Orange Chiffon Cake

Chiffon cakes were a rage way back in the 60s. I remembered baking almost every other day for my friends and friends' friends. They were not sold at bakeries nor cake shops then.

The most popular flavour was the pandan chiffon.

I did not have any coconut cream nor pandan leaves but I have a bottle of orange cordial.

So I made 2 chiffon cakes. I was a little worried as to whether the cakes would turn out well as I have not baked chiffons for almost 20 years. I gave up chiffons and went on to bake other types of cakes - chocolate torte cake, chocolate fudge, blueberry cake etc....

What I used:

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoon corn oil

75 ml orange cordial ( I used Sunquick)

100g Softasilk cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon orange essence or 2 teaspoons orange zest

7 egg whites

100g caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

What I did:

1. Use a hand whisk to mix egg yolks, oil, essence and orange cordial in a bowl.

2. Sift flour and baking powder and add to the yolk mixture and mix well.

3. Add sugar and cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat at medium speed for a few seconds and then turn on to high speed for about 4 to 5 minutes or till egg white is stiff.

4. Pour the yolk mixture to the egg white and carefully mix with a spatula until combined. Do not over mix or the mixture will turn watery.

5. Fill up two 18-cm tube pans and bake in pre-heated oven 160 deg C. for about 50 minutes.

6. Over turn tube pans to cool cakes before removing.

The cake seems over-baked because at 160 deg C, my oven was too hot for chiffon. The cakes over-tanned within 15 minutes before I realised it. I lowered the temperature to 140 deg C. Thankfully the texture of the cake was not affected. It was soft and moist.