Lemon Chiffon Cake

These lovely browned chiffon cakes baked by some blogger pals like Kimmy of  http://kimmy-cookingpleasure.blogspot.sg/2014/04/orange-rice-flour-chiffon-cake.html?m=0, Tze http://awayofmind.blogspot.sg/2011/07/honey-lemon-chiffon-cake.html?m=1 & Phong Hong http://phonghongbakes.blogspot.sg/2012/06/pandan-chiffon-cake.html?m=0 and my baking kaki JSeow had really inspired me to attempt chiffon cake ... even though I don't have a chiffon tube pan.

I was laughing at my 'naked' chiffon cakes as I thought that chiffon cakes were supposedly wrapped with "brown sarong" ... that has very nicely browned sides in most chiffon cakes pictures I've seen.

Lemon Chiffon Cake

I borrowed a chiffon tube pan from my 'baking kaki' to try 2 recipes that I've bookmarked long ago, both adapted from Happy Home Baking :
cranberry orange chiffon cake
lemon chiffon cake

Sadly :( ... both my attempts yielded unsatisfactory results.

Here's my sharing :
1st cake: Cranberry Orange Chiffon Cake
When I took the pan out from the oven, I didn't handle it well as I accidentally hit the center of the pan when trying to invert it. Gosh! I've forgotten that it was a 'REMOVABLE' base cake pan ... It got unmould... obviously I couldn't put on it's 'sarong' or 'skirt' back and just leave it to cool 'naked' on the rack... LOL!

Pls don't look at me ... shy shy !

Cranberry Orange chiffon cake

2nd cake: Lemon Chiffon Cake (adapted from Happy Home Baking)
Ingredients
(makes one 18cm cake) <I used a 21cm tube pan>

100g cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil
50ml water
25ml lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon

3 egg whites
40g caster sugar

Method:

1. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature. (It is easier to separate eggs when they are cold.)
3. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add sugar in 3 separate additions and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turns pale.
4. Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the water, followed by the lemon juice. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. Add in the lemon zest and mix well.
5. 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 form* (after note: after several attempts at baking chiffon cakes, I learned that the whites should be beaten until just before stiff peaks form).
6. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
7. Pour batter into a 18cm (7 inch) 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.
8. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 45 ~ 50mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. 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.

For both cakes when removed from the oven, I used the suggested technique to drop the pan at a height of 20~30cm onto a table top. This action helps to keep the springy texture of the cake when it is left to cool.

I was extremely careful this time not to strip off the 'sarong'. But when unmould ... opps ... no 'sarong' again !

Why you didn't rise to 3rd storey high? 

Yeah ! I'm covered !

Oh O ! No 'sarong' again :(

Both cakes didn't rise as tall, perhaps I've used a smaller quantity recipe unfit for a bigger pan size. (Lesson learned,  don't be 'k kiang' act smart ... use the right recipe for right pan size!!!) ... Or perhaps I've not beaten the whites to peak ... :(

But overall the texture was ok, soft and fluffy but not to its maximum fluffiness ( which I'm expecting) for both cakes.

Thanks to my baking kakis JoSua for her chiffon tube pan and JSeow for some of her professional advice.

Lemon chiffon cake

Saw some chiffon cake recipes that uses rice flour ... okay okay ... my next chiffon lesson ^-^ 加油 !

Bake-Along #64 : Theme - Chiffon Cake

Linking this post for Bake-Along event and 

post linking direct to hosts' post (Joyce, Lena or Zoe)