Air: Baking’s Key Variable : Mechanical Leaveners (part 2) – Egg Whites – Meringue Cookies & Chocolate Port Cake

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French and Italian Meringue

There are two general forms
of meringues: those in which the sugar is directly added as the egg whites are
whisked (French Meringue), and those in which the sugar is dissolved before the egg
whites are whisked (Swiss and Italian Meringue—we’ll cover Italian here, but they’re
similar). The French version tends to be drier (sugar is hydroscopic, sucking the
moisture out of the whites—this is why it increases viscosity) and also grittier;
the Italian version has a smoother, almost creamy texture.

French Meringue

In a clean bowl, whisk 3 egg whites to soft peak stage.

Add ¾ cup (150g) of sugar—preferably super-fine sugar—one tablespoon at a time,
while continuously whisking. If using regular sugar, you’ll need to whisk longer to
make sure the sugar is entirely dissolved. To check, roll a little bit of the meringue
between two fingers (it shouldn’t feel gritty).

Italian Meringue

Create a simple syrup by heating in a saucepan ½ cup (100g) sugar and ¼ cup (60g)
water to 240°F / 115°C. Set aside.

In a clean bowl, whisk 3 egg whites to soft peak stage. Slowly pour in sugar syrup
while whisking continuously.


Meringue Cookies

To make meringue cookies, start with either egg-white meringue recipe. Optionally
fold into the meringue whatever ingredients you’d like—ground almonds, chocolate
chips, dried fruit, cocoa powder.

Using a spoon or piping bag, portion the meringue onto a cookie sheet lined with
parchment paper. Bake in an oven preheated to 200°F / 95°C for a few hours, until they
freely come off the parchment paper.


No piping bag? No problem. Put your filling in a large resealable
bag and snip off one of the corners. You can use Italian meringue as a topping
on desserts as well.


Chocolate Port Cake

One of the great things about this chocolate
port cake—besides the chocolate and the port—is the recipe’s wide error tolerances.
Most foam cakes—those cakes that rely on a foam to provide the air—are very light
(think angel food cake). The reason this recipe is so forgiving is that it uses a
foam without trying to achieve the same lightness.

You’ll need a small saucepan, two clean bowls, a whisk, and a round baking pan or
springform pan, 6–8″ / 15–20 cm.

In the saucepan (over a burner set to low heat), melt and mix together, but do not
boil:

½ cup (125g) port (either tawny or
ruby)

½ cup (114g) butter

Once butter is melted, turn off heat, remove pan from burner, and add:

3 oz (85g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small
pieces to facilitate melting

Leave the chocolate to melt in the port/butter mixture.

In two bowls, separate:

4 large (240g) eggs

Make sure to use a clean glass or metal bowl for the egg whites, and be careful
not to get any egg yolk into the whites.

Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.

In the bowl with the egg yolks, add:

1 cup (195g) granulated sugar

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until thoroughly combined. The yolks and
sugar should become a slightly lighter yellow after whisking for a minute or so. Pour
the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk/sugar mixture and whisk to thoroughly
combine.

Using a flat wooden spoon or flat spatula, add to the chocolate mixture and fold
in (but do not overstir!):

¾ cup (100g) all-purpose flour

Then fold in the egg whites in thirds. That is, transfer about a third of the
whisked egg whites into the chocolate mixture, mix together, and then repeat twice
more. Don’t worry about getting the whites perfectly incorporated, although the batter
should be relatively well mixed together.

Grease your cake pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper, so as
to make removing the cake from the pan easier. Transfer the mix to the cake pan and
bake in an oven preheated to 350°F / 175°C until a toothpick or knife, when poked into
the center, comes out clean, around 30 minutes.

Let cool for at least 10 to 15 minutes, until the edges have pulled away from the
sides, then remove from pan. Dust with powdered sugar (you can use a strainer for
this: place a few spoonfuls of powdered sugar in the strainer and then jog it with
your hand above the cake).

Note

  • When working with chocolate in baking, don’t just substitute, say,
    80% bittersweet chocolate for a semisweet bar. In addition to differences in
    sugar, the two types of chocolate have different quantities of cocoa fat, and
    recipes that rely on the fat level will need to be adjusted
    accordingly.


Optimal Cake-Cutting Algorithm for N People[4]

If you grew up with a brother or sister, you’re undoubtedly familiar with the
technique for avoiding fights when splitting food: one person divides it, and the
other person chooses. (“You can halve your cake, and eat it, too!”) But what to do if
you have more than one brother or sister?

There is a solution, but it’s a bit more involved. Here’s the algorithm for
cutting a round cake for N people. It’s not perfect—don’t use
this for negotiating land divisions after minor land wars—but when it comes to a table
of kids and a large chocolate cake, it’ll probably work.

Only one person actually does any cake-cutting, and that person can either be a
cake-eater or just a referee. Start with the cake in front of you, along with a knife
and N plates. Proceed as follows:

  1. Make a first cut in the cake, as normal.

  2. Explain that you’re going to slowly hover the knife above the cake while
    moving it clockwise around the cake, just like someone thinking about how big the
    next slice should be. Anyone—including the person cutting the cake—can say “stop”
    at any point to declare that they want a piece that size, at which point, that’s
    where you’ll cut the next slice.

  3. Slowly move the knife above the cake until someone calls stop.

  4. Slice the cake and hand the person who called stop the new slice. Continue
    with step 3 with the remaining cake eaters. (To be clear, anyone who calls “stop”
    is now out of the negotiation and doesn’t get to call it again.)

  5. When you’re down to just one last person, cut the cake wherever he or she
    likes, which may leave a leftover piece.

One of the nice things about this protocol (a protocol is similar to an algorithm,
but allows for accepting user input after being started) is that it allows people who
for whatever crazy reason want small slices to do so, and gets them out of the way at
the beginning, meaning if somebody else wants a larger slice than an equal
N division would allow, they get more cake and can eat it,
too.

If someone is being greedy and wants a too-big piece, they’ll end up getting the
last slice—which will normally be the largest slice. If two or more people end up
being greedy, though, they could allow the referee to reach the end of the cake by
never calling stop, in which case I suggest eating the cake yourself. There’s no
guarantee that this protocol will satisfy everyone—just that the honest actors are
protected from the dishonest ones.


[4] Technically, a suboptimal pie-cutting
protocol