Bain Marie on Stove Top

By Cat, May 2012 (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

My Mom used to make angel food cakes – made with the egg whites only and lots of sugar. She learned the aerating method when she learned the recipe for her classic Tom & Jerry batter at Christmastime. I loved those cakes, with an egg-white and whipped cream frosting, and admired her patience whipping those eggs.

In the 1970s, I received a gift of Paula Peck’s The Art of Fine Baking (3) and devoured its text, cover to cover. Among the things I loved to make was genoise, a rich egg-leavened sponge cake, and also pound cake. Both of these require aerating the eggs and sugar, using the technique I learned from that book and detail below.

I am now avoiding dietary sugar, and generally use stevia instead of sugar to sweeten my treats. But some cakes require the structure of sugar to support the eggs; in this case, only a small portion of the sugar can be replaced with stevia. Another option is a trick learned from Bob’s Red Mill (4) to reduce (but not eliminate) the sugar in the recipe. This is also described below.

Aerating eggs & sugar for a batter

Egg-leavened cakes (and also dessert soufflés) depend upon properly beaten eggs and sugar for lift, rather than baking soda/powder or yeast. There are two different methods for beating the eggs and sugar to aerate the batter properly.

• Electric stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer: This method whips both whites and yolks together;
• Hand-operated rotary beater or egg whisk; for these, the whites are whipped with the sugar in one bowl, and the yolks in a separate bowl. Then the whipped white/sugar mix is folded into the whipped yolks.

Bain Marie

Both methods require a bain marie – a device that provides steamy heat to warm the eggs so they will take up more air for greater whipped volume. Traditionally, this device consists of a saucepan and a mixing bowl (Photo, left, from WheatFree.org (1)): The saucepan holds the steaming water, and the mixing bowl rests on the rim of the saucepan so that the bowl’s bottom does not touch the water.

The modern-day version is a double boiler (see photo at top of page), which works fine for the first method if it is large enough, and if the bottom of the top part is rounded (for whipping). For the second method, you need two of the round-bottom top parts or mixing bowls.

Sweet substitutes for sugar

I generally avoid sugar and have come to depend on stevia for sweetness in my recipes. Because egg-leavened cakes depend on the chemistry of sugar working with the eggs for proper texture, I don’t recommend using stevia for more than ¼ of the sweet. For example, for each 1 cup sugar, substitute with ¾ cup sugar and ⅛  tsp stevia extract powder. Whip the sugar with the whites; sift the stevia with the flour or dissolve it in any of the watery liquids in the recipe (like vanilla extract, lemon or orange juice, etc.), but milk or cream don’t work because the stevia won’t dissolve in milk-fat.

Another option – my preference – is to use sweet diary whey in a ratio of 1 part whey to 2 parts sugar; that is: for 1 cup sugar. use a mixture of ⅔ cup sugar and ⅓ cup sweet dairy whey). Sweet dairy whey is a byproduct of cheese making; it is initially a cloudy liquid, but is then dehydrated (at low temperatures) to a powder. It is available from Bob’s Red Mill (3), and adds a bit of protein to your cake.

The ‘sweet’ in the whey is lactose, a disaccharide of glucose and galactose that is not (generally) broken down into its simple sugars, but rather converted to lactic acid by the good bugs in our gut. Because of this, it is lower in calories and has a lower glycemic index than table sugar.

Aerating method for whole eggs, using electric mixer

Stand Mixer (KitchenAid)

This method is for using a hand-held electric mixer or stand mixer. (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

1. Remove eggs from fridge and allow them to warm to room temperature (in the shells).
2. Meanwhile, heat water in lower part of bain-marie (see above) to just barely simmering (use a simmer plate).
3. Crack eggs into top of bain-marie and whisk (with fork or egg whisk) just enough to break them up and combine.
4. Add sugar to eggs, whisking lightly to combine (with egg whisk or rotary egg beater).
5. Set top of bain-marie containing the egg/sugar mix over the warm water and let warm about 10 minutes, until the eggs are just lukewarm, stirring every once in a while so they don’t begin to cook. This heating helps them to beat up really fluffy in the next step.
6. Now whip warmed egg/sugar mixture until cool, thickened, lightened in color and tripled in volume (3 – 4 minutes with mixer; more if by hand).

• • • NOTE for Angelfood Cake: Whisk whites with fine baker’s sugar until soft, but NOT until they form peaks (from The Food Guys on MTPR, Mar 2020). Best to use a hand-whisk.
    • NOTES for air-leavened cakes: If using stand mixer’s bowl for the bain marie: after heating the eggs to lukewarm in the mixer bowl over simmering water, transfer mixer bowl to stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment.
    • If using stand mixer, and a separate bowl for the bain marie: Clean mixer’s bowl thoroughly and fit with whisk attachment, transfer mixture to the stand’s bowl for beating.
    • If using hand-held electric mixer: Remove bowl of warmed eggs from bain marie to whip.

Aerating method, when using hand-operated beater or whisk

Rotary Egg Beater (Danesco)

(Photo, left, from Amazon, by Danesco (2); photo, bellow right, from Wikimedia Commons)

For this method, the eggs (and sugar) must be whipped separately from the yolks. If you whip the whites first, you don’t need to clean the beaters/whip attachment before whipping the yolks. If you do the yolks first, you must clean the beater/whip because a bit of yolk will keep the whites from full aeration.

1. Remove eggs from fridge and allow them to warm to room temperature (in the shells).
2. Meanwhile, heat water in lower part of bain-marie (see above) to just barely simmering (use a simmer plate).
3. Separate yolks from whites into separate bowls.
4. 

   Egg whisk

   Egg whites: Add sugar to whites in their separate bowl, whisking to mix, with egg whisk or rotary egg beater.

5. Set bowl over the warm water and let warm about 10 minutes, until the mixture is just lukewarm, stirring every once in a while so they don’t begin to cook. This heating helps them to beat up really fluffy in the next step.
6. Remove bowl from simmering water bath and whip warmed egg/sugar mixture until cool, thickened, lightened in color and tripled in volume, 5 minutes or more. Remove from heat.
7. Egg yolks: Set yolk bowl onto top of bain-marie and whisk (with fork or egg whisk) just enough to break them up and combine. Just as for the whites, let them warm over the simmering water until just lukewarm, stirring every once in a while so they don’t begin to cook.
8. Remove bowl from simmering water bath and whip warmed yolks until cool, thickened, and lightened in color, 5 minutes or more.
9. Fold the whites into the yolks.

References

1. Wheat Free.org photo (www.wheat-free.org/how-to-melt-chocolate.html and wheat-free.org/assets/images/bain_marie_l.jpg
2. Amazon, image of Danesco rotary beater (amazon.com/Danesco-12-Inch-Rotary-Egg-Beater/dp/B003OA48QU)
3. The Art of Fine Baking, by Paula Peck
4. Bob’s Red Mill, Sweet Dairy Whey (link removed at their request)