I got a request for an angel food cake... I can't think of very many things I've never baked, but angel food is one of them. I have no idea what I'm doing. Is it hard? Can you make chocolate angel food? And do you have to bake angel food in the special pan, or can it be made in other pans?
TIA for your help.

Yes, you can have flavored angel food cake, so you can do the chocolate. I've only ever baked in the angel food cake pans though so I'm not sure about that question, but I don't see why not.
The tip I will give you is that make sure you don't have any egg yolks in the whites when making it - unless the recipe says it's ok.

Angle Food Cake is not difficult to do they even make angel food cake mixes (but I think homemade tastes way better).

alton brown has a good eats episode about angel food cake posted on youtube --- search for alton brown and I think the episode is called "let them eat foam" I recently had an order for an angel food cake - watching this episode before I baked it was invaluable. I learned quite a bit (like yes, you have to use a tube pan - the cake needs something to cling to to rise...)....his recipe is also very good.

good luck!

you also need to make sure that all of your utensils have absolutely no grease whatsoever on them. wipe them down with a vinegar/water mix, or straight vinegar. any trace of grease in your bowl, on your hands, or on your mixing spoons or beaters will keep your whites from "foaming".

I was running way behind cooking for a get together a month ago and so I ran to the store and found the angel food box mix from BC. I grabbed it, some whipped cream, and strawberries.

I baked it in an angel food pan and it was so good! Several people asked for my recipe and said it was the best one they're ever tastes. I'm actually going to take my friend a box and tell her that it's my secret recipe. You don't have to use an angel food pan , just anything that you can turn upside down and have nothing touching the cake when it's upside down. (and it bakes up really high). Although I enjoyed it so much, and it's so low in fat,, that you might just want to invest in a pan.

you can bake it in normal pans, ungreased and lined on the bottom with parchment. I've done it. I use 3" high pans filling them no more than halfway, you still want to turn them upside down if the pans are small (under 8-10") The ones baked in larger pans are a little more dense but equally yummy.

Some ways to flavor angel cake :

(any dried fruit need to be chopped ultra fine and coated with a small amount of flour or it will sink.)

lemon or orange zest and poppy seeds

dried raspberry powder and finely chopped dried raspberries

finely chopped dried fruit

toasted, ground hazelnuts

lemon zest and chopped dried blueberries

Awesome! Thanks for all the advice... now what do I charge for an orange glazed chocolate Angel food cake? Not a clue... seems like it would be dirt cheap considering how little time there would be involved...