Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

As usual, it is always a difficult task for me to pick up a recipe from my ever-growing to-do list of cakes & bakes. I was thinking of making some Japanese melon pans, but decided against it as it will take up quite a fair bit of time and effort...then I thought maybe I should make a blueberry crumble cake as I just bought another 2 packs of fresh blueberries.

In the end, I decided to give another try on making a chiffon cake since I failed miserably during my recent attempt on a mango version. I could only blame it on my unstable oven temperature. The temperature of the oven dropped by at least 20 degC when the cake was in the oven for less than 5 mins. Even if I were to turn up the temperature setting to 200degC, the temperature would not bulge. As a result, the cake was baked at 150 degC. Even though it did rise and expand, but upon unmolding, the top of the cake caved in :'((


I had better luck this time with this Early Grey Chiffon cake. The recipe is original meant for a Japanese green tea chiffon. I replaced it with Earl Grey as I have been looking for a similar recipe that will suit my small chiffon pan.

The steps involved in the making of this cake is similar to other chiffon cake recipes. To ensure a very stable oven temperature, I preheated the oven 20mins earlier. By the time the cake was ready to bake, the thermometer registered a temperature of 190degC, once I popped in the cake, the temperature started to drop...it went down to 170degC, just the right temperature! I left the cake to bake for 50mins, I don't understand why this recipe calls for baking the cake for such a long time as compared to others, which usually would take about 30-35mins. When the cake was in the oven for about 35mins, I couldn't help but to open the oven door to slip in an aluminium foil to tent the top, although it was only slightly browned. This caused the oven temperature to drop by another 5 degC.


Fortunately, the cake rose beautifully in the oven, it almost reached the tip of the tube...however, towards the end of the baking time, it started to shrink and upon cooling, it was slightly under the rim.


I was very pleased when the cake was unmolded...unlike my previous attempts...there were no obvious big holes on the surface of the cake. The sides were also baked to a nice golden hue :)


If you like Earl Grey tea, I bet you will like this cake too. The fragrance from the Earl Grey was so prominent that it was as if I had a cup of hot Earl Grey tea by my side. I must say this is by far the best chiffon cake I have made...not in terms of flavour, but rather, the texture of the cake was very good. The cake was light, soft and yet 'springy'(I'm not sure whether this is the correct term to describe it though!). To me, this recipe is certainly a keeper. On the other hand, both my kids didn't like the cake at all...the younger one tried his very best, and yet he could hardly finish one small slice of it, he told me that I shouldn't have used 'pepper' to make the cake, lolz!



Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

Ingredients
(makes one 18cm cake)

A:
1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea powder (about 3 satchels)
100g cake flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil
75ml water

B:
3 egg whites
40g caster sugar


Method:

1. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature. (It is easier to separate eggs when they are cold.)
3. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add in sugar, in 3 separate additions and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turn pale.
4. Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the water. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. Add in the earl grey powder and mix well.
5. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar and beat on high speed until just before stiff peaks form* (after note: after several attempts at baking chiffon cakes, I learned that the whites should be beaten until just before stiff peaks form).
6. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
7. Pour batter into a 18cm (7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
8. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 45 ~ 50mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.

Recipe source: 好想为你亲手做出美味的甜点! 检见崎聡美著

Note: you may replace Earl Grey tea with other tea of your choice, like matcha or green tea. If the tea leaves are coarse, use a mortar and pestle or a grinder to grind it till fine and powdery.