After my éclair-baking spree for the past two weeks, I find myself with leftover egg whites from making the pastry cream. So I turned to the books for a cake recipe to use up the egg whites and I stumbled upon Rose Levy Beranbaum’s White Velvet Butter Cake recipe. I adapted the recipe and turn them into egg white cupcakes!
One thing I really like about Rose’s recipes is that she provides both metric and imperial measurements – which means they are in grams as well as in cups. Many American cookbooks I own (and recipes I found online) provide measurements only in cups, and because I don’t really like using the measuring cups to measure the ingredients – especially butter (how do you even do that?) – so for most recipes I will have to convert them into grams first before I start baking.
Another interesting thing to note is that Rose’s way of making butter cakes is different from the way I’ve seen and learned since young. Usually we start by creaming butter and sugar together, then beat in the eggs, and finally adding, alternately, the dry ingredients (flour, salt, raising agents) and wet ingredients (milk, buttermilk etc.) Rose’s method begins by creaming the dry ingredients with the butter and most of the wet ingredients, then she beat in the eggs (which are mixed with the remaining wet ingredients) in a few parts.
Though I have no idea what’s the science behind this method, I quite like it because the method is a lot easier – no need to check on how pale and creamy the butter and sugar is! Also, the cake batter is ready much faster than the traditional method and the most important fact of all – the cake still tastes damn good (have already tried 3 of her recipes as I’m typing this)!
I had 2 egg whites leftover (about 60 grams), so I scaled down the recipe and I ended up with 8 egg white cupcakes. They are actually good plain or with some berries or chocolate chips added in, but I cannot help whipping up some dark chocolate ganache to top it off – because many things taste better with chocolate! (And I think they look better in photos too 😉 )
Step-by-Step Photos | |
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| 1) In a small bowl, use a wire whisk and whisk together egg whites, 25 grams milk and vanilla. Set aside. | 2) In a medium to large mixing bowl, use another wire whisk and whisk together flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder and salt. |
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| 3) Add in softened butter and 80 grams milk. | 4) Using a handheld electric mixer, beat on medium speed for 3 minutes to aerate the batter. Scrape down the batter occasionally from the sides of the bowl with a spatula. (The mixture actually will look more moist than this - I didn't add enough liquid for this attempt.) |
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| 5) Add in the egg white mixture in 3 parts, beating well on medium speed for 1 minute and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. | 6) Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 to 3/4 full and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. |
Do you need more recipes to use up egg whites?
Or fancy some more cupcakes? Check these out!
Egg White Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Ganache Frosting
INGREDIENTS
Cupcakes
- 60 grams egg whites, at room temperature (see Note 1)
- 25 grams milk [Part 1], at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 115 grams all-purpose flour
- 15 grams cornstarch
- 100 grams caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 75 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 80 grams milk [Part 2], at room temperature
Chocolate Ganache
- 100 grams dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 100 grams cream, minimum 30% fat content
INSTRUCTIONS
Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 175°C / 350°F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, use a wire whisk and whisk together egg whites, Part 1 milk and vanilla. Set aside.
- In a medium to large mixing bowl, use another wire whisk and whisk together flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in softened butter and Part 2 milk. Using a handheld electric mixer, beat on medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes to aerate the batter. Scrape down the batter occasionally from the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
- Add in the egg white mixture in 3 parts, beating well on medium speed for 30 seconds and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
- Fill the cupcake liners to 3/4 full. You will get about 6 to 8 cupcakes, depending on the size of your cupcake liners.
- Bake for 20 minutes to 25 minutes until the top is lightly golden on top and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the muffin tin and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
Chocolate Ganache
- Place finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
- Place cream in a small pot and bring to a simmer. Add the cream into the chocolate. Cover the bowl and set aside for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, use a wire whisk to whisk the ganache together gently, until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Let cool until thickened before spreading onto the cooled cupcakes. (You can also chill the ganache faster in the refrigerator, but make sure to check and stir it every 10 minutes).
NOTES
- 1 egg white is approximately 30 grams.
- A handheld mixer is used instead of a standing mixer as the quantities are small. If you doubled or tripled the quantities, feel free to use a standing mixer to make the cupcakes.
- Cupcakes recipe adapted from White Velvet Butter Cake from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum
Joslyn J. says
I was excited to find a recipe for my extra egg whites! These cupcakes were very delicious.
Jasline N. says
Aww I’m happy that these cupcakes work for you 🙂 I have another egg white brownies recipe as well, do give it a try when you have extra egg white again! 😉
Carolyn Fysh says
I laughed so hard when I saw your comment about measuring butter in cups. “How do you even do that?” I used to feel that way about recipes that measured in grams. Growing up the only scales I ever saw were big and meant to measure pounds of fruit for fruitcake, but useless to measure out a 100 grams of . . . anything. Measuring by weight seems awkward. So much easier to use my measuring cups.
Years later and I now have a small and very handy set of scales. I can toggle between grams and ounces. I guess I am ‘ambidextrous’ as I am now comfortable in both systems.
But to answer your question. Here in North America, butter comes one of two ways. In my area it comes in a one pound block which just happens to be two cups of butter. So if you cut it the block in half you have 1 cup. Cut it in a quarters, each quarter is 1/2 cup. To make it even easier, the wrapper is marked with handy measurements showing where you cut for various measurements. Easy peasy.
The other way butter comes (popular in the U.S.) the pound of butter is pre-divided into 4 sticks, each half a cup.
I don’t know how your butter comes where you live, but maybe you could use this tip for when the butter is kind of misshapen. Say you want a 1/4 cup of butter. Fill a fluid measuring cup up with cold water to the 3/4 cup mark. Put in butter in blobs until it comes up to one cup. Drain off the water and Bob’s your Uncle, you have a 1/4 cup of butter.
Carolyn from Canada
Jasline N. says
Hi Carolyn, thank you so much for clarifying the deep question that has been at the back of my mind since I started baking! The butter in Singapore are imported so they come in various sizes, 225g, 250g, 1kg… and they usually have 3 markings so that I can divide the butter into 4 equal pieces but that’s it!
The idea of measuring butter in cold water is such a brilliant idea and great tip to have, never know when I’ll need it!
Emma says
Ohhh yummy, they look so good. I too have never tried this method but I will try anything once. I am glad I am not the only one who prefers grams, I can use cups but its so hit and miss at times. Grams are definitely better. Its so refreshing to see a recipe blog using them.