Hello,

The last step of the Sylvia Weinstock yellow cake recipe is to fold the egg whites by hand. Can anyone tell me what folding egg whites do for the cake? and also how much should you beat them?should they be merengue like? can you do it in advance and let them seat?

Thanks!

When you fold beaten egg white into anything it is to add lightness and air.

In this case, it keeps the cake lighter when it is baked. If you mix them into the batter too much, you will beat out all of the air that you worked so hard to put in.

Folding eggwhites incorporates air into the cake and makes it light and airy. This type of cake is sometimes defined as sponge or chiffon cake.

Beating eggwhites until stiff peaks form...as they describe it, when you turn the bowl over, the whites won't fall off. I tend to not do the eggwhites in advance because if you let them sit, it settles down and becomes watery...so I always do the batter first then beat the eggwhites.

Make sure you fold gently, not beat in. Yes the egg whites are beaten first, but then they are FOLDED into the batter. Too heavy of a hand it they will just collapse and do nothing. I had a friend I was teaching to bake. I forgot she was a newbie and I told her to fold in some egg whites. I turned my back for a second and look back and she is beating it by hand real good to make sure it got incorporated. I was too late. We got hockey puck cupcakes.

So fold, not beat.

thanks, i didnt beat my egg whites enough. the cake turned out very dense.