Make not lemonade but Lemon Chiffon

As the saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. For me, in 2013, I make Lemon Chiffon. The reasons I decided to do a lemon version are - one of my Christmas presents from my boys is a reamer and the other, I wanted to adapt a recipe from a book I got my hands on ie  Vintage Cakes: More Than 90 Heirloom Recipes for Tremendously Good Cakes by Jane Brocket. Notice the cup at the background in the picture below? They were flown in from the US and each of these 6 cups depicts the two different days of Christmas. Awesome! Gonna pass them down to the next generation.

Tweaking the recipe produced a cake that was moist, light, flavorful and tangy. However, I wished it was a little more light and less compact. I reckoned it could be the brand of flour I used and the amount of lemon juice which I liberally added (no mention of lemon juice in the recipe and so I wondered how it could be called a Lemon Chiffon)

Lemon Chiffon Cake (adapted from Vintage Cakes)

For the cake

6 eggs separated and an additional of 2 egg whites

230g Japanese wheat flour

10g baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

300g caster sugar (150g for the dry ingredients and 150g for the egg whites)

125ml vegetable oil

finely grated zest of 2 lemons

100ml of water

50ml of lemon juice (approx as amount is up to the individual)

1 tsp of cream of tartar and 

1tsp of vanilla extract (optional)

For the glaze

600g icing sugar

juice of 1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C

2. Separate the 6 eggs and combine the egg whites with egg whites from 2 additional eggs

3. Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk it with a hand whisk - just to mix them up or you could sieve the dry ingredients

4. Add the caster sugar and combine it with the (3)

5. Make a well in the center and add the yolks, lemon zest, oil, water and lemon juice

6. Using a hand held mixer, beat till well combined

7. Place egg whites in a clean bowl

8. Whisk them till gentle peaks form then add the cream of tartar, caster sugar and vanilla extract, whisking till completely smooth

9. Spoon the egg whites into the sponge batter and fold them in carefully

10. Pour the batter into a 24cm cake tin

11. Pour excess batter into mini chiffon cake tins (optional)

12. Bake the cake for 40min - 50min. Insert a skewer to see if it comes out clean

13. Once cake is done, remove from the oven and invert the cake. Let it cool completely before removing from cake tin

To make the glaze

1. Combine the lemon juice and icing sugar till you get a light and runny texture

2. Drizzle the runny icing sugar on the cooled cake

 

There you go, Lemon Chiffon. On hindsight, I should have followed the recipe and try it out. Hmm...

Not Martha's Orange Chiffon Cake

Having bought some rather large oranges, I decided to bake an orange cake. What came to mind was a chiffon cake. About a week ago, I deliberated on signing up for a baking class on Orange and Pandan Chiffon Cakes. My wife had told me to drop the idea as I already know how to bake an Orange Chiffon (Martha Stewart's recipe). Reluctantly, I gave the class a miss but I trawled the internet for different versions of making an Orange Chiffon.

I came across Mintyskitchen's blog and noted that she uses self-raising flour instead of cake flour. Finding it interesting, I decided to attempt making the chiffon.

However, as I was getting the ingredients ready, I was unsure if I should adapt the recipe and replace the self-raising flour. Between a sealed, yet-to-be-opened pack of self-raising flour and a half used cake flour pack, I went for the latter. 

I would like to thank Veronica of Mintyskitchen for the wonderful recipe. With cake flour and extra orange zest, I think I made another perfect chiffon. Guess my wife was right. I do not have to attend any more classes. Perhaps I should have been daring enough to use self-raising...

Soya Bean Chiffon Again

It is about time I did the Soya Bean Chiffon again. The last time I did this was in June this year. Refer to my post Soya Bean Chiffon Cake dated 27 June 2012.

I noticed from the number of hits, blog readers tend to check out this chiffon and the Matcha or Green Tea Chiffon. I hope this second post will provide a little more information on this chiffon.

If you had noticed, I have bravely divided the chiffon into 3 layers this time round and each layer is topped with whipping cream. I could only do this after I bought the Wilton Cake Leveler a day ago. 

I had given the reference to the recipe in my previous post and I had mentioned too about the soya bean powder that I used. Hope that the photo directly above will help you identify the product easier. However, I am not too sure if you can get it at your local store...or if it is available, it might come in a different packaging.

I must say that this chiffon is a great cake to make. It is not too sweet. It is really soft and fluffy and light - all the good attributes of that perfect chiffon. 

My only regret is that I used 200ml of whipping cream. Having a layered cake like this requires more than that amount and so I concluded. Thus, you noticed I did not cover the entire cake with the cream. Nevertheless, it was a great cake. Spoken with pride.

Green Tea Chiffon Cake

I had decided to do a Green Tea Chiffon or Matcha Chiffon over the long weekend as Monday was a public holiday cos of Hari Raya; I have the book Okashi - sweet treats made with love by Keiko Ishida which has a wonderful recipe on "Green Tea Chiffon Cake"; and I came across a blog, Anncoo Journal, that had adapted the recipe from Okashi.

Below is the recipe from Okashi and I too had modified some ingredients and omitted and added some steps in the method:

70g Cake Flour

10g - 15g Green tea powder (I am using Ujinotsuyu Matcha powder - the best I reckoned and below is a photo of it.)

5 Egg yolks

20g Caster sugar 

70g Water

60g Vegetable Oil

Meringue

90g Caster sugar

10g Corn flour

5 Egg whites

Method:

• Preheat oven to 150C -160C (depends on your oven. I used 150C).
• Combined and sift cake flour and green tea powder together to form the dry mixture. Set aside. Combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and mix well. Add water and corn oil and blend together. Add the dry mixture and mix until batter becomes sticky. This will be batter A. Set aside.
• To make the meringue, combine sugar and corn flour. Set aside. Beat egg whites. When the whites become foamy, add half the sugar and corn flour mixture and continue beating for a  minute or two. Add the remaining sugar and flour mixture and beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.
• Add some meringue to A and fold in lightly, then add remaining meringue and fold to incorporate completely. However, try not to overmix it as this will result in a not-so-light and fluffy texture.
• Pour batter into an ungreased 20cm chiffon cake pan. Place in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes. I suggest you start watching your cake after 30 minutes.
• When cake is done, remove from oven and turn the pan over. Leave cake to cool in pan.
• Once cake has cooled completely, carefully run a knife around the sides of the cake to loosen it.

I must say the chiffon tasted great although I found it a tad sweet. Perhaps I should reduce the amount of caster sugar to 10g?

Martha Stewart's Orange Chiffon Cake

I had decided to bake another Orange Chiffon cake but this time, without the cranberries (see my post on Orange Chiffon). I was basically inspired to try out the recipes from my new book - Martha's American Food. It is Stewart's latest book and my very thoughtful wife bought it and presented it to me as a birthday gift. Imagine how thrilled I was and by the way, this is not the first cook/baking book she had bought for me. 

The photos of the chiffon cake was another push factor that made me want to try out the recipe. But as usual, I adapt recipes for reasons like availability of ingredients or to use up the remaining flour or oil in this case. So I conveniently replaced the plain flour with cake flour and the safflower oil with vegetable oil. 

I do not intend to post the recipe here for copyright issues but if you would like to have it, do drop me a comment. But at this juncture, I should say I was a little apprehensive when the recipe calls for cold water to be added. The result was:

Orange Chiffon Cake with powdered sugar

The cake was fabulous as seen above. Height wise, it was perfect. I dusted powdered sugar to add a little sweetness to the cake. To replicate the cakes shown in book, I served my slices with the recommended whipped cream and candied orange zest. 

With whipped cream, candied zest and mini choco chips

I decided to add color too by placing some Hersey's mini chocolate chips at the sides. Honestly (I mentioned about adapting recipes above), I had forgotten to throw in the mini chips into the batter before baking. I would then be able to call it my Orange Choco Chip Chiffon Cake. But viola, I had the perfect Orange Chiffon cake! 

Soya Bean Chiffon Cake

Yes, I finally found the time and purpose to post something on my blog (which I had neglected for quite some time). I have been baking and this time it is back to making that perfect chiffon. I believe I have mastered the art of making that soft and fluffy cake. As such, I am venturing into different 'flavours' of chiffon. 

I have heard, seen, read and been introduced to Okashi Treats by Keiko Ishida before. However, what made me an instant fan of Keiko was when my aunt gave us a cake she had baked using one of the recipes from the book.

I instantly took to the Matcha and Soya Bean Chiffon cake recipes. I did the former and it turned out excellent. Baked two more times and each time, the perfect matcha cake was produced! I proudly showed my family how my chiffon was uncannily similar in color and texture to the photo in the book. I will post that matcha chiffon one of these days...

The chiffon above is the soya bean version ie before putting on the whipped cream. I was pretty excited to try something different and goggled to find out how I am able to get the soya bean powder. Having returned from a holiday (again) in the Land of The Rising Sun - this time Osaka, Nara and Kyoto, I was interested in all things Japanese. So I visited Meidiya at Liang Court and I must say I was extremely pleased to find kinako or soya bean powder.

I always face the issue of creaming my cakes. I attempted a few times and each time, I am dissatisfied with how they turned out. What the heck! But taste wise, I should say, it is an acquired one. The fragrance of the soya bean powder is just right and any diabetic patient will appreciate and be able to enjoy a slice. I must say, it was a success and I would bake it again since I have a packet and a half of soya bean powder left in my pantry.

I was fortunate to get Keiko's book from the library. But the recipe can be obtained from another blogger's post here - My Baking Cottage, I chanced upon Aimei's blog and thus must acknowledge her here.

So good luck to all those who wish to attempt the Soya Bean Chiffon. By the way, if someone could tell me how I can make my whipped cream stiffer and last longer when it is out of the fridge, please let me know...

Cranberry-Orange Chiffon Cake

Orange Chiffon with dried cranberries

I have been baking different types of chiffon cakes for the past week or so. No, not the pandan ones which is so common, but coffee, earl grey, lemon and orange. In particular, orange chiffon with bits of dried cranberries thrown in. 

I came across many recipes for orange chiffon cakes and decided on one from a blogger who goes by the name of Florence in Do What I Like. Check out the link here for the recipe - orange chiffon .

The cake turned put exactly what she had been raving about. It was fluffy, moist and simply delicious. However, I tweaked the recipe a little. I did not use warm orange juice but freshly squeezed juice,  about 87ml to 90ml. I used rum as the alternative to vanilla extract but I reckoned I should have used either Cointreau or Grand Marnier to enhance that orangey flavour. 

When I saw that the batter was rather plain I wanted to add something to it. What goes well with orange ...And since I had a packet of cranberries in the pantry, I decided to throw some bits in. Well, the amount of cranberries, I guess, is really up to you. Truth be told,  I regretted not folding in more cranberries.

So thanks to Florence for sharing her recipe. Oh yes, I covered my chiffon with snow powder to balance the 'sour' cranberries. 

Coffee Chiffon

I have been doing chocolate and chocolate chips chiffon cakes in the past week or so. Guess my family members were a little 'sick' of them after the fourth one. So I decided to turn to baking a coffee chiffon.

I hesitated to make the coffee version as I believed the taste of burnt coffee granules may be detected (as I did when I tasted the sample from the Chiffon baking class I attended). Nevertheless, I went ahead to bake one today.

My wife commented that it so lacked the coffee taste although you do get that whiff of coffee. I had to agree with her. It was sweet and one would not know it was a coffee chiffon and you may not even get that whiff. A little disappointed here as I had used the best - Nielsen Massey Coffee Extract and Vanilla Extract and of course, my old fave, Moccona. But I still thank God it turned out well. 

If I were to attempt to bake another coffee chiffon, I will increase the coffee powder from 1tbsp to 2.5 tbsps. Perhaps I may use another brand of coffee that will lend a stronger scent and taste.

Chocolate Chips Chiffon Cake

In my previous post, I mentioned that I had left out the chocolate chips for a Chocolate Chip Chiffon cake and so it became a plain Chocolate Chiffon. This time, I remembered and threw in the chips as I was folding in the egg white mixture.

I half expected the chocolate chips to sink to the bottom but as it turned out,  they did not. Guess I used the mini choco ones and these are suitable for such a light cake.

Chiffon turned out fluffy and had a very rich chocolaty taste to it. Maybe it was the Hershey's mini chocolate chips I had added or was it the Valhorna cocoa powder which I used for this recipe? I told myself to use Valhorna cocoa powder for my next plain Chocolate Chiffon to see if it lends itself to that strong and delicious chocolate taste again. 

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Tried my hands on baking a Chocolate Chiffon after attending a recent baking class. So far, I have attempted Orange and Milo Chiffon (recipe for the latter was taken from one of the bloggers). Pretty pleased with this chocolate version as compared to the other two.

The actual recipe calls for a Chocolate Chip Chiffon but clearly from my post, it is a chiffon minus the chips. Well, I had my sister in-law visiting me on that day and at the exact time when I was about to make the cake. She has earned the title of Chiffon Queen. But she has stopped baking for a very long time and I inherited her chiffon cake tins. So I was nervous with her in the kitchen and it showed when I forgot to add sugar to the mixture of flour, egg yolks, oil etc. I did not realize it till I licked at the spatula before washing it (there you go - my confession) and it tasted really bland. Aha! No sugar and I spotted the tiny bag at the corner of the table. I added the sugar and quickly gave it a mix as I was worried I would have over mixed batter. Her presence could still be felt although she left the kitchen for the dining room.

After folding in the egg white mixture (this time I remembered the sugar and cream of tatar), I immediately poured the batter into the tin and popped it into the oven. Very satisfied with the whole delicious brown batter. As I was clearing up the table, there on the table was the packet of weighed chocolate chips. Sigh. But hey, I always wanted to bake a plain, simple chocolate chiffon. The chips could wait.

The Chiffon turned out fluffy and just like what it should be. For a non-expert baker like me, it is an achievement.

I have only sliced pieces for my photo shoot as the whole cake was cut and distributed almost immediately when it cooled. There was no waiting, at least on my part, as I had wanted to try to see if it is really as good as it looks.

Well, I guess I will attempt one more time and this time the chips will be in, folded and baked. 

I am unable to produce the recipe as it was copyrighted by the trainer. However, for those aspiring Chiffon bakers, you could refer to my June 21 2011 post on Milo Chiffon taken from allthatmatters. blog. Her recipes are simply fabulous too.

Mi lo Chiffon Cake

I have stopped making macarons - for now. Trying out recipes for brownies and cupcakes have taken up my time these past few weeks. But of late, I had a sudden renewed interest in baking chiffon cakes. I should attribute it to my being at the right time and at the right place to watch a demo through a glass window of a baking school.

I have baked pandan and orange chiffon cakes before and that was like two years ago. The former was more like a sponge cake and the latter, a typical chiffon texture and lightness. Apparently, my family prefers to buy the pandan ones off the shelves at some heartland bakery stores. I reserve my comment and would not want to taste them at all. My own chiffons are not great either.

And so having that urge to bake chiffon, the quest for new flavors kicked in. Blogging brought me to this blogspot - allthatmatters2rei. Check out her site at allthatmatters2rei.blogspot.com/2008/03/milo-chiffon-cake.html

I decided to attempt her Milo chiffon cake after reading her very comprehensive step-by-step approach to making that perfect pandan chiffon. As you can see, my chiffon turned out too low and hence the title of this post is Mi lo chiffon cake - got it??

Definitely not too pleased with the outcome and I shall be posting questions as to why the ideal height was not reached and why the cake was too moist, I think, for a chiffon.

Oh, oh I want to thank Rei for the excellent post.