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White Cake (May be used the same rule)
The white cake may be used, the same rule as above, with exception of eggs, use whites of six eggs without yolks.
This is not a standalone recipe but a variation note: it depends entirely on the cake rule printed immediately above it, with the whole eggs replaced by six whites. A few things carry over from period practice that are worth spelling out.
- Find the base rule firstThe instruction is meaningless without the preceding cake recipe in the same section, which supplies the butter, sugar, flour and liquid. Read the two together before starting, and substitute six whites for whatever egg quantity the parent rule calls for.
- Whites are not a one-for-one swapSix whites replace six whole eggs' worth of egg, so the batter loses the six yolks, roughly 100 g of yolk, of which perhaps a third is fat, along with the emulsifier they supply. Expect a drier, springier, paler crumb; this is the point of a white cake, but do not overbake it.
- How to add themMany nineteenth-century white cake rules direct beating the whites to a stiff but not dry foam and folding them in last, after the flour. If the parent rule says only to "add the eggs," folding the beaten whites in at the end rather than stirring them into the creamed butter follows that pattern.
- OvenFollow the baking directions in the parent rule; this note supplies none of its own. A butter cake of this size is generally baked around 350F, allowing roughly 25 to 30 minutes for two 8-inch layers or 45 to 55 minutes for a loaf.
- Six yolks left overThe yolks can go into custard, boiled dressing or a gold cake. Refrigerated and covered with a film of water or plastic, they keep two days.
Cookbooks of the period often printed these paired rules: one cake made with yolks, one with whites, so that a household breaking eggs wasted nothing. The pairing lies behind the "gold cake" and "silver cake" of American baking, and behind marbled cakes made by baking two batters together. A pure white crumb was a point of pride, since it demanded a good white flour, fresh eggs whose whites would whip high, and a well-regulated oven that would not brown the surface before the centre set.