Chiffon Cake
Everyone once in a while, hubby and I manage to catch a little bit of America's Test Kitchen on PBS. We always enjoy watching what they make and hear their explanations of their experiments and discoveries. The episode called "Retro Desserts" that featured Banana Pudding and Chiffon Cake definitely caught our eyes. I've never had chiffon cake before, but the recipe describes it like so: "Chiffon cake should have the airy height of angel food cake with the richness of pound cake." Color me intrigued!
I made sure to buy fresh baking powder so it would not be a repeat mistake of my last scratch cake. While separating the eggs, I managed to get some drops of yolk into the bowl ... gingerly, I fished them out using the egg shell halves, but figured the cream of tartar and the sugar added would help stabilize things as I whipped the snot out of them. Everything went just fine.
This recipe required the purchase of an angel food cake pan. America's Test Kitchen recommended the pan by Chicago Metallic, which I got from amazon.com for $15.56. The pan worked great! When first making the recipe, I thought no way was there enough batter to fill this pan. Afterward I began folding and folding in the whipped egg whites and was soon glad I had chosen my biggest bowl to work in! I made sure not to under or over-mix the batter ... incorporating all the egg whites but without losing much volume.
The cake is just slightly over-baked, but only noticeable at the crust. You can see how it's just a bit dark. After some research online, I concluded the best way to cut it was with a serrated knife. I like how tight the crumb looked ... the cake was very consistent throughout the interior, which meant that I was successful at incorporating all of the whipped egg whites.
I'm very pleased with how this cake turned out. It was spongy yet delicate, rich but not heavy. No topping required! Tonight even my daughter asked for seconds ... and she normally does NOT eat cake (just the icing). I was quite complimented by that! This seems like a great spring-time cake, especially with Easter coming up.
I made my first chiffon cake yesterday and like you I was very pleased with the out come. We don't have chiffon cake in Australia so I bought my pan off ebay. I love the texture and can't wait to bake another!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this kind of cake, but it definitely sounds like one to try. I'm pinning this for future reference! :o)
ReplyDeleteThis Cake looks really good i have to give it a try.
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