Time For A Break

I can't remember the last time I made chiffon cake.  All I know is that it's been a while but I still remember the exact amount of ingredients to use. How could I forget? It's the type of cake I would most often make while working at a private bakery in Bangkok. Almost two years have passed and it's only recently when I decided to go for chiffon cake instead of sponge cake.

Chiffon cake needs a good quality of meringue to achieve that light and springy texture it is known for. It was a bold move on my part to make it without  practice. I thought I might have lost my meringue making skill after a long break.  Well it turns out I still got it. Yay!

Vanilla Chiffon Cake:
This recipe was adapted from happy homebaking. I omitted lemon juice which was called for and replaced it with  vanilla extract.

100 g all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 egg yolks
40 g caster sugar
50 ml vegetable oil
50 ml water
vanilla extract

For meringue:
3 egg whites
40 g caster sugar


Directions:
1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
     Note: I ran out of cake flour so I used all-purpose  flour and sifted the flour mixture twice.
2. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, Add sugar in three separate additions, whisking well after each until mixture becomes pale and sticky.
3. Drizzle oil and whisk until combined. Do the same with the water and vanilla extract and continue whisking until the ingredients are well combined.
4. In a bowl of your electric mixer, ( you can use a dry clean bowl and hand mixer with this), beat egg whites until frothy. Add the sugar gradually until stiff peak forms.
5. Whisk a quarter of beaten egg whites into batter.Gently fold in remaining egg white mixture until just blended.
6. Transfer batter into prepared 18 cm cake pan. Tap against the counter lightly to avoid air bubbles.
7. Bake in a preheated 170 C oven for 45-50 minutes or until the skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
8. Turn the pan upside down and let cool completely before unmolding the cake.
9. To unmold, run a small paring knife along the edges of the pan.
10. With a serrated knife, slice the cake horizontally  into two layers. Ice the bottom layer with butter icing. Place the top layer and spread the icing. Decorate the cake as you please.