Tuesday 20 August 2013

Lavender Chiffon Cake


I’m very happy with my 1st attempt of Chiffon Cake.  The experiment was a success.  It’s indeed a great encouragement to someone like me, who just started baking not too long.

I have taken the recipe from Happy Home Baker.  She has failed several times in order to perfect chiffon cake.  The recipe is certainly a keeper!

I’m still very nervous whenever I need to whip the egg white to stiff peak due to numerous failures.  The egg whites just gone to waste…

The recipe is supposed to be Earl Grey Chiffon Cake.  I didn’t know I had run-out of Earl Grey teabag.  So I replaced it with Lavender.  It’s not lavender tea bag.  It’s dried purple lavender.  The fragrant is fabulous.  It was given by Lay Choo.  She used it for her butter cake.  I’m going to try out her recipe on lavender butter cake one day.


I didn’t have temperature issue like what other bakers encountered.  I followed every step strictly according to the recipe and it works.

The cake rose beautifully and it’s true that it started to shrink towards the end of the baking time.  There’s a tiny crack on the cake.  But it didn’t bother me because it’s already a perfect cake to me!  The texture is beautiful.  Springy, soft and light

I'm going to bake nothing except Chiffon Cake for the next few coming weekends.

INGREDIENTS
(makes one 18cm cake tin)

A.
1 tbsp      Lavender dried flower 
100g       Cake Flour
1½ tsp     Baking Powder
¼ tsp       Salt
3              Egg Yolks
40g         Caster Sugar
50ml       vegetable oil
75ml       water
*If doing lemon or orange flavor, reduce water to 50ml and replace it with 25ml of lemon or orange juice.  Prepare also 1 lemon or orange zest too.

B.
3              Egg whites
40g         Caster Sugar



METHOD
·       Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.

·       Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature.  

·       Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add in sugar, in 3 separate additions and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turn pale.

·       Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combine.  Repeat the same with the water.  Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter.  Add in the lavender dried flower and mix well.

·       In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy.  Gradually beat in the sugar and beat on high speed until just before stiff peaks.

·       Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.

·       Pour batter into a 18cm (7”) tube pan (do not grease the pan).  Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.

·       Bake in pre-heated oven at 170˚C for 45-50mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

·       Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately.  Let cool completely before unmould.  To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core.  Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.


3 comments:

  1. Hi Amy,

    Welcome to baking and blogging! I remember I started blogging 3 years ago, HHB and Little Teochew are my source of inspirations too. After a while, I have know a few friends from blogging and cook and blog within a circle of friends.

    I must say that you did a great job baking your first chiffon cake... with lavender, it sounds very aromatic!

    Nice to know you via blogging :D
    Please drop by my blog, http://bakeforhappykids.blogspot.com.au/ to say hello!

    Zoe

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Zoe

      Thanks for your encouragement.

      Nice to know you too. I hope to improve my baking and cooking by learning from friends through blogging.

      I'll definitely drop by your blog :D

      Delete
  2. Thanks for the recipe, Amy! This was my first time baking a chiffon cake and it turned out really well! My friends made short work of it. ;) I saw some other recipes that used lemon as well, so I might try a hint of lemon extract next time...

    ReplyDelete