I am fond of cakes especially light, fluffy & soft type.
The special technique in this cake is to mix a nice meringue (egg whites) till firm peak. This resulted in light & airy crumb. Chiffon cakes do not tend to harden or dry out as traditional butter cakes might. Even on the next day, the cake is still soft, as good as it just come out from the oven.
Chiffon cakes tend to be lower in saturated fat than butter cakes, potentially making them healthier than their butter-heavy counterparts.
I'm using this recipe adapted by Baking Sifu Enne Ty.
Ingredients : (7" / 17cm tube pan)
60g Butter (salted)
85g Cake Flour (sifted)
4 Egg Yolks (each weigh about 58-60g each with egg shells) I'm using room temperature eggs.
60g Milk
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
4 Egg Whites
70g Castor Sugar
1/4tsp Cream of TarTar
Steps by Steps:
1. Separate eggs into 2 separate mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan, once you see small bubbles at the edges, remove from heat. Alternatively, you may melt butter in a microwave.
3. Place 2/3 of flour into a large bowl and immediately pour in the hot melted butter. Quickly stir to become a smooth batter, then add milk, mix well.
4. Next, add in egg yolk one at a time, stir well after each addition. Lastly, mix in the remaining 1/3 cake flour & baking powder.
5. Beat egg whites till foamy, add in cream of tartar and gradually add in sugar and continue beat until firm peaks (meringue stand with a soft curve at the top)
6. Take 1/3 of the meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well with egg yolk batter.
7. Fold in 1/3 of meringue and use a silicone spatula, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slighty combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.
8. Pour into tube pan, bake at pre-heated oven at 160C (no fan)for an hour at lower rack.
(Note to myself : I am baking at 150C for 1 hour) Temperature varies from brand of oven used.
9. Once baked, immediately remove from the oven and give the pan a couple of bangs on the counter before turning it upside down to cool completely.
10. Unmould from pan.
(Above : Beaten egg whites until firm peaks)
(Above: after folding in the meringue into the yolk batter, the texture should be able to make a ribbon when you pour the batter)
(Above : Pour batter into tube pan)
(Above : After unmould from the tube pan)
IMPORTANT TO NOTE :
1) Do not grease the baking tin as chiffon batter need to hold & climb the sides so that it can rise properly.