Switching egg whites for whole eggs

[BeachBaby]

Warning: In the two-camp world of food, I am a cook, not a baker, so forgive anything about my description that sounds naive!

I made a white chocolate pound cake recipe last week that was golden yellow. It was good, but visually I think the cake would be more appealing were it truly the color of white chocolate. For two loaves, the ingredients were 5 cups flour, 3/4 lb white chocolate, 3/4 c water, 1 tsp baking soda, 7 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 c sugar, 1 cup butter, 1/4 tsp salt. I know I can get closer to the look I want by substituting egg whites and baking powder for whole eggs and baking soda, but obviously the amounts wouldn't be the same. Instinctively I'd think using not quite twice as much egg--say 12 whites for 7 whole eggs, and using a teaspoon and a half or two of baking powder would be about the right substitution rates, but I'm not positive. Nor am I not sure that adding something else wouldn't be warranted.

Any advice, suggestions?

[lynne]

Welcome to ChefTalk BeachBaby!

I have one guest that is allergic to yolks but adores pound cake -- so it became my mission to please him! I didn't like the consistency of pound cake made solely with egg whites, but I do like it made with Yoplait's French Vanilla Custard style yogurt used in place of the yolks. The richness, body and moisture are still there.

...and it's requested everytime he visits...

Let us know how your experiments turn out-

FWIW...

lynne

[momoreg]

Maybe you can leave a few yolks in there, and omit some as well. You'll keep some of the fat, but lose a bit of the yellow. You can also substitute some cake flour for half of the all purpose. It's whiter. The yogurt is a good idea too! But in that case, keep some of the soda. Good luck.

[BeachBaby]

...which I agree is just a little brilliant, why keep some of the soda? Chemically, I don't understand the reaction between these items to know why soda would work better with yoghurt than BP. Good idea on the cake flour, too.

[Isa]

I read you can replace a whole egg with two egg whites. I know it works in muffins but in a recipe with so many eggs I'm not sure the result would be to your liking.

[thebighat]

Seems to me that all those egg whites would make the end product more spongy than tender. I was going to suggest using something other than butter, but there really isn't much in this recipe. Maybe whipping the eggs with the sugar till white might help reduce the color.

[Jock]

Beachbaby, baking soda is activated by an acid, the yogurt in this case. It forms little bubbles of CO2 gas that expand in the oven to leaven the product.
Baking powder is a mix of baking soda and sodium aluminum suphate (along with a few other ingredients.) The baking soda component makes little CO2 bubbles in the mixing bowl while the sodium aluminum sulphate makes bigger bubbles in the hot oven (above 160 degrees if I remember correctly.)
I'm not sure but I would guess that the acid in the yogurt is more stringent than the acid in the chocolate in your original recipe. Therefore you would need less baking soda to achieve the same rise.

Jock