Fluffy angelic white cupcakes

I absolutely hate wasting food and I was brought up to 'want not, waste not'. I'm one of those people who has to clear the plate, even when I'm stuffed to the brim. So after using 5 egg yolks for the tiramisu, I decided to make my almost-but-not-quite angel cupcakes to use up the 5 egg whites.

Normal angel cakes require a fair bit of effort and at the moment, it's a bit beyond my baking skills but making some white cupcakes are not as tricky and taste pretty pretty pretty good (if I do say so myself).

 

There are a fair few ways you can use up egg whites: souffles, egg white omelettes, meringues and pavlovas but I love cakes and this recipe is a really quick and easy way you can make sure your egg whites don't go to waste.

White cupcakes - makes about 10 cupcakes using a muffin tin

Ingredients:

 5 egg whites

100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

180g caster sugar

1 tbsp cornflour

150g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180c

 1. Using an electric whisk (or handwhisk if you've got plenty of time and patience), whisk the egg whites with two tablespoons of sugar until they've fluffed up into soft peaks.

2. Mix the rest of the sugar, flour, baking powder and cornflour in a mixing bowl until combined. 

3. Sift the flour mixture into the egg whites and fold in gently. You don't want to knock all the air out of the egg whites so mix with a wooden spoon in a figure of eight.

4. Once combined, add the melted butter and fold in gently.

5. Add about 3 heaped tablespoons of the mixture into each greased muffin case.

6. Put in the oven and bake for 15/20 minutes until lightly golden on top. To make sure they're cooked through, put a toothpick into the centre of one of the cakes and if it comes out clean, they're done.

And there you have it, fluffy angelic white cupcakes. 

Break them open and they should have a light, almost bready consistency.

They're light and tasty by themselves but if you fancy something a bit more special, serve with clotted cream and raspberries.

For a little bit extra effort you could add a nutella glaze and sprinkles. It was my friend's birthday so I glazed one for her as a special treat.

For the nutella glaze (for one cupcake) mix one teaspoon of milk with two tablespoons of icing sugar. Once combined and suitably thick, mix in one heaped teaspoon of nutella and stir until fully mixed. Spoon onto the cupcake and placing the sprinkles in a shallow bowl, dip the nutella frosting into the sprinkles until covered.

And there you have it, waste not want not and may your house forever smell of baking cakes.