My Motto

May the muffin rise to greet you, may your friends be always at your door, and until we meet again, warm a single-malt in the palm of your hand and make something homemade for someone you love.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Egg Whites Cake


"Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake."
~ Unknown

On Easter Sunday it was my duty to make the desserts for the family get-together.  I made lemon mousse and  a double size key lime pie, both of which called for many egg yolks, resulting a glut of leftover egg whites.   
Now, previously if I had leftover egg whites I would feed a couple to the dogs and huck the rest.  These days I'm trying very hard not to waste anything, so I was determined to use them up.  Now, I've heard people freeze egg whites, but I was skeptical, so I stumbled upon this post by David Lebovitz on ways to use up extra egg whites.  His post led me to this Estonian recipe for munavalgekook (egg white cake) which I adapted for my use and was surprised at how easy and DELICIOUS it was.
So easy and it has a nice moist crumb.  Perfect for a dollop of lemon mousse and some fresh strawberries.
Angel food cake is great, but a pain to make, and I wasn't in the mood after making two other desserts.  This cake whipped up easily and complimented the others nicely.  I'll make it again to have with berries or sliced peaches and whipped cream.  It makes great tea and coffee cake too.  A new go-to recipe for the archives, and no more wasted egg whites.

Egg Whites Cake (adapted from recipe posted on nami-nami)

6 large egg whites
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk the egg whites with vanilla and 2 tablespoons of sugar until thick and pale and very foamy. Mix the rest of the sugar with flour, cornstarch, salt and baking powder, then sift into the egg mixture and fold in gently.
Finally fold in cool melted butter.
Pour the batter into a buttered bundt-form and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Test for doneness with a wooden toothpick.
Cool slightly before turning out of the cake tin.

15 comments:

Di said...

Ooh, I'm totally bookmarking this one right now! I always have a ton of extra egg whites, and like you said, I'm not always in the mood to make angel food cake. But FYI, I freeze egg whites all the time, and they do just fine.

Kimby said...

This sounds wonderful! My "go to" white cake recipe is similar to this, but it calls for shortening -- butter is better! Will definitely try this, especially with your beautiful garnishes.

P.S. Your orange scones (a couple of posts back) are the BEST!

Margaret Murphy Tripp said...

Thank you! I liked the ease of this recipe. It whips up in no time. When I want a wedding cake style white cake, I have a recipe for silver white cake that uses shortening. So glad you liked the scones!

sandy said...

its in the oven now, to be served later with fresh strawberries and the homemade ice cream that was the source of all the egg whites. thank you for giving us the non-metric or weighing version of the recipe

Sandy

Margaret Murphy Tripp said...

Hi Sandy,
So glad you found the recipe here, and hope you like it as much as we do!
~Margaret

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the recipe! I had exactly 6 egg whites that I wanted to use up, so this was perfect. The cake came out great! So yummy.

Susan said...

Well, I am a beginner baker, and thought I'd try this recipe as it appears simple.
Well it is! And 35 minutes later, out of the pan (quite easily) and cooled. (I So I sample a small slice) - mmmm, is it just me? Here hon try some...then the kids and a couple visitors later. The cake is gone:( boo hoo
It was WONDERFUL. And it was great alone or with blueberry sauce and of course with the homemade ice cream which started this baking experience for me.
Thank you very much for sharing !!!

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Maybe you want to try my "normal" use-up egg whites recipe. I am going to try yours...
Follow your directions. Just change the ingredients:
Cake financier for 6 (in brakets for 8 egg whites):
6 (8) egg whites
200g (266g) sugar
30g (40g) almond meal blanched or not
1 (1 1/4) teaspoon almond extract
120g (160g) unbleached all-purose flour
1 pinch of salt
120g (160g) butter melted

Converting recipes to more egg whites in metric is very easy...
Serve with cooked fruit compot, ice cream or just liquid cream.

Anonymous said...

I made this and I used a 9 inch round cake pan and it turned out AMAZING! One of the best cakes I've made so far. I also paired it with some lemon frosting: http://www.food.com/recipe/luscious-lemon-frosting-54666
I only did one layer cause it was my first time making this cake and I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but next time I will be sure to make two! Great recipie, great for using up eggwhites, thanks for sharing!

Paska said...

Easy and delicious, thank you for shaing. Hate to throw out egg whites and now I have the perfect recipe.

Laura said...

This cake made the best strawberry shortcake we've ever had! My husband loves Boston Cream Pie, so I make it for his birthday every year. That leaves me with 6 egg whites. I went searching for a recipe to make a small angel food cake, when I came across your post, & read the glowing reviews, and gave it a shot. I froze the egg whites after making the birthday dessert, so I thawed the egg whites in the micro, & they were just like fresh ones. We are in the process of selling our house, so my Bundt pan is stored away. I used a single, 9-inch cake pan, sprayed with cooking spray. (I'll use butter next time - the cake wouldn't turn out of the pan.) I baked it for 40 minutes (my oven usually bakes things in the shortest time given in recipes, but since I didn't have the center funnel of the Bundt pan, it took the full 40 minutes.) The cake has a crunchy crust, & a tender center - luscious with strawberries & cream... a little crunch in every bite, that didn't get soggy toward the end. Thanks so much for a new, family favorite!

Margaret Murphy Tripp said...

Your comment made me really happy. So glad you enjoyed the cake!

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for converting the grams to cups for this American baker. I found the recipe on the Nani site and it looks so good, but the converters I found on Google were less than precise. My egg whites are waiting!

Unknown said...

Lov this recipe. ..it turned out great...now my egg whites will never get wasted...I added a handful of chocolate chips which my children loved completely. ..Thx again

Margaret Murphy Tripp said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! The addition of chocolate chips is a great idea - I'll have to try that!