Vanilla and Pandan Chiffon Cake

In my previous post, I shared a basic recipe for a vanilla cake. For those who tried it out, do post comments and let me know how it all went (comment box is below).

I thought I'd get two recipes done today since a slight variation in the first recipe makes another flavoured cake. It's chiffon cake, or could we say a hybrid of sponge cake. The differences are in the way in which the eggs are beaten. For a sponge cake, the eggs are beaten as whole eggs until a ribbon stage, before the flour is folded into the mixture; essentially it's all done in one bowl. As for a chiffon cake, the egg yolks are separated from the egg whites. With the egg yolks, a batter is made with flour, sugar, milk, vegetable oil, extracts, and the whites are beaten with sugar into a meringue. The meringue is then folded into the egg yolk batter, and there is your cake batter.

Although a chiffon cake requires that extra step of separating the eggs and then folding it into the egg yolk mixture, the results are much more consistent, with a fluffier and lighter texture. Yum!

A few things you need to have on hand is (1) a angel cake pan (2) depending on what type of angel cake pan you have, an empty jar that can be fitted on the top end on the pan, to support the pan resting upside down.

You can get two types of angel cake pans:

I have the one on the left. And for those of you who have the same one as me, you'll need to prepare an extra jam bottle that will fit on the top end on the pan. After baking the cake, you'll need to let it rest upside down, and hence the jam bottle will be the support. If you have the cake pan on the right, then you don't need to worry about the jam bottle. 

As will all cake recipes, it's always good to line the pan with baking paper. I don't do it only because my pan is non stick. So I'll leave it up to you guys to decide whether to line the pan.

Okay, enough talk. So here's the recipe:

Vanilla Chiffon Cake

Ingredients A

7 Egg Yolks

75g Full Cream Milk

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

150g All Purpose Flour

4g Baking Powder

95g Caster Sugar

3g Salt

83g Vegetable Oil (i.e. Canola, or non scented cooking oil)

Ingredients B

7 Egg Whites

100g Caster Sugar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C, and prepare one 24cm diameter angel cake pan. Line if baking paper if desired.
2. For Ingredients A (the batter):  In a mixing bowl, mix together the eggs yolks and sugar until pale in colour. Then add in the vanilla, milk, oil and salt, and whisk until well incorporated.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder together before mixing it with the egg yolk mixture. Whisk until the batter is smooth, then set aside.
4. For Ingredients B (the meringue): In an electric mixer, using a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium high. Once the whites starts foaming, add the sugar in three batches. Whisk until stiff peaks (Note: the test to check whether the eggs are at stiff peaks is by turning the bowl upside down and the whites should not fall out)
5. Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the batter. Then gently fold in the remaining meringue until well-incorporated. 
6. Pour the cake mixture into the cake pan. Tap the pan on the top of the bench to get rid of any air pockets. 
7. Bake for 35 minutes or until cooked.
8. Once cooked, remove the cake pan from the oven and invert it immediately ( with the help of a empty jam bottle if required). Let the cake cool completely before removing it from the cake pan.
9.  Unmould the cake by running a knife along the surfaces that the cake makes contact with the pan. Invert the cake pan onto a plate, and by giving the pan a slight tease, gently rest the cake onto the plate. 

Variations 
For a Pandan Chiffon Cake: Swap the full cream milk for coconut milk, and add 4g Pandan Paste instead of the vanilla extract. 

Alright guys, give this recipe a try. I know it's good hence why I'm sharing it with you. If you've got questions, leave a post in the comment box and I'll get back to you asap. 

Enjoy!