What's The Secret To Folding In Egg Whites?
Decorating By ceshell Updated 14 Oct 2007 , 4:53am by ceshell
I can't seem to get this right! I always mess up cake recipes involving folding in whipped egg whites at the end. I thought I was following directions properly to carefully fold them in by hand without overmixing; recipes and even baking tutorials state "if there are still streaks that's ok". But my resulting cakes usually have definite areas where the ew was not properly incorporated and bake up all crusty or lumpy. Clearly I have been erring too much on the side of caution.
So what's the secret to getting them incorporated "enough" but not "too much." Much is said about how you can overmix and deflate the whites, but little is said about how you know if you have not mixed them in enough?
Any advice is appreciated!
First, you must make sure you're not overbeating your whites in the first place. That will cause pockets of unmixed egg white to go lumpy. They should still be smooth and glistening when you've finished beating them. If they look dry and have the texture of bubble bath bubbles, they are overbeaten. From what you describe, I think this may be the problem.
Before folding the whole mess into your batter, take about a quarter of the beaten egg whites and mix them into your batter. You don't need to fold them in, but don't go too crazy. This will lighten your batter, making it easier to fold in the rest of the whites.
I like to use a rubber/silicone scraper for folding. Cut down the center, slide up the side and fold over. Turn bowl a quarter turn. Repeat until it's about 90% mixed. No stirring! Just up the side and over.
Hope this helps!
Thanks! From your description, I don't think I am overbeating them, they definitely have the proper consistency and never have lumps. I do the up and over thing but I think I am just not doing it enough. It is helpful to know that the first 1/4 of the ew can just be mixed in (by hand) gently without fear of deflating the eggs, I definitely don't do that. It sounds like I'm getting my finished batter about 75% mixed, so I just need to go for it a bit more! We ate the cake tonight, it was delicious but there were definitely a few streaked areas that were basically just egg white 
. Thank goodness this one was just for family!
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