Updated post on 20-7-2016 – RECIPE 2

I have decided to transform my chiffon recipe to cooked dough method. Cooked dough method uses much more liquid, the breaking of gluten resulted moister chiffon. However, the chances of failure are slightly higher and it is not as tall as normal chiffon. There will always be slight shrinkage in my case but that shrinkage is almost unnoticeable and as long as it is not out of shape, it is considered as successful. 

All new changes was in recipe 2. 

INTRODUCTION

This is the simplest basic traditional verbal recipe of an orange chiffon cake recipe from my mother in law. Nothing to shout about, a basic recipe.

I am a chiffon newbie and definitely not an expert, I failed many times as I have high expectations on chiffon after reading many good posts of chiffon cakes from a Facebook Group. My initial high expectations are no shrinkages and no cracks. Out of the numerous times I attempted, some shrunk and cracked, some cracked but not shrink or some shrunk but not crack.. I am rather not confidence about this delicate cake and therefore did not issue any  post on my adventure on chiffon cakes.

Last week, my girl aged 10 stuck a sticker in front of my writing desk and told me don’t bake anything else except chiffon. Since I seldom baked or bought a chiffon, one may ask where she acquired the liking of chiffon…. She have eaten chiffon at her grandmother’s house.. My mother in law baked nothing more than chiffon that she learned decades ago in certain cookware workshop. She liked to bake chiffon bake occasionally when she is free at home.. When my girl visited her during school holiday last year, she tasted twice and she liked it very much.. She started to pester me to bake chiffon cake when her holiday ended. Acknowledging my own weaknesses and many failures, I did not promise her anything. Both my kids are very persistent in what they wanted, the girl thought of way to remind me gently with a sticker.

I told myself that I wanted to accept the challenge after successfully prepared my Rose Angel Food Cake （玫瑰天使蛋糕）- Egg White Cake and Traditional Steamed Sponge Cake （古早味鸡蛋糕）. All these cakes do have certain similarities in terms of preparation process, beating eggs until the right condition with swift and correct folding of flour… On the next day, I called my mother in law for the recipe and she verbally told me the simple recipe and I successfully baked a chiffon cake.

It is a very basic chiffon cake recipe with easy to remember quantities. It still cracked but my baking friends assured me that most chiffons do crack and that is why it was usually served upside down.  So I have lowered down my  expectation on a perfect chiffon to as long as it is a spongy no shrinkage, it is considered as an successful attempt, and hence I issue this post.

WHAT IS REQUIRED

Servings: Prepared a 19 cm chiffon tube pan chiffon cake

Ingredient A – For egg yolk batter portion

• 5 egg yolks
• 75 grams of granulated sugar
• 150 grams  of sifted cake flour
• 5 tablespoons of cooking oil
• Juices extracted from a large orange.
• 2 teaspoons of orange rind

Ingredients B – For egg white beating

• 5 egg whites
• 75 grams of granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp of cream of tartar

Recipe 2 – Cooked Dough Method 

Ingredient A – For egg yolk batter portion

• 5 egg yolks
• 75 grams of granulated sugar
• 150 grams  of sifted cake flour
• 40 grams of cooking oil
• 100 grams of orange juice
• 30 grams of milk 
• 2 teaspoons of orange rind

Ingredients B – For egg white beating

• 5 egg whites
• 75 grams of granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp of cream of tartar

STEPS OF PREPARATION – For recipe 2 cooked dough method, please refer to the end with red colour wordings

• Get ready a 19cm chiffon tube pan. PLEASE DO NOT GREASE THE CHIFFON TUBE PAN.

• Pre heat the oven to 160 degree Celsius.

• Squeeze the orange juice and set aside. Prepare some orange rind from the orange skin. Remember not to include the white colour membrane as it will make the cake bitter.

• In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar, one portion (75 grams) of sugar until creamy and smooth. Add oil gradually and continue beating until pale and well combined.

• Add in the orange rind and sift in the self raising flour gradually. It is more correct to sift the flour earlier and add in the flour in 3 stages together with the orange juices as illustrated below.

• Add in 1/3 of the orange juice and use a spatula to fold in the flour until well combined. Repeat the same for the other 2/3 of the orange juice. Fold until well combine and set aside.

• In a new mixing bowl that are clean and greaseless, put in the egg white, whisk until the soft peak form. Add in cream of tartar and gradually add in the sugar (in 3 stages). Beat until firm peak form. Set aside for later use. Firm peak means when you inverted your mixing bowl, the meringue (beaten egg white) stay put in the container and will not drip down.

• Gently fold in 1/3 of egg whites into the batter using a spatula. Mixed well and poured the remaining 2/3 of the egg whites (meringues) and mixed well. The actions have to be light and swift.

• Poured into a 19cm ungreased chiffon tube pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until when a skewer inserted comes out clean. In the event that the top starts to turn brown, you can lower the temperature to 150 degree Celsius and continue the baking.

• Take out from the oven, invert upside down over a wire rack and let it cool completely. To unmould, use a sharp knife to scrap the sides or use hands to slightly “peel” the chiffon cake. A successful and properly baked chiffon cake should be spongy enough for you to “peel” from the tin without breaking the cake. Cut using a serrated knife when completely cooled.

Cooked Dough Method

• Put the oil, orange juice and sugar and bring to boil. Once it boils, add the cake flour and stir until it form some crumble like. Add in eggs one by one follow by the milk, stir until it forms a paste.

• Beat the egg whites with sugar until medium to hard peak.

• Fold in the egg whites in 3 stages. Transfer the batter to the baking tin. Use a chopstick to run through the batter to force out any trapped. Bake in the pre-heated oven of 170 degree Celsius for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, use a knife to cut the surface but this step is optional. Continue to bake the chiffon for at least another 50 minutes to 1 hour. Once out of the oven, perform inverting cooling and cut only when the cake is completely cooled.

CONCLUSION

This is a simple verbal recipe from my mother in law. Again, I have to stress that I am no baking expert of chiffon cakes. If you are a newbie, you may want to try this simple recipe. What is most important is the beating of egg white to the stiff peak and the quick folding of egg whites to the egg yolk batter. This will give you a springy and moist chiffon cake. With this success, do expect more chiffon cake post soon.. I am determined to make it better..This cake though not entirely perfect, however,  it is good enough for me to satisfy my girl’s wish of having an orange chiffon cake baked by me.

Hope you like the post today. Cheers and have a nice day.

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