Rose Tea Chiffon Cake

When my girl gave me a set of rose tea leaves, I've used it to make some mousse here. And I've also thought of using it to bake a cake and I remembered seeing a rose tea chiffon cake recipe in Bake King website.

Well, here's my 1st baked cake of Year 2015 ... A Rose Tea Chiffon Cake.
While baking this cake, I've got these phrases that flashed across my mind :
Life may not always be a bed of roses, hope that I'll overcome whatever the challenges I may have in the new year !

Drizzled some melted white chocolate 

Recipe adapted from : Bake King
Below my slightly modified version

ROSE TEA CHIFFON CAKE
17cm chiffon pan
Ingredients A
8g of rose black tea leaves
80ml hot water
Soak about 6 - 8 dried rose buds in some hot boiling water for about 10 mins and drained. Set aside.

Ingredients B
3 egg yolks
30g caster sugar
40ml vegetable oil
80g cake flour
3g dried rose buds, roughly crushed

Ingredients C
4 egg whites
40g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:
1) Add hot water to the rose black tea leaves and leave mixture to cool. Strain 60ml of the rose tea and set aside.

2) Using electric mixer, combine egg yolks and caster sugar together well till mixture become pale. In sequence whisk in vegetable oil and rose tea. Fold in the sieved flour mixture with a spatula.

3) Next stir in the roughly crushed dried rose buds, mix well and set aside.

For Meringue:
1) Beat egg whites and cream of tartar using electric mixer till foamy, gradually add in caster sugar and beat till egg whites turn stiff peak.

2) Fold meringue into flour mixture gently using a spatula in 3 batches till mixture is thoroughly mixed.

3) Place the soaked dried rose buds on the base of the chiffon pan. Pour batter evenly into the ungreased chiffon pan and gently give the pan a bang on the table top to release air bubbles.

4) Bake chiffon cake at 180°C oven for 30 minutes, or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
*note : I used the lowest rack, total bake time is 35 minutes. I adjusted the oven temperature to 160°C in the last 10 mins of baking. You may have to adjust the temperature and timing to suit your oven.

5) When the pan was 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.

6) When baked, turn mould upside down to cool before unmoulding the cake from pan.

Lastly drizzle cake with some icing or melted white chocolate and garnish with extra rose petals/rose buds.

The texture is so fluffy soft. Love the rose fragrance too. Enjoy my quiet afternoon tea!
Happy baking and hope you have a great start of the year ^-^!