cake for a cake friend

I made this matcha chiffon cake for a reader who has now become my real life friend.

She is the first reader whom I have picked up the courage to meet, face to face.

In the past, I only knew her as someone who dropped me a comment once in a while, from her profile name, I could only picture her as a mother with 8 limbs ;) From some of her comments, I also gathered that she has three boys and is holding a full time job. That was all I know about her...until the beginning of this year, she dropped me a note to inform me that her second child happens to be my younger boy's partner. Their desks are side by side, and they queue up together. What a surprise!

It turns out that my elder son was actually the same age as her eldest boy. Through reading my blog, she discovered that they were in the same school, and although they were not in the same class, both boys were friends. She kept mum about it as she feels paiseh or shy to approach me. I would probably do the same if I were her (^^')

Until end of last year, it was by chance she found out that her second child was my younger boy's classmate (I have to thank my boy for it!). In fact, all this while, the four boys know each other. It's a small world, isn't it?

Even though there were some prior exchange of emails, I almost 'shrank' when I thought it was her when I wanted to pass her boy a banana sponge cake I made for her. I wasn't 'ready' to meet anyone...at least not someone who reads my blog. There is this 'thing' about me...that is, I prefer to hide behind an anonymous name. I will be very concerned if my true identity were disclosed. First of all, I do not want to give people the impression that as a stay-at-home-mum, I am so free and have so much time that I could bake and even keep a blog. I don't even tell most of my friends about the existence of this blog....since there is really nothing to be proud of. Furthermore, I think I am doing my readers good...I don't want anyone to faint if they ever meet me in person, haha! I know, I am strange!

It was only last week that I felt I am actually 'ready' to meet her in person. Actually, the feeling just came naturally...or rather, I didn't feel intimidated at the thought of having to meet someone who has been reading my blog. I attribute it to the fact that we seems to share many similarities and most important of all, both of us like baking!

I sorted of hinted by asking whether she has tried baking anything with matcha powder, and she wrote to say she was planning to make me something with matcha! So with the assurance that she likes anything with matcha, I set off to test out a matcha pound cake the night before. I wasn't sure what went wrong...but the cake took an extra 15mins to be cooked, or at least for the top to turn golden brown. Trust me, the loaf of pound cake looked really lovely, but the moment I sank in a knife to cut a slice, it hit me that I have over baked the cake! I felt as though I was cutting into a block of dried sponge foam...you know, those dark green foam that is used for fresh floral arrangement? The cake felt 'sandy' and dry :'(

I didn't want to take the risk to bake the same thing the following morning. I turn to plan B instead...a matcha chiffon cake, recipe from a cookbook which I have just bought. I was taking another risk since it has been a long time since I last baked a chiffon cake. Even though the cake looked good upon unmolding, I wasn't sure about the texture. In the end, my lack of confidence drove me out of the house to get more eggs. I could only feel easy about it after I baked an exact replica.

Although the colour was not pleasant...the texture of the cake was good, or at least, it was a 'pass'. It was soft, springy and moist, something I will not feel too shy to give away, even to a fellow cake friend. This time, I even remembered to do a 'spring test'.

(Notice the force I exerted on the poor cake? This must be at least the 3rd take and it could still spring back. 
A chiffon cake is not as fragile as I thought!)

It was a pleasant meeting with my cake friend. We didn't choose to meet at some nice cafe or restaurant...but out of convenience we had desserts at a neighourbood hawker centre. If not for the time, and the fear that the boys would eventually turn the hawker centre into a playground, we would have talked and talked and talked! She baked me a batch of delicious matcha mochi cakes but I didn't have chance to take photos as they were all gone during breakfast :)




Matcha Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
(for 7" tube pan)

3 egg yolks
25g caster sugar
60ml water
50ml vegetable oil
80g cake flour
10g matcha powder

4 egg whites
55g caster sugar


Method:

1. Sieve cake flour and matcha powder, set aside.
2. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl. With a manual hand whisk, whisk the yolks a little. Add in sugar and whisk to combine. Add in vegetable oil gradually, stir to combine. Add water gradually, stir to combine. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk till the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix. Set aside.
3. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with a handheld electric mixer on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy.  Add half of the sugar amount and turn to high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar and beat until the egg whites reaches the soft peak stage.The soft peak stage is reached when the peaks of the whites curl over and droop slightly. The egg whites should appear smooth and glossy. (Do not over beat the whites still stiff, it is better to beat the whites still soft peaks for easy folding with the yolk batter.)
4. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
5. Pour batter into a 17cm 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.
6. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 degC for 30 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, when lightly pressed the cake will spring back. Invert the pan immediately and 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: adapted from 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手, 福田淳子