Yes.....Sugar keeps the meringue lofted. One recipe you can't mess with is Angel food cake.

Did you grease the pan? Both angel food and chiffon cakes should only be greased on the bottom of the pan; not the sides. The batter needs to climb up the pan to achieve its full size.

Thanks for the replies! I am trying to make the perfect angel food cake. I have had a lot of success and my DH loves the cake that has the full boat of sugar - it's just that it's way too sweet for me. (1 3/4 cups is a lot). I kind of figured though that sugar was the one thing that couldn't be changed. I just remembered that the other thing I didn't do this time was spin the sugar first - I usually process it to make the grains finer but this time I didn't do that.

Do you subscribe to the medium or stiff peaks method of meringue? I have read the theories on both and am not sure which makes more sense.

Peaks that peak but fall over....If you are trying to reduce the sugar, don't try to reduce the amount you add to the egg whites....because it's the sugar that stabilizes the air in the whites.
I don't find angel Food cake overly sweet....but I never frost it....usually serve it with just fresh fruit.

Since I don't eat many sweets, I find all sponge cakes too sugary sweet. Even as a cookie loving child, I'd put sour cream on sponge cake. I'd rather choose something else. Like serve the cake with fresh berries and just eat the berries. The sweetness of angel food is one of the things that makes it angelic. :)

pillog - funny you should say that because I like to eat it with sour cream (or creme fraiche) and berries (any berry in season or all berries mixed).

lindac - now that's a great tip - thank you! So if I am doing 1 cup of sugar, make the meringue with 3/4 cup and mix the flour with the other 1/4 cup.