Lighten things up this Passover and finish the meal off with a kosher angel food cake, made with matzo cake meal and potato starch. Served with orange-soaked strawberries, this cake simultaneously celebrates the holiday and the first berries of spring. Use the leftover yolks in more indulgent desserts.

Special equipment: You’ll need a 10-inch tube pan with a removable bottom to make this recipe.

Game plan: The cake can be made a day in advance—leave it in the pan, cover it, and store it at room temperature for up to 24 hours. The strawberries can be prepared up to 1 hour ahead.

This recipe was featured as part of our Hosting Your First Passover menu.

  • Yield: 8 to 10 servings
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Total: 1 hr, plus cooling time
  • Active: 20 mins

Ingredients (11)

For the cake:

  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 teaspoons packed orange zest, from 2 medium oranges
  • 1/2 cup matzo cake meal
  • 1/2 cup potato starch
  • 12 large egg whites (1 1/2 cups), at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the berries:

  • 3 pints strawberries (about 2 pounds), hulled and thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

For the cake:

  1. Heat the oven to 325°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Mix 1 cup of the sugar with the orange zest in a small bowl until evenly combined; set aside.
  2. Sift the matzo cake meal and potato starch through a fine mesh strainer 3 times onto a piece of parchment paper or into a large bowl. Then sift again with remaining 1/2 cup sugar; set aside.
  3. Place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. (Be sure the bowl and whisk have been thoroughly cleaned.) Beat on high until just frothy, about 1 minute. Add lemon juice, orange juice, and salt and beat until whites just begin to form soft, droopy peaks, about 2 minutes. Add sugar-zest mixture 2 tablespoons at a time, letting it mix in before adding more, then beat until whites are glossy and peaks are droopy but hold onto a spatula, about 2 to 3 minutes more.
  4. Remove the bowl from the mixer and sift 1/4 of the matzo cake meal mixture over the whites. Gently fold dry ingredients into whites with a rubber spatula. Continue to sift and fold in remaining matzo cake meal mixture, 1/4 at a time, until all of it has been added.
  5. Spoon batter into a clean, dry 10-inch tube pan with a removable bottom. Tap the pan twice on the counter to burst any large air bubbles in the batter. Transfer to the oven and bake until cake is springy to the touch and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes.
  6. Invert the pan over the neck of a bottle (the cake should be hanging upside down—this keeps it from collapsing/deflating) until completely cooled, about 1 1/2 hours.

For the berries:

  1. In a large bowl, combine strawberries, orange juice, and sugar. Place in the refrigerator and let sit, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and strawberries have let off some juice, at least 15 minutes or up to 1 hour.

To remove and serve the cake:

  1. Cut around the perimeter of the pan with a knife, remove the base, and cut around the tube and the base to release the cake completely. Slice with a serrated knife and serve with strawberries and juices.