Wednesday 13 November 2013

veggies in a cake



The first time I made this carrot chiffon cake I tested it with my new Bosch kitchen machine.



The Bosch mixer is able to whisk the egg whites a lot faster, and appears to create more volume than a handheld electric whisk. However, having said that, a handheld machine is also equally good for beating egg whites although you will have to hold it with one hand while juggling the other when adding the sugar. I am still not very comfortable with using the Bosch mixer to beat the egg whites as I have this nagging fear that I would over beat it ^^"

As I was writing this post, I was informed that Bosch has launched a special edition collection of coloured variations of the MUM5 kitchen machine. See here for the fun colours available!



My latest bake of this same cake...pardon the poor image quality, I couldn't help but to snap a picture when it rose so beautifully in the oven.



Besides grated carrot, I have also added in some orange juice...so it is actually a fruit and veg cake ;)



I have tried baking with a 17cm and a 18cm chiffon pan. The 18cm pan yield a shorter cake though.

I can't remember since when...I have started to use a ballon whisk to fold the egg whites to the yolk batter. I find that it is much easier to fold without deflating the batter with a ballon whisk. Just before pouring the batter into the pan, I will switch to the spatula to make sure the bottom is also well mixed. If you have been using a spatula to do the folding, maybe you would want to experiment with a balloon whisk, hope it works well for you too.



I must thank my cyberfriend VB for sending me this lovely Laura Ashley tea towel :) It comes with a cute instruction on how to cook eggs!



This recipe uses 4 yolks and 4 whites...which is good, as sometimes I find it troublesome either to save extra whites or how to use up an extra egg yolk ^^"

As with any other chiffon cakes, the texture is light and moist. No 'raw carrot smell' is detected and it doesn't taste very sweet, maybe because the oranges I bought were usually very sour. The sweetness is just right for me, but for those who have got sweet tooth, this may not appeal to you?? I could eat a quarter of the whole cake without feeling guilty ;)

I have tried baking this cake with grated carrot (raw) and also cooked carrot (boiled and mashed). Both gave the same result. However, when left for up to 2 days (room temperature), I noticed that for the cooked carrot version, the carrot bits started to 'sweat' (release moisture) and the crumbs near the carrot bits got damped. This doesn't happen to the raw carrot version, so I am sharing the recipe (raw carrot version) with you. Do share with me your experience if you ever have a chance to try this, thank you!




Carrot Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

(makes one 17cm/18cm cake)

4 egg yolks (use large eggs)
20g caster sugar
50g vegetable oil
30ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
80g cake flour
50g carrot, grated

4 egg whites (use large eggs)
45g caster sugar


Method:
  • Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl. With a balloon hand whisk, whisk the yolks a little. Add in sugar and whisk to combine. Add in vegetable oil gradually, whisk to combine. Add the orange juice and vanilla extract, whisk to combine. Add in grated carrot. Mix to combine. Sieve over the flour and whisk till the flour is fully incorporated. Do not over mix. Set aside.
  • Place egg whites in the mixing bowl of the mixer, make sure the bowl is clean and dry. Beat egg whites on low speed until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add half of the sugar 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.
  • Add the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula (or a balloon whisk) until just blended.
  • Pour batter into a 17 or 18cm chiffon tube pan (do not grease or line 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. Store in air tight container and best consumed within two days.

34 comments:

Yummy Bakes said...

Very tall and beautiful cake.

Kimmy said...

Hi HHB, I love the sides of your chiffon, so 'clean and neat'. Mine is usually so 'crusty'. Any trick to get this 'finishing'.

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB

In my opinion, hand held mixer is always a better pick because when beating yolks with sugar over a pot of hot water (making swiss roll) and in 3 eggs recipes, the small volume sure whip well. Stand mixer is good if one makes a lot of breads and that was why I bought Kenwood Titanium Chef 1400 watts.

From my experience, using balloon whisk to mix yolks and whites in chiffon or other cakes was not that flexible, yes, the bottom will not be well mixed. Due the watery texture, using whisk for Magical Cake mixing is highly recommended.

HHB, by the way, today I used your recipe for No Knead Cinnamon Roll and the rolls turned out extremely well. Thank you for the good recipe which is keeper!

Blessings
Priscilla Poh

Happy Homebaker said...

Thanks Yummy Bakes for your kind words!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Kimmy, I use a thin bladed knife. You can refer to the pictures on how I unmold the cake in my older post here:
http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.sg/2010/10/purple-sweet-potatoes-chiffon.html

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Priscilla, thanks for sharing your experience :) I also prefer a hand mixer that is why I have not bought a stand mixer. I will use a spatula to do the final folding just to make sure the bottom is also well mixed. But with a balloon whisk, somehow I feel that the whites can blend to the yolk batter easily...whereas with a spatula, I tend to take longer time to blend.

Yes, the no knead cinnamon rolls are indeed magical rolls, easy and delicious!

Joceline Lor said...

Nice Cake!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the explanation for the outcome of using raw and cooked carrot. You are not alone. Me too feel more comfortable beating the egg whites with handheld mixer. I mixing the beaten whites into yolk batter with ballon whisk first. While most of the whites invisible, switch to spatula and continue mix till all incorporate.
Love the orangey shredded carrots on this vege chiffon cake :) Have a nice day!

PH said...

What an unusual combination of ingredients in a chiffon cake! Looks like it turned out beautifully. If I remember correctly Kimmy did something similar with Ogura cake. I prefer handheld whisk too which is why I remove the whisk from my stand mixer. Now the body of my cake mixer is a white elephant!

Happy Homebaker said...

Vivian, same here, I used the spatula to make sure the batter is well mixed.

Phong Hong, I think handheld whisk is good enough since we only bake small batches :)

Amy Baking Diary said...

Hi Happy Home Baking, your Chiffon Cake is so lovable. I simply love it!


Happy Homebaker said...

Thanks Amy :):)

Baking Scientist said...

Dear HHB, all your chiffon cakes look so tall and beautiful :)

Unknown said...

Dear HHB, Thanks for your sharing. Just wondering if you are happy with your Bosch Mixer. Was thinking of getting one. I am a beginner and just started making bread for my family by hand. Was thinking of getting it for cakes and bread making.

Happy Homebaker said...

Thanks Baking Scientist!

Hi Thomas, so far I am happy with my new bosch mixer.

Unknown said...

that looks great!!
i'm giving away a kitchenaid mixer on my blog! i'd love it if you came by and said hi!:
http://lovintheoven.com/2013/11/dulce-de-leche-espresso-bean-cookies.html

Unknown said...

Hi,

I am just wondering why the side/outter layer of my cakes tends to break into pieces when I cut/slice but not the centre portion. Will u be able to help? What is the cause of it? B it the chiffon or butter cake that I bake all turns out like tis.

Unknown said...

It's like drop on the plates into pieces and not glue to the cake nicely. Is it coz of the oven temp but I follow as wat u hv indicated? Or is it the pan or how I grease it?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Mabel, was the crust very dry and hard? was it overly browned? if yes, then maybe it is due to over baking or too high a temperature, or the type of pan you used. If you are using those non-stick/black pans, the cake crust will tend to brown and get over baked easily. Also, do you use an oven thermometer to check that you oven is at the correct temperature and not on the hot side? or are you using fan-forced/convection oven, which tend to be hotter, you will need to bake at a lower temperature.

Unknown said...

Hi,
Yes it was a bit dry n a bit hard. I use the normal baking pan. I just check mine was the conventional oven so I think I can't follow the oven temp as stated, I will hv to lower it. By like 10degree?

Anonymous said...

Hi

Can I know how do i re-calculate the ingredient portions if I'm using a 23cm chiffon pan? Just wondering is there a formula.

Thank you :)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Mabel, so your oven comes with a fan? I heard from my friends, for their ovens, they usually bake at 20 or even 30 degrees below. As all ovens behave different, you need to test out and see how yours work. hope you get the temp right soon, and happy baking!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, I am afraid there is no formula to adapt this recipe to suit a 23cm pan. as chiffon cake is not as forgiving as other bakes, it is best to follow a recipe and its recommended pan size as closely as possible. if you are an experienced home baker and not afraid of failure, you can try do a double portion. Fill the pan to at least 75-80% full and if there's any leftover batter can bake them in paper muffin cups. hope this helps :)

Unknown said...

Hi,

Yes there is a fan mode but I choose the top n bottom heat for baking my cake. I tried lowering yesterday n also use the bake even strip n the cake turn out nice... Still got a bit of small pieces drop out when cut but I think it will always b like tis right

Unknown said...

Hi, thank you for sharing all that with us. Got addicted to baking through your blog and baked for the first time ever in my life last week following your French Almond cake, it was so good that I had to make it again the same day and the next day too. Today I tried your recipe for the Strawberry sponge cake, I might have over baked it by a few minutes as the top layer was just a little bit dry. Next time I will try the sponge cake using your Santa Claus sponge recipe instead. Also want to try the fruity cake....I could not find any Black forest cake in your blog, would you be able to recommend one please.
Thanks again for sharing all that. I never would have thought that I could actually bake.

Unknown said...

Hello HHB!
I'm from LessonsGoWhere.com.sg, we're a local startup that's striving to become a marketplace for offline lessons. Right now we're seeing a huge amount of interest in the baking lessons available on our website and we were wondering if you'd be interested in attending a sponsored lesson from us?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Steeve Tsang, glad to hear that you have fun baking! I do not have any black forest cake recipe to share, but you should be able to find many recipes shared by other bloggers. Happy baking!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Lessons go where, thanks for the invite, however due to my commitments, I am not able to attend any lessons. all the best in your startup, and thanks again for the offer!

Anonymous said...

Hello, HHB:

Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

I miss your blogs and new recipes. I hope that you are feeling well. Where have you been?

I hope that you will be posting new recipes soon. Do you have any Christmas-related ones that you will post?

Take care.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, thanks so much on checking on me, your kind comments warm my heart :):)
I have just updated my blog and posted a new recipe on a coffee cake. It is not really Christmas related but somehow I feel it does provides some festive mood ;)
Merry Xmas!

Anonymous said...

Hi, HHB:

I am so glad that you are well and have responded to my Dec.21/13 post.

I look forward to reading your blogs and drooling over the yummy pictures of your recipes.

I was telling my kids that the recipes that I have tried from your website always work and how accurate they are in measurement and detailed instructions. I also appreciate that you post your ingredients by weight - very accurate end-product.

I have tried a few recipes from other websites where my final result either doesn't taste good or look like the pictures they post of their final product.

Keep up the excellent work and thank you for taking the time to cook and update your blog with your busy schedule.

Also, do you have a recipe for a Chinese deep-fried dumpling called 'Hom Sui Gok'? These are usually available to choose from at Dim Sum and one of the ingredients for the outer dough/casing is made with glutinous rice flour.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family !

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, thank you for taking time to leave your comments :)
I am very glad to hear that the recipes you have tried went well.
I'm sorry I have not tried making those deep fried dumplings. I have borrowed this book from the library, see here:http://petalingstreetstory.blogspot.sg/2010/06/2_29.html
which has got several do-able dim sum recipes. But I can't remember whether there is a hum sui gok recipe?

May you and your family have a wonderful time this holiday seasons!

Zoe Lim said...

Hi, I just chance upon your blog and love all your recipes :D I am also a fan of chiffon cakes but i noticed your recipes are for 17-18cm tube pan whereas i have a 21cm tube pan.
Do you have recipes for this pan size pls?? thank you so much.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Zoe, Thank you for your kind comments. I am sorry I do not have recipes for 21cm pan. However, I have posted 2 recipes for 8" or 20cm chiffon pan:
1. http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.sg/2010/08/breakfast-chiffon.html
2. http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.sg/2010/10/purple-sweet-potatoes-chiffon.html
Hope this helps.