Part 4/8:
Farmer's recipe included ingredients like cream of tartar, super-fine sugar, cake flour, salt, and vanilla. Her method involved beating egg whites to a frothy consistency and incorporating ingredients in a gentle manner, to retain air—crucial for the cake's structure. The reliance on an egg-beater, invented in the 1870s, significantly eased the effort required, allowing home cooks greater access to achieving stiff peaks without exhausting manual whisking.
The Recipe Breakdown
- Ingredients:
8 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup (200 grams) superfine sugar
3/4 cup (85 grams) cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
- Process:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and sift flour and salt together four times.