What to do with Leftover Egg Whites? Bake Nutty Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Cake

A bit of a long title, but it sums up this cake. Nuts, cinnamon and chocolate chips all combined into an egg white buttermilk cake. Sounds good doesn’t it, well it wasn’t just good, it was amazingly good, almost addictive, I couldn’t stop eating it! I found a version of this cake on Chef In You blog while looking for recipes to use up leftover egg whites and stumbled upon an egg white cake containing yoghurt, hazelnuts and chocolate chips and decided to try it – with a few of my own tweaks of course!

I added buttermilk to the cake which helped make it incredibly soft, tender and moist while the egg whites keep it light and fluffy. The cake part of its own would be delicious but it’s the additional dark chocolate, cinnamon chips and chopped nuts sprinkled on top and inside the cake that make it spectacular. They add little pockets of sweet spicy cinnamon, bitter chocolate or nuttiness with each bite, in perfect contrast to the smooth fluffy cake. Most of my centre sprinkles sank to nearer the bottom of the cake but this didn’t matter as I ate the cake with my fingers, selecting little bits of cake with a few sprinkle bits in each nibble. (Have you ever noticed how much more enjoyable it is to eat cake with your fingers?)

I was lucky enough to find American cinnamon chips in an American food shop a few weeks ago, but if you can’t find them then just toss some white chocolate chips around in some ground cinnamon and use those instead. I used a mix of pecans and walnuts in the sprinkle but you could use any nuts you like, or even some raisins or chopped apricots would be nice. I love how the top sprinkle became toasted and crunchy while the middle sprinkles remained soft and melty. Mmmm it was so yummy.

Next time you have a few leftover egg whites don’t even think of throwing them away or turning them into boring meringue – make this cake instead and I am sure you won’t be disappointed. It looks quite plain and simple, no elaborate decoration or frosting - but in my option it’s the best use of egg whites ever!

Nutty Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Cake
(Recipe adapted from Chef In You blog)

Cake
100g butter
200g caster sugar
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
240g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
220ml buttermilk

Topping & Centre Sprinkles
50g chopped nuts – I used pecans & walnuts
50g dark chocolate chips
50g cinnamon chips

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 9x5 inch loaf tin.
Mix all the sprinkle ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
Start by whisking the egg whites until they becoming opaque and fluffy, but they don’t need to hold a peak.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg white and vanilla and mix gently.
Sift over half the flour and fold in gently, followed by buttermilk and then the remaining flour along with the bicarbonate or soda and baking powder.
Pour half of the batter into the loaf tin and scatter over half the sprinkle mix.
Cover with the remaining batter and the rest of the sprinkle mix.
Bake for 1hour – 1hour 10 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean (This sounds like a long time but it needs it!)
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to cool completely before slicing.
Wrap well in clingfilm to store and eat within 5 days.
Eat and enjoy