that is yellow.

Take your ungreased or lined angel food cake pan or your lined tube pan and add in each mixture. I like to add half the yellow to half of the tin and half the white to the other half. Then the rest of the mixture I will add the yellow on top of the white half and vice versa for the yellow on top of the white.

Bake and serve the daffodil cake
Place the tin into the preheated oven and bake for an hour.
The top should be nice and golden. The sponge should be springy to the touch.
Remove the tin from the oven and carefully place upside down. If you used a tube pan then you will need to place it over the neck of a bottle or something similar.

Leave it to cool for an hour, then remove the cake from the tin and let it cool completely.
To decorate you could use a glaze icing or I just like to dust it with icing sugar. You can also add lemon slices or flowers too.
Serve it with freshly whipped cream and fresh fruit such as raspberries and strawberries.

Top tips
- Use fresh eggs not carton egg whites they do not work as well as fresh eggs.
- Using a convection oven is too hot and the cake wont bake well.
- You can use the leftover yolks in custard or hollandaise sauce, or even mix them with other beaten eggs to make scrambled eggs..
- Do not over whisk the eggs whites they should remain shiny.
- Do not overmix the cake batter. Use slow speeds or a spoon to gently fold the flour and other ingredients into the batter..
- You can also add orange extract or Cointreau in place of the orange juice to give it more kick or flavour.
- Decorate it with sugared flowers or fresh flowers such as pansys, violets or nasturtiums.

Daffodil Cake
A beautifully light as air cake with a gentle cirtusy flavour. This cake is a perfect cake for a spring day, served with freshly whipped cream and fresh fruit.
Ingredients
- 10 Egg whites
- 5 Egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Cream of tartar
- 320g (1 Cup) castor, superfine or berry sugar
- 190g (1 1/4 cup) All purpose flour
- Zest 1 lemon
- Zest and juice 1 orange
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325F, 160C, do not use convection
- Begin by separating the eggs, placing the whites in the main mixing bowl, with the yolks place half into a small bowl the other half into a storage container to be used for another recipe, see my top tips for ideas.
- Add the salt then using the electric whisk, whisk the egg whites until they look foamy now add in the cream of tartar.
- Continue to whisk on high until the egg whites start to stiffen, and form soft peaks. It should still look shiny.
- Now gradually add in half of the sugar just adding a spoonful at a time, continue to whisk at a medium speed the entire time as you add in the sugar.
- Turn off your mixer. You should now have a shiny meringue like mixture.
- In a separate bowl sift in the flour and the rest of the sugar.
- Turn on your mixer again using a low speed and gradually add in the flour sugar mixture. I like to use the paddle or beater attachments to do this instead of the whisk.
- Turn off the mixer the moment the flour has been incorporated. You do not want to over mix this batter. We want as much air left as possible.
- Now equally divide the two mixture placing one half in another mixing bowl. Around 390g in each bowl.
- Into one of the halves fold in the vanilla extract and place off to the side.
- For the other half we will add the yolks, lemon zest, orange zest and orange juice. To do this in a small bowl beat together all of these ingredients first. Then add them into the cake batter by gently folding it in.
- You should now have two bowls off cake mixture, one that is white and the other that is yellow.
- Take your ungreased or lined angel food cake pan or your lined tube pan and add in each mixture. I like to add half the yellow to half of the tin and half the white to the other half. Then the rest of the mixture I will add the yellow on top of the white half and vice versa for the yellow on top of the white.
- Place the tin into the preheated oven and bake for an hour.
- The top should be nice and golden. The sponge should be springy to the touch.
- Remove the tin from the oven and carefully place upside down. If you used a tube pan then you will need to place it over the neck of a bottle or something similar.
- Leave it to cool for an hour, then remove the cake from the tin and let it cool completely.
- To decorate you could use a glaze icing or I just like to dust it with icing sugar. You can also add lemon slices or flowers too.
Serve it with freshly whipped cream and fresh fruit like raspberries and strawberries.
Notes
- Use real egg whites not carton egg whites
- Cream of tartar can be found in the baking aisle by the baking powder.
- Do not over beat the egg whites or cake batter.
- To give it a little kick you can add cointreau in place of the orange juice.
Beautiful and lightweight cake. Made it with potato flour, so it was gluten free, and it worked really well. Will definitely make it again