Carey Ann Taylor, Mecklenburg County Baker, Talks Egg Whites

A lot of baking boils down to little more than measuring accurately and following instructions. However, some recipes require delicate skills that can only be learned by experience and repetition. Incorporating whipped egg whites into your recipe is one of those skills. It takes time to learn how to do it well. If you don't mix enough, you'll have streaks of meringue in your cake. If you mix too much, your cake will be dense and tough. There's no substitute for hands-on experience, but it helps to understand the principles.

Here's what happens when you take your whisk to a bowl of egg whites. As the whisk passes through the whites, it physically uncoils the molecules of egg proteins and turns them into long strands. These strands act like a balloon to trap the air left behind as the whisk passes through. The texture becomes finer as you keep whisking and eventually make a soft stable foam. Your cake gets its light and delicate crumb from those bubbles expanding in the heat of the oven.

Most recipes give a few tips to make the egg whites lighter and fluffier. Egg whites whip better at room temperature, so give them a half hour to warm up before you whip them. Most recipes call for a pinch of salt or a spoonful lemon juice in the eggs. That's because salt and acidity help the protein molecules unwind more quickly. Once the meringue is foamy, adding sugar to the whites strengthens the texture and produces a more durable foam. You can always use a tablespoon of the recipe's sugar in your egg whites.

While preparing their cookbook “The Best Recipe,” the editors of Cook's Illustrated found that mixing speed also made a difference to the quality of their meringue. Run the mixer on its lowest setting until the egg whites become frothy. Add the salt or lemon juice and increase the speed to medium. Once the eggs make a fine foam add the sugar very slowly. Keep whipping on medium until the meringue is glossy and forms soft peaks. Don't use high speed to whip the whites because the foam isn't as stable. It will collapse and lose a lot of its air when you add it to the rest of your batter.

Start combining the egg whites with the batter by pouring in 1/4 to 1/3 of the foam. Stir it thoroughly into the batter. This portion of the meringue will lose much of its air, but it lightens and thins the batter. That means you'll lose less air from the remaining egg whites as you fold them in.

Scoop a third of the remaining egg whites into the mixing bowl. Reach underneath the batter with your spatula and fold a portion of it over the eggs. Repeat, turning the bowl from time to time. You'll start to see mixed egg whites and cake batter coming to the top after a few strokes. Keep working gently from bottom to top, adding the remaining egg whites as you go. Being patient is important. If you mix the batter too vigorously, you'll deflate the egg whites and have a dense, chewy cake. When they're properly mixed the egg whites are still visible in the batter, but there are no large streaks of meringue left. Don't mix the batter until the egg whites are completely invisible.

With angel food cake and a few other recipes, dry ingredients are folded into the egg whites instead. The basic technique is much the same. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the egg whites in thirds, folding the whites over the dry ingredients from bottom to top. Don't worry if the finished batter looks slightly streaky. The dry ingredients will finish absorbing liquid from the egg whites as the cake bakes.

About: Carey Ann Taylor is a baker and blogger in Mecklenburg County, NC. With 20 years of experience baking for weddings and parties, she has built a reputation for her exquisitely detailed aesthetic and sophisticated understanding of flavor. Once wedding season slows down, Carey Ann Taylor travels the United States to review dessert shops and bakeries for publication and, most recently, her personal blog.