matcha egg-white cake

Have you ever been in a situation where a recipe calls for egg yolks only? You end up with the egg whites and can't bear to throw them away.

I was in such situation at least once or twice a year. But the last time I had too many egg-whites, I said, that is it, no more, I am going to use these egg whites one way or another.

Sure, I was tempted to use them in a face mask, or maybe even a hair mask. But, I couldn't go past David Lebovitz' blog post on how to use leftover egg whites. There are a few recipes in there, one I'm most interested in is called munavalgekook. Sounds korean, doesn't it? It's actually estonian, and it's a simple egg-white cake.

But, of course, I had to put my own twist to it. So, instead I'm gonna make a matcha munavalgekook.

I bought my matcha powder last year from a japanese online shop that ships worldwide. I had to resort to finding it online because the only thing I could find in Perth are those pre-mixed, sugared matcha powder sachet, which will not do.

First thing you do is to line your baking tin with baking paper. The ideal baking tin to use is a bundt cake tin, but I didn't have any, I used a square cake tin and the cake still came out beautifully.

Also, pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Next thing to do is to mix your ingredients together, so that it's ready to be added to the egg whites later.

First come the sweet sweet sugar.

The self-raising flour, cornflour and baking powder.

Cap it all off with the matcha powder.

What you need to do now is sift this mixture a few times so that they are mixed in together, especially the matcha.

The resulting product is this muted pastel green colour. But don't worry, when we mix this with the wet ingredients, the colour will be rejuvenated.

Speaking of which, let's start with the wet ingredients by beating the egg whites with 2 tbsp of sugar, using a hand mixer or stand mixer

As you can see it's foamy and still quite soft. But you can keep going if you'd like until it forms soft peaks, the cake will be fluffier.

Sift the dry ingredients into the fluffy egg whites.

Now you'd have to work lightly and gently.

Fold the mixture together using a spatula.

Have you melted your butter? If not, this is the time.

Golden golden sunshiny butter.

Let cool before adding to the rest of the mixture.

Add the melted butter. Mix gently and briefly with the spatula.

Your mixture is now slightly golden and ready to be poured into your baking tin.

It's now ready to be baked in your 180°C oven, for about 30-40 minutes.

This would, of course, depends on your oven. I would start checking at the 25-minute mark.

I was a tiny little bit complacent with my checking, so mine was a shade darker than what I'd ideally would like it to be.

Thankfully, I wasn't complacent enough to incinerate it.

Don't you just love unwrapping cakes from its baking paper? So full of anticipation.

It feels like unwrapping a present.

Like on this one, my present was finding the green colour of the matcha peeking shyly through the darker chocolate colour.

Let cool to room temperature before serving.

I like to serve this with a dusting of matcha powder, along with a cup of sweet milk tea. A perfect afternoon snack.

Or if you're the indulgent type, it goes perfectly with a big tablespoon of freshly whipped cream.

Matcha munavalgekook
Adapted from nami-nami

Ingredients:

• 6 large egg whites
• 2tbsp caster sugar
• 100g butter, melted and let cool

Dry ingredients:

• 200g caster sugar
• 160g self-raising flour
• 2tbsp of cornflour
• 1tsp of baking powder
• 1tbsp matcha green tea powder

Method:

1. Line your baking tin and pre-heat oven to 180°C.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together and sift a few times until ingredients are all mixed thoroughly.
3. Beat the egg whites and 2 tbsp of sugar with a hand mixer until pale and foamy, or if you'd like the cake fluffier until soft peaks form.
4. Sift the dry ingredients into the beaten egg whites. Fold with a spatula gently.
5. Add the melted (but cool) butter and mix gently.
6. Pour into the baking tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, checking for doneness after 25 minutes. Serve with sweet milk tea or freshly whipped cream.