The Joy of Making a Square Cake with Just One Egg: A Step-by-Step Guide
Hi everyone, I'm Francis, and welcome to Cookingwith Dog! Today, we're going to tackle a fascinating challenge: making a cake for two using just one egg. It's a great opportunity to experiment with everyday ingredients and learn some new techniques that will take your baking skills to the next level.
Before we begin, let's make sure our equipment is ready. We'll need a few basic tools: a baking pan, parchment paper, a thoroughly chilled egg white, a 100-watt hand mixer, a balloon whisk, and a rubber spatula. We'll also need some simple ingredients like vegetable oil, sugar, cake flour, lukewarm milk, and a pinch of salt.
Now, let's get started! The first step is to coat the baking pan with vegetable oil to prevent the parchment paper from moving easily. Take a moment to ensure that the parchment paper is firmly attached to the sides of the pan, as this will help our cake turn out perfectly without any bumps or unevenness. Once your pan is coated and ready, let's move on to the next step.
Next, we need to beat the egg white. It's essential to use a thoroughly chilled egg white to make a stable meringue. Take your 100-watt hand mixer and set the speed to 5 out of 5. As you mix, pay attention to when the egg white breaks up and begins to form bubbles. This is an important milestone – you want to add just enough sugar to create a meringue with stiff peaks, but not so much that it becomes too sweet.
When the egg white becomes foamy and streaks begin to appear on the surface, it's time to add another 1/3 of the sugar. Keep mixing until the foam becomes finer, at which point you'll know your meringue is ready. It should be a bit sticky, but not wet – if it's too dry, you won't get the desired texture.
Once you've achieved stiff peaks with your egg white, detach the whisks from the mixer and remove the egg white attached to them. Drop this mixture into the bowl and mix until combined. This is an important ingredient because you want to make as much volume as possible with only one egg. Now it's time to add the egg yolk and mix thoroughly with a balloon whisk until the white meringue begins to turn yellow.
Now that our batter has come together, let's sift in half of the cake flour while gently sifting. Using a rubber spatula, slash the center of the mixture, scoop along the side of the bowl, and fold it together. Repeat this process until the flour is almost entirely incorporated into the mixture – be careful not to overmix.
After you've incorporated the first half of the flour, sift in the remaining half into the bowl. Continue mixing in the same manner, folding quickly but carefully to avoid breaking up the foam. You'll know your batter is ready when there's no more visible flour – it should be smooth and even.
Now that our cake batter is mixed, let's add a small amount of airy batter to the lukewarm milk. Mix this well before adding it to the batter in the bowl. This step helps thicken the milk so it blends easily and quickly into your batter.
Once you've combined all your ingredients, transfer the batter to the tray lined with parchment paper. Clean the bowl with a rubber spatula and transfer any remaining batter to the tray – make sure everything is evenly distributed and smooth.
Now it's time to spread the batter from the center towards all the corners of the tray. Take a moment to check that your batter is evenly spread and not too thick in some areas. You might want to rotate the tray to make this easier, but be careful not to get any air pockets or lumps – these can ruin your cake.
Finally, let's give our cake an even thickness by spreading it along the edges of the tray. Drop the tray twice from a height of about 5 cm (2 inches) to create a slight crust on the surface – this will help your cake turn out perfectly. And that's it! With these simple steps, you've made a delicious square cake for two using just one egg. I hope you enjoyed joining me in the kitchen today and I'll see you next time on Cookingwith Dog!
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHi, I’m Francis, the host of this show Cookingwith Dog.Konnichiwa.Wouldn’t it be great to make a cake fortwo with just one egg?Today we’re making a quick square cake usingeveryday ingredients.First, coat the baking pan with vegetable oilto prevent the parchment paper from moving easily.The parchment paper should also be firmlyattached to the sides of the panso that the cake will bake nicely without any bumps.Next, beat the egg white.Be sure to use a thoroughly chilled egg whiteto make a stable meringue.If using a 100 watt hand mixer,set the speed to 5 out of 5.When the egg white breaks up and begins toform bubbles, add 1/3 of the sugar.When the egg white becomes foamy andstreaks begin to appear on the surface,add another 1/3 of the sugar.When the foam becomes finer,add the remaining 1/3 of sugar.After about a minute and a half, a meringuewith stiff peaks should form.The time depends on the type of hand mixer,so this is just for reference.A meringue with stiff peaks should not falloff even if you shake the mixer.The size of the bubbles may not beconsistently uniform at this point,so mix at speed 1 for about 1 more minuteto make the texture finer.Detach the whisks from the mixer andremove the egg white attached to themand drop it into the bowl.This is an important ingredient because youwant to make as much volume as possiblewith only one egg.Now, add the egg yolkand mix it thoroughly with a balloon whiskuntil the white meringue begins to turn yellow.Add half of the cake flour while sifting.Using a rubber spatula, slash the center ofthe mixture, scoop along the side of the bowland fold it together.Repeat this process until the flour is almostentirely incorporated into the mixture.Then sift the remaining half of the cake flourinto the bowl.Continue mixing in the same manner.Mix quickly but be careful not to break upthe foam.Now, no more flour should be visible, but keepfolding the batter further until it becomes glossy.When the surface becomes glossy, add a smallamount of the airy batter to the lukewarm milk.Mix it well.Then, add the milk to the batter in the bowl.The milk should be thickened in this way beforeadding it to the batter, so that it blends easily and quickly.Transfer the batter to the tray lined withthe parchment paper.Clean the bowl with a rubber spatula and transferall the batter to the tray.Spread the batter from the center toward allthe corners.Then, spread the batter along the edges ofthe tray to give it an even thickness.You might want to rotate the tray to makeit easier to work with.Drop the tray twice from a height of about5 cm (2\") to remove large air bubbles in the batter.Place it in a toaster oven and bake at 170°C (338 °F) for about 7 minutes.If you use a large oven, preheat the ovenbeforehand.Also, the baking time depends on the typeof oven so adjust it accordingly.If the browning is uneven, cover with aluminumfoil to adjust it.Cover the areas that you do not want to brownfurther and continue to brown the lightly colored areas.Now, it should be ready.The top of the cake is deliciously browned.Remove and drop the entire tray once to releaseexcess steam.This will help to prevent shrinkage.Let it sit to cool for about 15 minutes.Let's prepare the rose-shaped fruit topping.Slice the kiwi very thinly.You can also make beautiful orange roses withmango,or use a popular combination of wholestrawberries and blueberries.Arrange 7 slices of kiwi in a row, shiftingthem about 5 mm (0.2\") apart,and roll them togetherfrom one side to form a rose shape.Make another rose.You can make a large rose by increasing thenumber of slices,or a small rose by reducingthe number of slices.When the cake is cool, peel off the parchmentpaper from the sides.It is moist and fluffy and looks delicious.Then, turn it over and remove the parchmentpaper from the bottom.To divide the cake evenly into four squares,use a clean ruler to mark the cake in the middle.Wipe the blade of the knife with a damp kitchentowel.Cut the cake in half lengthwise and then cutin half crosswise, quartering the cake.Spread a thin layer of apricot jam over theentire surface of the sponge cake.If the jam is too hard to spread thinly, adda small amount of hot water to make it softer.Place the sponge cake on top of each other,making a double layer.Now, let's decorate the cake with whippedcream.Using an icing spatula, spread the whippedcream on each side of the cake.Fill in any bumps.Rotate the cake by 90 degrees and spread thecream on the other side.The whipped cream should be relatively soft.The softer the cream is, the less likely itis to become uneven while being coated.When all the sides are covered with the cream,place the whipped cream on top and spread it out.Spread it generously so that it can overflowa little.Then, add more cream to the side and makea diagonal pattern on the surfaceto make it visually appealing.Rotate the cake by 90 degrees at a time anddecorate each side of the cake.Gently smooth out the uneven edges on toptoward the center.Don't worry too much about the surface becauseyou will sprinkle on chocolate next.Now, shave the white chocolate using a Mandolineslicer.Alternatively, you can use a knife to chopit finely.Sprinkle the top with your desired amountof chocolate.Finally, place a rose-shaped kiwi in the centerand it is ready.Place the square cake on a cake plate.When making the batter, chill the egg whitein the refrigerator beforehand.When the egg whites are cold, the meringuewill have finer air bubblesso that the foam does not collapse easily.You can make this with just one egg, so pleasegive it a try.Homemade cake is so delicious.This cake can be made in a short time withfew ingredients and no butter,and it is delicious and hard to fail.Delicious.Good luck in the kitchen!Just after the intersection of Amazake Yokocho,there is a long-established taiyaki shop founded in 1916.They bake them by hand, one by one.I wonder if it is crowded today.This is Yanagiya.They cook anko (sweet bean paste)in the store every day,so the store opens at 12:30 pm.One person is bakingand the other is cutting off the burntedges around it with scissors.They put a long, thick layer of anko in the middleand pour the batter over the anko to cover it.That's why the wrapper is thin and crispyand filled with anko from the head to the tail.My hand is in the shot.It's all right.Made one by one.Amazing.Interesting.I asked if I could take a video of them,and they readily agreed.One piece and two pieces, please.Three for 540 yen ($3.95).Hai.I am very happy to see how they are made.This is Yanagiya's taiyaki,priced at 180 yen ($1.32) per piece.Each taiyaki is carefully baked one by one,so it takes a lot of time and effort.It is wonderful that they have continuedthis baking method for decades.I hope they continue to do sofor many years to come.It has a natural sweetness without any bitternessand the sugar is quite moderate.I can easily eat 2 or 3 pieces.They are so good!We made taiyaki a long time ago on Cooking with Dog,but now I want to try making them this way.Yanagiya's taiyaki has a thin wrapperand is filled with red bean paste from head to tail.It is not too sweet,so you can eat as much as you want.There are more of these long-establishedtaiyaki shops in Tokyo,so I will introduce them to you again.See you!Thank you so much for watching until the end.Please consider supporting our channel viaYouTube Super Thanks.Your subscriptions and likes are much appreciated.Take care everyone.See you.\n"
