Chiffon cake

Light and Yummy

You should make this chiffon cake because: it's tasty (especially the next day), it has a lovely light texture (lighter than a regular sponge cake or a pound cake for example), it's not an overly sweet cake (which makes it great for those who want something for dessert but not a really sweet or heavy dessert like a chocolate cake) and you can pair it with pretty much any fruit.

Fab for afternoon tea!

You will need:

• 4 room temp medium eggs -- separated
• ¾ cup/100g plain (all-purpose flour)
• 10flz oz/284ml double/heavy cream
• 1 handful chopped nuts or coconut etc
• ¼ cup/30g corn flour
• 2 teaspoon flavour/essence
• ½ cup/125ml veg oil
• ½ cup/125ml water
• 1-3cups/100g-200g fresh fruit -- washed and dried
• To fill and decorate - optional
• ¼ & ½ cups/ 50g & 100g white sugar (separate)
• 2-3 tablespoons alcohol, jam, sauce, lemon curd (to add directly onto cake before filling with cream)

How to:

1. Whisk the egg whites to 'just' stiff peaks
2. Add about ¼ cup sugar to the egg whites SLOWLY (i.e not all at once)
3. In another bowl, mix your yolks and ½ cup sugar until thick but still runny and pale
4. Add sifted flour, corn flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the yolks -- mix very briefly
5. Add water, flavour and oil and mix until incorporated
6. GENTLY fold in the egg whites (do not stir as you will knock out the air you incorporated into the whites)
7. Add the mixture into two 7.5 inch sandwich tins which have been lined on the bottom ONLY. Do not grease/spray the pan
8. Place pans on middle shelf of a well pre-heated oven at 150 degrees C (310F/gas 2)-- cook for 24-28 minutes (turn around after 20 minutes for a more even bake)
9. Allow to cool for 15 mins then run a knife around the edge of the cake and turn out onto a rack to cool
10. If you choose to decorate with cream, whip the cream straight from the fridge to stiff peaks. Add your icing sugar and flavouring of any description whilst whisking.
11. Assemble your cake and decorate with fresh fruit.
12. Store in the fridge (covered)

Tips:

• +Make sure your baking pans and bowls are completely clean and dry. If they aren't, your cake won't rise well in the pan and you will have problems whipping your whites.
• +Don't get any yolk in your whites
• +Pre-heat your oven
• +Only line the bottom of your cake pans -- they need to grip the sides to rise. If you line the sides, they won't grip and you'll get flat cakes.
• +Make sure your cake ingredients are at room temp but your cream fridge cool.
• +Fold your meringue gently into the whites or you will knock out the air and your cakes won't rise well.
• +Be sure to be generous with the flavouring you add to your cake mixture -- the cake has no butter so needs to get flavour from elsewhere. If you need more sweetness, add about ¼ cup/50g more sugar to your cake mixture when mixing the yolks.
• +This cake matures well so will last at least 3 days in the fridge. You may wish to glaze your fruit with strained heated apricot jam to maintain their moisture if used for decoration -- see my fruit tart video to find out how to glaze or just heat 3 -- 4 tablespoons of apricot jam in the microwave, strain into a bowl then paint onto the fruit with a pastry brush.

n.b - sometimes you might see this type of cake advertised as a Chinese sponge cake. This is pretty close to a Chinese sponge but it's not actually one, this is just a very light and not very sweet cake which is similar in may ways to that Chinese style of cake.