Coffee Chiffon Cake 咖啡戚风蛋糕

It's been years since I last made Chiffon Cakes. I know I always say, I haven't been doing this or that for years.. and it's really for years, since I went in Uni and only until recently after I had Lydia did I cook and bake seriously again.

My first chiffon cake, a pandan chiffon cake was as a birthday cake for my Mom... way back in 1997. It was a last minute thingy.. I called up my dear fren Kah Hoe for the recipe, and the cake was done in less than 2 hours (shopping, baking, cooling, cutting)... and just in time for my mom to came back from work.. She was really happy! It was her favourite cake. It was nice and fluffy. Luckily I saw her made it few years before that, if not, I don't think I would've succeeded by first attempt.

I have to say, I do not find making chiffon cakes difficult (compared to sponge cakes.. kill me man!!!). This recipe can be found in Alex's Goh's Creative Making of Cakes. It's a rather fool proof recipe, provided, the egg whites be beaten stiff, and I mean real stiff. Not just passing the over the head test, but the egg white peaks be short and pointy. And it must be well baked.

I think I might post pics of how to make Chiffon cakes in near future (I hope hubby's there to take pics)

I did a mistake here.. I lightly greased my tube pan... which resulted in a dome shaped chiffon cake, rounded at the top. Lydia's nanny, who's an avid baker, advised me not to grease it, as it needed the grip to rise well. Ok.. I learnt my lesson here. She also taught me to use 3 in 1 coffee mixes next time, as it gives it better flavour. I will try to use Old Town 3 in 1 White Coffee next time... that's a nice coffee mix.

This is what I did this time.. you may alter it to whatever brand of coffee u have, I altered the original recipe anyway.. kekeke, using milk instead of water and adding more sugar to balance up the bitter coffee.

Ingredients:

A)
5 egg yolks
85 gm corn oil
115 ml hot milk
1 1/2 Tbsp instant Nescafe Gold
120gm sugar
150gm flour
1 tsp baking powder

B)
5 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
90gm sugar



Method:

1. Dissolve coffee powder in hot milk. Leave to cool down.
2. Preheat oven to 180C.
3. Combine milk with the rest of ingredients (A) until it becomes a smooth paste.
4. Beat egg whites until frothy. Add in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks.
5. Add in sugar bit by bit and beat egg whites until stiff.
6. Put in 1/4 of egg whites into (3) and fold to combine.
7. Repeat step 6.
8. Pour (7) into remaining egg whites and fold to combine well.
9. Pour batter into clean ungreased tube pan. Lightly shake pan left and right to level the cake.
10. Bake at 170C for 40 minutes.
11. Immediately remove from oven and turn cake upside down on table. (cake will sink if not done fast)
12. Leave cake to cool completely before dislodging from pan using a flat knife. Cut with a sharp knife.


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I was very satisfied with the texture, springy and fluffy, but not with the aroma... **sigh**



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