I very recently discovered the Lorraine vanilla cake thanks to Annie from the blog by ACB 4 you. It’s such a soft, such a simple and such a good cake that it would be a shame to miss out on it.
Added bonus, it lets you use up a massive quantity of egg whites and I happen to have loads in stock in my fridge. In fact, you may remember, there’s already a recipe on the blog that uses up a lot of egg whites, it’s the vanilla loaf cake inspired by Maxime Frédéric. The proportions are a little different but the method is similar.
If you’re wondering what the texture of this cake might be like, know that it’s not quite like a génoise sponge. The Lorraine cake is somewhere between a biscuit de Savoie and an Angel Cake. It has the foamy texture of a ladyfinger sponge, but here no egg yolks are added. It’s simply a meringue (egg whites and sugar) into which butter and flour are folded. The cake will rise during baking, then sink while cooling.
Just like Maxime Frédéric’s loaf cake, you need to prepare the cake tin by adding a little fat and some sugar. This forms a little crunchy crust that is very pleasant to eat. I decided to reduce the amount of sugar slightly (I went from 240g to 200g of sugar) and that suited me very well. In fact, to get a cake that has real flavour, I can only advise you to use the seeds of a vanilla pod. There’s no comparison!
If you’re like me and you make an impressive number of desserts based on egg yolks (such as pastry creams, diplomat creams, crème anglaise…) then this recipe is made for you. Ideal for an afternoon snack, it’s a cake that keeps very well, although I strongly doubt it will last long.
Ingredients & Method
3 components · Full recipe
Tin preparation
Ingredients
- a little soft butter (or cooking spray)
- caster sugar
Method
1
Butter a 20-22 cm (8.7 in) diameter round cake tin using a pastry brush (or cooking spray), then fill with caster sugar and tap on all sides so the sugar coats the entire tin.
Cake Batter
Ingredients
- 310 g (10.9 oz) egg whites (approx. 10 eggs)
- 240 g (8.5 oz) caster sugar (I used 200 g (7.1 oz))
- 120 g (4.2 oz) flour
- 120 g (4.2 oz) melted butter
- 1 vanilla pod
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.
2
Melt the butter in a saucepan with the vanilla seeds, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.
3
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding the sugar in 3 additions. Be careful not to over-whip them so they can still be folded in easily afterwards.
4
Take a large spoonful of the whipped whites and whisk it with the melted butter (you can do this directly in the saucepan if it’s not too hot, otherwise use a separate bowl).
5
Pour this mixture over the remaining whipped whites and fold in gently with a spatula.
6
Sift in the flour and fold again until you have a smooth, homogeneous batter.
7
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the surface with a spatula.
8
Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes.
Cake Decoration
Ingredients
- icing sugar
- a Lorraine cross template
Method
1
Print a Lorraine cross template to the right size and place it on the centre of the cake.
Gallery
