Hello cakelets! This week I bring to you maybe my favourite recipe ever! Until a few weeks ago I had never even heard of a chiffon cake until I watched "The Great British Bake Off" so I thought it would have to be the next cake on my agenda. Now part of my caking and baking is to look at a standard base recipe and either change quantities, add or remove things to make it my own and hopefully better, so I can pass it on for all to enjoy. Chiffon cake is the lightest and fluffiest cake I have ever made and it worked perfectly with the fluffy meringue frosting. It is one of those cakes which when you cut into it leaves no crumbs behind and when you bite into it, and it practically dissolves when you eat it, it's like eating a big fluffy vanillery cloud... if one could ha!
Chefette's Chiffon Cake & Meringue Frosting
1 ½ cups
plain flour
½ cup corn
flour
1 ½ cups
caster sugar
1
tablespoon baking powder
½ cup
vegetable oil
7 eggs
separated
¾ cup cold
water
2 ½ teaspoons
vanilla bean paste
1 teaspoon
cream of tartar
1. Preheat
oven to 165°C, and grease and line your cake
tin/s with baking paper.
2. Sift flour,
sugar and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and make a well.
3. Add oil,
egg yolks, water and vanilla to the well, fold mixture until smooth. Set aside.
4. In an
electric mixer beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff.
5. Gradually
add egg white mixture, to the other ingredients, carefully folding in with a
spatula. (It is crucial to fold rather than mix to ensure the air is left in
the cake batter.)
(The timing will depend on the size of your
cake tin, for example, I divided my mixture into 6 small portions for baking in
sandwich tins and each took only 10 minutes or so.)
Meringue
Frosting
(This is
the first time I have used Meringue Frosting and credits to my cousin from Back In G-Town for the recipe. It is a difficult frosting to pipe with because it is
so soft, which is why the piping looks a bit shabby. I think this kind of
frosting is best with a “rustic effect”)
1. Place the sugar, water and ½ teaspoon
of cream of tartar into a saucepan over high heat. Stir until sugar is
dissolved. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 mins.
2. Place egg whites into an electric
mixer with the remaining ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar and beat until soft
peaks form.
3. With the motor running gradually add
the sugar mixture and beat until thick and glossy (Keep beating until it is
fairly thick.)
(Frosting is best used right before
serving and should be kept at room temperature)
Now if you want to make a rainbow version of this cake like I did, please see this post for assembly instructions!
Meringue Frosting in action! |
Layer upon layer upon layer... |
Voila.... Finished product! |
Happy Caking! xxx
looks amazing! I also had never heard of chiffon cake till the great British bake off, I had to try and now its my cake of choice, its light but also moist, not too rich, it almost tastes healthy!
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