Thursday 16 May 2013

Green Tea Chiffon

I doubt I'll ever get tired of baking and eating chiffon cakes. Inspired by my baking friend's matcha chiffon cake, I couldn't help but crave for one ;)


I followed the same recipe as what my friend did, which she has taken from the book Okashi Treats: Sweet Treats Made With Love by Keiko Ishida. Although I don't own this book I have seen the recipe posted by fellow blogger pal, Small Small Baker. It seems like a very popular recipe as I have also come across another beautiful creation by 鲸鱼蓝蓝蓝. As I am writing this post, another blogger pal, the Baking Scientist has also shared her matcha chiffon cake baked in cupcakes :)

I went ahead to adopt SSB's recipe since I am also using a 17cm or 7" tube pan. I guess I have over-beaten the egg whites a litte, the cake didn't rise as tall as my usual chiffon cakes. In fact, it started to shrink even before the baking time was up. By the time I took it out from the oven, the dome had already flattened...as flat as the horizon! Either I have over-beaten the whites(which I thought I didn't) or it could be the existence of corn flour(which I doubt so), I had difficulties trying to fold and blend the meringue to the yolk batter. The finished batter was not as thick and voluminous as I have expected. Maybe it was the number of whites used...this recipe uses equal number of yolks and whites whereas the usual chiffon cake recipes I have followed call for an extra white.


Nevertheless, the texture was still soft and cottony. When I asked my younger child whether he liked it, he commented "好吃,不过没有味道"(loosely translated as, nice but not much flavour). How frank and yet very diplomatic! Either our taste buds were not functioning well or I should have used more matcha powder, the green tea flavour was not particularly prominent. The next time I were to make this, I will certainly add more matcha powder...but that has to wait, as I am now itching to try the same Kinako (Japanese soya bean powder) chiffon cake my baking friend has baked!

我一向来都不爱跟风,不过这次抵挡不住一股从四面飘来的绿茶戚风蛋糕香,也跟着做了一个‘绿油油’的戚风。不过我的功夫不到家, 蛋糕还没出炉就开始缩了。看来务必要花时间磨一磨刀子。还好蛋糕还是超绵,只是我嫌绿茶味不够浓,下次出手要重一点。可是现在又心痒痒想买包黃豆粉來玩玩 (^^")


Green Tea Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
(makes one 7" cake)

3 egg yolks (use large eggs)
10g caster sugar
35g vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
50g fresh milk (original recipe calls for water)
45g cake flour
6g matcha green tea powder

3 egg whites (use large eggs)
45g caster sugar
6g corn flour

Method:
  • 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, whisk to combine. Add the fresh milk, whisk to combine. Sieve over the flour and matcha powder, whisk till the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix. Set aside.
  • Mix the 45g caster sugar with the corn flour.
  • 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 and corn flour mixture and turn to high speed and beat the mixture. Continue to add in the remaining sugar mixture 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.)
  • Add the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
  • Pour batter into a 7" chiffon 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.
  • 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 here.

32 comments:

Little Pastry House said...

you really a talented chef...the cake look so yummy ^_^....

鲸鱼蓝蓝蓝 said...

可是还是很赞啊,我喜欢这个绿色,很舒服:)

Small Small Baker said...

Yours look much better than mine! I think I always have the same problem when adapting recipes with more eggs (the original recipe uses 5 eggs). The result of reducing the recipe proportionately always results in a very short cake. I have better results with 1 extra egg white like what you said.

Josephine said...

My God, I love green tea cakes.
Thank you. :)

joyjoiiplus.blogspot.com

Yummy Bakes said...

Ya, your chiffon cakes are always so tall and nice.

BakingTray said...

doesn't look bad at all ^_^" I love the green colour! Mine always seems to look more a browny green ><

Kat said...

Looks so delicious. The green color is so pretty.

PH said...

I love all your chiffon cakes!

Baking Scientist said...

Your chiffon cake looks so soft! Seems like mine is not that successful as the top was wet after I left them in room temperature for half a day... will have to try again :p

Michelle said...

I saw your post that you are planning to make a Jap soya bean chiffon cake. May i know where to get Kinako. Thank you.

Happy Homebaker said...

Michelle, I have not bought soya bean powder yet...but I heard that it is available at Daiso plaza singapura.

Rumbling Tummy said...

Hi HHB, I just checked into my domant blog and saw your msg. Thanks for dropping by.

BTW, your matcha chiffon is looking good. I like the intense green.

Anonymous said...

with fresh milk, do you leave it at room temperature or use straight from fridge?

shaz said...

looks yum. Green tea anything is always good. I haven't made chiffon cakes for awhile. Your post has reminded me it's about time :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, I left the fresh milk at room temperature for about 10mins while I gather the other ingredients.

Baking Scientist said...

Hi HHB, your chiffon cakes always look so beautiful :) I am still trying to experiment more on chiffon cakes - so far my chiffon cupcakes always tasted good on the day I bake but the tops will turn wet the next day.. :|

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Baking Scientist, could it be due to condensation? I leave my bakes to cool completely before storing in air tight containers. Maybe u can try warm your cupcakes in the oven to heat up before serving hopefully it helps.

Amelia said...

Hi HHB,

Thank you for sharing this. I am wondering if you are able to suggest alternatives for using eggs for baking, or is it possible to simply eliminate eggs (thus making the baked goods eggless). I came to know of one alternative which is buttermilk from other websites, but I am hoping to know what you think. x

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Amelia, I am sorry I hardly come across bakes that do not require eggs...so far I have only tried a couple of bread, cookies or scones recipes that do not use eggs.

Anonymous said...

Nice post! Are you interested in selling the chiffon cake?

Cheryl said...

Hi,

I wonder if you could divulge the type of tube pan you use? (e.g. the dark kind, or the gray type you can get from Phoon Huat, or are there others?)

I've been wanting to get that nice crust on my chiffons (my favourite part of chiffon cakes) but can't seem to get it!

Thanks!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Cheryl,

you can take a look at the picture of my chiffon cake pan here: (http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.sg/2011/10/another-lesson-learned.html)

I bought it from PH, it is a 7" pan. I usually bake my chiffon cakes (7") at 180degC, using top and bottom heat (no fan) for 30mins. Hope this helps. Use a thin bladed knife to unmold the cake, you can take a look at my picture here on how I unmold the cake (http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.sg/2010/10/purple-sweet-potatoes-chiffon.html)
Hope you find this useful...

Anonymous said...

Hi!
I was just wondering why you used milk instead of water? Does it make it more moist or something?
Thanks!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, don't think milk will make it more moist...I used milk thinking that it may be more flavourful...

Unknown said...

Tried this, it was fluffy and not so sweet, it's really good although I have the same problem with baking scientist, the top is kinda wet?:0

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Kaygiene, could it be due to your oven temperature? or you could have under baked the cake?

curiositykills said...

Hi any reason why do we add corn flour into the meringue? Thank you

Shia

Happy Homebaker said...

It helps to stablise the meringue.

curiositykills said...

Thank u for your prompt reply! :)

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Just wondering if I can bake this in a normal 7" round cake pan instead of a chiffon tube pan ?


Thks
Tan PT

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, you can use a 7" round pan but the batter will probably fill up to slightly more than half the pan. The resulting cake would be shorter and probably more dense...the texture will be more like a sponge cake than a chiffon cake. Line the base of your pan with parchment paper but do not grease or line the sides. Hope this helps.

Wendy Lim said...

Hi hi, just wanna tell you that i baked this twice and the second time is better. Just need to understand my oven better and i just bought an oven thermometer to help me ascertain the actual temperature of the oven! thanks for all your wonderful recipes...definitely will follow you for more yummylicious bakes :)