On Whole Egg Foams
Reader Clay writes:
I’ve whipped whole eggs to a pretty impressive volume, which is why I’ve always been skeptical of the claim that fat ruins foams.
True enough, Clay. However while whole eggs will make foams, they’ll never rise as high or last as long as all-white foams. Under the right conditions egg whites can be whipped up to about 8 times their original volume. With whole eggs you’re doing well if you can do 3 times, and even then the foam will only hold up for a few minutes on its own. However a whole egg foam will last long enough to be of some use in a thing like a flourless cake, where you want to lighten the consistency just enough to prevent it from baking up into a chocolate brick. Though I suppose even a brick can be good if it’s made of chocolate, yes?.
I have always wondered what’s the difference of a chocolate torte made with a whole egg and eggwhite foams…
Mostly just the degree of lightness. And richness, of course.
When i made Genoise recently, i was really surprised at how big a whole egg foam got. Though ye gods, did it take time. (Fortunately, the cake survived even after i forgot to turn the oven off preheat…)
Fortunately egg foams can hold for a bit. Well done, Erika!
I actually made a flourless chocolate cake tonight. I like it on the fluffier side, so I add the egg yolks to the batter and then whipped the heck out of my whites and folded them in. Less brick-like than usual, and oh so tasty! Sometimes I think I should thank my gluten-free friends for the punches of flavor that flourless desserts provide, and the excuse to make them.