Monday, June 1, 2009

6 Egg White Solution


The sun is shining, the grass is green and growing, and I've been making ice cream. The freezer is usually stocked with at least four different frozen treats to choose from - it's a happy place. But in the refrigerator, life is not so sanguine. It's packed with egg whites. I can barely fit any food in because of all the little containers labeled "2 egg whites" or "5 egg whites." I know, I should freeze those egg whites promptly, but for some delusional reason, I'm sure that I'll get around to using them up quickly. I label them and consign them to a long and nasty life at the back of my fridge. My husband calls it my egg white Gitmo.

When thinking of what to do with egg whites, I always think of angel food cake. The only problem there is that it takes 10 to 12 egg whites, and it takes a while to collect that many egg whites and by the time I've gotten 12, the first 6 have gone bad. So I toss out the first 6 and optimistically hang onto the other 6.



Browsing through a cake cookbook, I found the answer to my dilemma. An angel food cake that only takes 6 egg whites. It bakes in a square pan like a snack cake, and as a bonus, it's self frosting! Trust me, you'll want to bookmark this one. It's so easy, you can have the kids make it, so light and delicious, you'll want to have it often, and it makes a perfect accompaniment to the ice creams you make with the yolks. If you are a not a fan of coconut, you could leave that off, sprinkle on finely chopped nuts, or spread with whipped cream before serving.

Self-Frosting Angel Cake
- adapted from The Southern Heritage Cakes Book

6 egg whites at room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup flaked coconut

1- Preheat oven to 325 deg. F. Position rack in the center of the oven.

2-Beat egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and salt. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, 2 Tbsp at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.

3- Sprinkle flour over egg white mixture; fold in carefully. Gently fold in flavoring.

4- Pour batter into an ungreased 9-inch square baking pan. Sprinkle coconut over the top. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan about 40 minutes. Remove cake from pan and cut into squares to serve.

32 comments:

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

That is genius. Somebody should make a fortune with it.
Very lovely Lynn!

Unknown said...

Thank you soo much for this! I always have whites or yolks lying around, and am alwayss on the look out for recipes to use them up

natalia said...

Ciao ! This like all your recipes is one to bookmark ! Grazie !

celine said...

hey, sure looks yummy.... i have 7 egg whites in the freezer (rushed to check after reading your post). will make this first thing tomorrow morning.

thanks for sharing.

The Cutting Edge of Ordinary said...

Amazing! I must try this. Thanks for sharing!

Jennifer Jo said...

I have this very same problem---thanks for the recipe.

The Cutting Edge of Ordinary said...

Lynn can I use a glass pan? Lisa

Cookie baker Lynn said...

My Kitchen In Half Cups - A fortune? Ooh, do I get a cut? That could finance my retirement, or at least my next vanilla bean order.

Avanika - I always have great intentions of organizing an index of recipes according to what uses up what leftover ingredient. If you do that, could you send me a copy, please?

Natalia - You're welcome!

SkinnyMum - What will you do with the one lone egg white? Hmmm. Egg wash for a bread?

Mama JJ - Happy to help.

Lisa - I don't see why not. Common wisdom says to turn down the oven temp 25 degrees (F) when using glass.

Maria said...

I love this one. The coconut topping sold me!

Melinda said...

You are absolutely right about the egg white mountain!
I haven't seen a recipe for angel food cake in a square tin but then I haven't looked very hard either. I just assumed I needed that darn tube pan for it to turn out correctly. I am delighted to be proven wrong.
I will try this but probably without the coconut.
Your sister says you don't like coconut...is this another exception to the rule, like the macaroons? lol

eatme_delicious said...

I have 8 egg whites in my freezer right now - not sure what to do with them so I definitely appreciate this recipe. =) Looks delicious!

alice said...

If it's not egg whites, it's egg yolks. This looks delicious, thanks for sharing the recipe. Now I just need an ice cream maker for all the yolks I end up with ;)

aforkfulofspaghetti said...

That sounds like a recipe worth saving egg whites for!

Now to find a recipe that requires 6 egg yolks... ;-)

Netts Nook said...

What a perfect cookie I love angel food cake and coconut. Thanks for sharing.

Debbie said...

Wow...that looks delicious. Great idea!

grace said...

i'm such a fan of both angel food cake and coconut, due in large part to their textures. the combination of the two sounds outstanding!

Pattern Patisserie said...

Thanks for visiting my blog...so glad your son liked the baby bird pics...they are so cute! Thanks also for the recipe...like everyone else I always have scads of egg whites around, Cheers, Patricia

Amanda said...

Hi There! Love reading your blog, and used to have the same egg white dilemma you mentioned (especially after ice cream making). My solution is to now use them for financiers, or almond tea cakes. I use this recipe (http://www.doriegreenspan.com/2007/04/friands-from-oz-financiers-from-france.html) and bake them in muffin tins, with a berry tucked into each cake. This recipe is one of my all-time favories (and they freeze beautifully too!). Do try it next time you run into an egg white overload :)

Anonymous said...

My favorite grocery makes a chocolate angel cake that we love. Since it is too big for just the 2 of us, I usually slice and freeze most of it for later. I love the frozen texture of airy angel on a hot summer day!
Do you think this could be converted to a chocolate version? How much cocoa do you think would need to be added? Along w/ the flour or as a sub for some of it??

Abby said...

Genius. I hate to freeze leftover baking supplies! You could make the ice cream and a cake to go with it!

Lien said...

I printed this one out at once. What a wonderful recipe. You cannot by angelfoodpans here, so I never could bake that. And got lots of eggwhites in the freezer. (how long could you keep them in the fridge?) And they all love coconut here (esp. the husband) so this is just great, thanks for this Lynn!!! I just hope I can leave out the cream of tartar without problems, cause I don't have that.

Peabody said...

Oh, I so will be making this. I love Angel Food Cake, something about Summer heat that always makes me crave it.

Katrina said...

Can't wait to try this one with all MY leftover egg whites! Awesome.

shannon9585 said...

I've never made angel food cake before but I decided to make this because I had a half-dozen eggs that were reaching the expiration date. I have to say I was hesitant because I thought angel food cake needed a pan with tall sides so that it can rise, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results. This cake has an excellent texture and moistness that I've never had in store bought angel food cake. It was a little on the sweet side for me, so I may cut back on the sugar if I make it again. Just to note - I baked this in a glass 11 x 7 pan at 300 degrees for 25 minutes, then put it under the broiler for a couple minutes to brown the coconut more.

Erica W. said...

This cake was delicious! I found it while searching for a recipe using the six egg whites I had left over from some pudding I made and I'm so glad that I did. This will definitely be something I will come back to. I've linked to you here:

http://quirkycharm.blogspot.com/2011/10/double-chocolate-pudding.html

Eva @ Eva Bakes said...

Thank you for this fantastic recipe! I always have leftover egg whites after making ice cream, and I'm tired of making macarons and swiss meringue buttercream. The other angel food cake recipes ask for 12 egg whites, so your recipe was perfect.

I've linked to you here:
http://evabakes.blogspot.com/2012/03/angel-food-cake.html

Deerie said...

I made this yummy dessert. You can see my results here: http://grannyinanutshell.blogspot.com/2012/04/grannys-kitchen-small-angel-food-cake.html

For those wanting to use egg yolk, I have a tiramisu recipe on my blog, too.

THANKS!!

@eatme_delicious, you can freeze egg whites???? What a GREAT idea!! I should have known this because I have had eggs freeze in the fridge, and thawed them out to use. I never thought to freeze them on purpose!

kindli said...

Thank you!! We made ice-cream yesterday & had 6 lonely looking leftover egg whites that needed to be used. The cake was perfect & so simple my boys (3 & almost 1) were able to help! :) I can see this becoming my go-to recipe for extra egg whites in the future!!

our results: http://avidinkling.com/2012/05/03/6-egg-white-cake-hurray-for-the-internet/

Anonymous said...

Just took mine out of the oven. It looks greeeeaaatt!

Anonymous said...

Egg nog.

jlmk said...

I'm making carbonara tomorrow with expensive local organic eggs and hate to throw away 6 egg whites. I love angel food, but don't have the pan I thought I needed so this is a perfect solution!

JJ said...

It must be an American delight...I made this today and it tasted unlike any cake I have made before ....not to my liking but Hub liked It and it is very nutritious. Love your blog, thanks for the great recipes. Welsh girl UK.