almond cinnamon cake

i'm always on the lookout for interesting recipes using egg white only rather than whole eggs because i often have several left over from making custard, creme patisserie or ice cream..yesterday i came across a recipe for an almond cinnamon cake in the book 'nigellisima', that i'd borrowed from the library, that piqued my interest..this morning i made it with the four egg whites i had languishing..and..hey.. it's extra versatile because it's gluten and dairy product free..

almond cinnamon cake

'nigellissima' nigella lawson

serves about 8

ingredients (i halved the recipe)

4 egg whites

75 gms castor sugar

75 gms almond meal

60 mls light olive oil

1/2 teaspoon (tsp) baking powder

finely grated zest of small orange

2-3 drops almond essence

50 gms flaked almonds

1/2 tsp cinnamon

icing sugar

method

~ beat the egg whites until opaque and starting to hold their shape

~ add sugar in small increments whisking and until it's incorporated and the mixture is thick and shiny

~ mix in zest and almond essence and then add the oil and almond meal mixed with the baking powder in three batches

~ pour the mixture into a 20 cm baking paper lined tin, smooth the top and sprinkle with the faked almonds mixed with the cinnamon

~ bake at 180 deg c for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean

~ cool in the tin on a wire rack

~ sprinkle with icing sugar to serve

comments

~ i think this is a particularly lovely cake..it's not very sweet so it could be served with a citrus compote or a citrus glace such as the glaced cumquats i've been wanting to make..and i think rhubarb would go nicely with it too

~ the almond essence flavour was not particularly discernible so i'd consider increasing the amount of  essence to 3-4 drops next time i make it

if you made this cake what flavours do you think would complement it?

using up egg white

coconut chocolate macaroons
with decorative adaptations

go here for david lebovitzs' recipe

makes approximately 24

ingredients

4 egg whites 

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut

1 tablespoon (tbs) honey

1/4 cup of plain flour

1/2 teaspoon (tsp) vanilla

1/4 tsp salt 

30 gms dark chocolate

candied orange peel

method

~ place egg white, coconut, sugar, honey, flour and salt in a large shallow pan and cook over low to moderate heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to just scorch on the bottom of the pan

~ remove from the heat and stir in vanilla

~ leave to cool

~ shape into walnut sized balls and cook at 180 deg c for about 20 minutes or until browned

~ melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water

~ once the macaroons are cooled drop a half tsp of chocolate on the top of each macaroon and then top with a small baton of candied orange peel

if you like to use up egg whites too what do you make with them?

blackberry and raspberry trifles

blackberry and raspberry trifles

tea with hazel

serves 2

ingredients

egg white cake (see recipe below)

blackberry and apple jelly (jam) *

blackberry ** and raspberry *** jelly (see recipe below)

marinate 1/3 cup blackberries and 1/2 cup raspberries with 1-2 tablespoons sugar or to taste and 1 tbs chambord for 1/2 hour

vanilla egg custard (see here for recipe)

assembly

~ slice 6, 1 cm slices of cake, spread 3 pieces with blackberry and apple jelly, then top with the remaining slices

~ cut each sandwich into four and divide the pieces between two glasses

~ drizzle the cake with chambord and divide the jelly between the glasses and refrigerate until the jelly is set

~ add the berries and then spoon over about 1/2 cup of custard 

~ cover with foil and refrigerate

egg white cake recipe

recipe adapted from here

ingredients

6 egg whites **** 

125 gms castor sugar

160 gms plain flour
1 heaped tbs corn flour 

1 teaspoon (tsp) baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

100 gms butter melted and cooled

method 

~ whisk egg whites with 2 tbs sugar until light and fluffy

~ sift flour, corn flour, baking powder and sugar

~ fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites

~ fold in the melted butter 

~ spoon mix into a buttered and base lined ring tin 

~ cook at 180 deg c for 30 minutes or until cooked

~ cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack

blackberry and raspberry jelly

ingredients

3/4 cup raspberries

1/3 cup blackberries

2 gold strength gelatine leaves

water

sugar

method

~ place berries in a saucepan, just cover with water, bring to the boil, and then mash the berries well

~ place mashed berries and juice in a muslin lined colander and drain into a measuring jug without squeezing the muslin (there should be about 200 mls..if not add water to make up the amount)  

~ add about 2 tbs of sugar to the strained juice or to taste and stir well to dissolve

~ soak the gelatine in cold water until soft, squeeze out excess water, then add to the still warm sweetened juice and stir to dissolve

~ set aside to cool

notes:

*       substitute with raspberry or blackberry jam or jam of choice

**     i used blackberries that i picked last summer and froze

***   i used frozen berries

**** i had 4 egg whites i wanted to use up; i made custard from the yolks of the other two whites

it was a sweet weekend..

because my eldest daughter came over on saturday and we had afternoon tea and and then we spent about 4 hours doing patchwork..my daughter is making a large paper pieced hexagon patchwork quilt using woollen fabric that my mother had..some of which are pieces left over from clothing she made for herself so it is going to be very special to my daughter because of the provenance of the fabric..

for afternoon tea we had macaroons because i had two egg whites left over from a custard i made a few days ago and because i am trying to make an effort to reduce the fat in our diets..macaroons are easy to make but they seem to have lost favour unlike macarons which are very popular.. i find macaroons quite sweet so in order to tone down the sugar blast i added very finely grated orange rind and i put a small piece of my candied orange on top..and just for fun i added some pink food colouring..

because they were a bit of an experiment i wasn't sure how they would taste but they were surprisingly good especially with 'vanilla and earl' tea..next time though i will tweak the recipe a bit and add extra coconut to offset the effect of the addition of the colouring in loosening the mixture..

i hope you had a sweet weekend too..jane