Place the egg whites in a mixing bowl and allow them to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Sift the icing sugar and flour together into a large bowl. Make sure you sift these ingredients together; this is one of the components that make a pillowy, light texture in your cake.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

After 30 minutes, start to beat the egg whites and immediately add the cream of tartar, vanilla extract, and salt.

While you are beating the egg whites, slowly add the granulated white sugar.

Continue to beat at high speed until the sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks have formed.

Using a spatula, gently fold in the flour and icing sugar mixture, adding about 1/3 of a cup at a time. Be careful not to deflate the egg whites. You want to keep them nice and airy.

Continue to gently fold until all the flour mixture is incorporated.

Spoon the batter into an ungreased 10-inch angel food cake pan. Using a knife, gently cut the batter to ensure there are no air pockets in the batter.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Invert the pan and allow to cool completely before removing the cake from the pan. You may need to loosen the cake from the pan with a knife (I used a plastic knife so as not to scratch the aluminum pan).