Simple Chiffon For Newbie– Basic Orange Chiffon

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.

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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 self raising 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

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STEPS OF PREPARATION

• 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.

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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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