Chiffon cake versus Angel Cake. What is the exact difference? If you look at the ingredients of the chiffon cake and an angel cake, it's really not that hard to see that chiffon cake has fats in it, whereas angel cake doesn't. They are both baked similarly, needed to leave standing upside down till cooled after baking, but you can't deny that they are indeed different.
Chiffon cake on the other hand, incorporates fats, like oil and egg yolks. It incorporates the dry ingredients with everything else, excluding egg whites, which is beaten till stiff peaks and then folded in the batter to give the rise. Chiffon cake may incorporates baking powder for extra rise, as it contains more ingredients that make the cake heavier.
Angel cake, as the name would suggest, it's as light as an angel, as white as one too. This is because it uses just egg whites, sugar and flour. A very light and fluffy sponge cake, without use of any fat, but is very high in sugar level, as they are needed to stabilise the beaten egg whites that is needed to form the structure of the cake.
Too complicated? Just remember:
Chiffon cake: HAS FATS.
Angel Cake: NO FATS.
Which do you prefer?
Chiffon cake on the other hand, incorporates fats, like oil and egg yolks. It incorporates the dry ingredients with everything else, excluding egg whites, which is beaten till stiff peaks and then folded in the batter to give the rise. Chiffon cake may incorporates baking powder for extra rise, as it contains more ingredients that make the cake heavier.
Angel cake, as the name would suggest, it's as light as an angel, as white as one too. This is because it uses just egg whites, sugar and flour. A very light and fluffy sponge cake, without use of any fat, but is very high in sugar level, as they are needed to stabilise the beaten egg whites that is needed to form the structure of the cake.
Too complicated? Just remember:
Chiffon cake: HAS FATS.
Angel Cake: NO FATS.
Which do you prefer?
Yup, that's my cutie, Golden. Whenever I bake, he will just stick around me, hoping to get something to eat in return. Especially when I bring my baked goods downstairs to have a photo shoot, he follows me down and looks at me, but when I look back at him, he just pretends nothing is happening. (awww....)
Anyway, back to my cake. (Pulls everyone's attention back to my cake, instead of my cutie because I think he steals all the attention there.)
Some people are afraid of doing chiffon cakes, or angel cake. Well, there is actually nothing to be really afraid of, once you know the technique of folding.
What makes a sponge cake rise, except for the artificial rising agents, is the beaten egg. In chiffon and angel cake, it is the egg whites that contributes to the volume and structure of the cake.
Some people are afraid of doing chiffon cakes, or angel cake. Well, there is actually nothing to be really afraid of, once you know the technique of folding.
What makes a sponge cake rise, except for the artificial rising agents, is the beaten egg. In chiffon and angel cake, it is the egg whites that contributes to the volume and structure of the cake.
When you beat an egg white, you notice that the white turns frothy first, with small bubbles forming on the top. As you continue to beat, the whites will become stiffer and stiffer till you get stiff peaks, and if you continue beating it, the whites will break down into chunks (which we don't want to). Sugar is added in slowly, be it in solid form (sugar in its solid form), or liquid (boiled sugar), into the beating whites to form what we call as, meringue. This sugar creates a stable structure in the whites, and turns the whites glossy as well.
When a recipe say beat the ingredients, you are actually trying to add in air into the ingredients, making it fluffy, and light, and also lighter in colour. That's the reason why well, egg whites (not really white but yellowish), actually become white, buttercream can become really white in colour. A trick! Yes, a trick I teaching you now. If you want your buttercream to be really fluffy, soft, and white like snow, beat your butter with the sugar until it turns like it. I mean, time is a virtue, isn't it?
When a recipe say beat the ingredients, you are actually trying to add in air into the ingredients, making it fluffy, and light, and also lighter in colour. That's the reason why well, egg whites (not really white but yellowish), actually become white, buttercream can become really white in colour. A trick! Yes, a trick I teaching you now. If you want your buttercream to be really fluffy, soft, and white like snow, beat your butter with the sugar until it turns like it. I mean, time is a virtue, isn't it?
One question I kept asking myself when I learn to bake is.. How to measure an ingredient using cups? You may have come across many recipes, especially American recipes, they measure ingredients in cups. Before I have a measuring cup, I always try to find online converter for ingredients in terms of weight measurements, because I was taught so in my home economics, duh. However, measuring cups are one of the most useful things sometimes. Why? To measure dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, and wet ingredients such as milk, oil. I mean, I don't have to bring out my weighing machine to weigh my ingredients.
Save time huh? Yes, maybe...
But what about things like.. butter? Apples? Raspberries?
I mean... I wouldn't want to measure my butter by stuffing the whole softened butter into the cup before I use it, nor that I want to cut my apples into identical sizes just to make sure it's actually one cup. You may say, "It doesn't really matter if you miss one or two cubes of apples!" Yes, maybe.. But butter wise? 10grams and 20 grams kind of make a lot of different. Packed and unpacked brown sugar, flour measures different weights as well. How packed is your cup? How loose is it? They may add up an error of like 10-15 grams if you were to do it the wrong way.
So I came out with a way, at least I think it is a way. I usually convert my ingredients into weight measurements, unless it's liquid, or that I am lazy to do so, like making a quick waffle.
1 cup of flour = 130g
1 cup of sugar = 200g
1 cup of butter = 2 sticks = 227g
.....
Save time huh? Yes, maybe...
But what about things like.. butter? Apples? Raspberries?
I mean... I wouldn't want to measure my butter by stuffing the whole softened butter into the cup before I use it, nor that I want to cut my apples into identical sizes just to make sure it's actually one cup. You may say, "It doesn't really matter if you miss one or two cubes of apples!" Yes, maybe.. But butter wise? 10grams and 20 grams kind of make a lot of different. Packed and unpacked brown sugar, flour measures different weights as well. How packed is your cup? How loose is it? They may add up an error of like 10-15 grams if you were to do it the wrong way.
So I came out with a way, at least I think it is a way. I usually convert my ingredients into weight measurements, unless it's liquid, or that I am lazy to do so, like making a quick waffle.
1 cup of flour = 130g
1 cup of sugar = 200g
1 cup of butter = 2 sticks = 227g
.....
Of course, you may have your own ways to do it. But I am just gonna stick to mine. Of course, not measuring weights of a teaspoon of things. That will kill me, I think.
Anyway, back to the recipe. My very own recipe. YES! I know, I know.. Can it be trusted? Well, the only way is to try it yourself. But I can tell you, this cake tastes sweet, but it's not that kind of normal sweetness. It's a kind of very rounded, smooth sweetness, from the caramelised bananas and lovely spongy cake. Tell me how you feel about it when you try one.
Add 1 cup of bananas, yes, 1 cup of mashed bananas, roughly 2 large ones = 240g. How I know? I measured. Add in your brown sugar, and cinnamon and mix together.
Anyway, back to the recipe. My very own recipe. YES! I know, I know.. Can it be trusted? Well, the only way is to try it yourself. But I can tell you, this cake tastes sweet, but it's not that kind of normal sweetness. It's a kind of very rounded, smooth sweetness, from the caramelised bananas and lovely spongy cake. Tell me how you feel about it when you try one.
Add 1 cup of bananas, yes, 1 cup of mashed bananas, roughly 2 large ones = 240g. How I know? I measured. Add in your brown sugar, and cinnamon and mix together.
Place it in a aluminium foil and bake it till you smell the bananas! Lovely caramelised banana. Perfect!
Separate egg yolks and whites and set the whites aside for later use. Add oil to the yolks, with milk or water if you are allergic to it, and half of the sugar. And then.. beat the hell out of it! Fluff, fluff, FLUFF!
Well, not really fluffy, because of the addition of liquid, but you will want to beat till it's well combined, at least. By now, your bananas should be ready!
Ooh yes, did I say.. Place the bananas on a tray? Well, you see what will happen when you don't? Don't say I didn't warn you about it. Awww.. Cinnamon bananas..
Let the bananas cool down, then add into the yolk mixture, beating it. Then add in your dry ingredients.
You may think.. OMG.. Have I done something wrong? My batter just shrink till a very thick paste! All my beating is all gone! Nope.. You have done nothing wrong. Beating not only aerates the mixture, but to combine the mixture together. It's mostly okay to beat your liquids, so that they combine together properly. Especially oil, it doesn't really combine well, does it?
Beating ensures that everything is mixed well together, so you get to taste everything in every bite! Well, that's at least is my logic. But it makes sense, doesn't it?
Beating ensures that everything is mixed well together, so you get to taste everything in every bite! Well, that's at least is my logic. But it makes sense, doesn't it?
Next, beat your egg whites, slowly adding remaining of the sugar that you reserved, till stiff peaks. Just as shown!
You see the garlics on my table? Yeah, my parents are obsessed with this.. Black garlic thingy. Which rumoured to have health benefits, such as lower cholesterol, blood sugar etc. How true? I don't know. But the smell of the garlics are really.. Wuufooo.. You get what I mean. I guess vampires won't come to my house whenever my parents are doing these.
You see the garlics on my table? Yeah, my parents are obsessed with this.. Black garlic thingy. Which rumoured to have health benefits, such as lower cholesterol, blood sugar etc. How true? I don't know. But the smell of the garlics are really.. Wuufooo.. You get what I mean. I guess vampires won't come to my house whenever my parents are doing these.
Adding a third of the egg whites to the banana mixture first to loosen it up, because the batter is really kinda thick. Don't be afraid to knock out some of the air of the whites here. We want to loosen the batter before adding the rest in.
Then fold in the remaining egg whites.. I mean now, "fold gently..." Your mind should read that sentence in a soft, slow and calm mood... That's right... Cut and fold from bottom up and around and repeat folding process till homogeneous.
Slowly pour mixture into ungreased tin. And it must be ungreased.. I know it will be a bit difficult to take out later, but if you grease it, your chiffon cake will be a flat cake. Trust me. We all want a fluffy, spongy cake, don't we?
Bake at moderate oven
180°C for about 50-60 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. I am showing you a photo of my oven at home, because guess what? This oven is older than I do. It's close to 30 years old, and it still work perfectly! Convection oven with microwave. How cool is that? I mean, things that were built last time were made to last. I'm kinda sad that nowadays, products made are no longer as durable as they were before. Profit-driven? Most probably. Ooh well... Formation of the cake! It's actually kinda cool seeing how the thing rises in the oven and sets.
You know it's roughly done when there is a slight crack on the top of the cake. Don't worry. No one can tell! Except for me and you.
Now, this following step is very important! After taking the tin out from the oven, immediately turn it over and let it stand upside down on an object! Reason being, the cake will dip and flatten if you don't do it. Let Mother Nature use her strength to pull the cake down. You will be fine. Let it cool completely before trying to remove it.
Tata~!! You are done! I mean really.. Done! Phew.. You done it! What's left is to remove it from the tin, using a blunt knife, or spatula, running the sides, the inner circle and the bottom to remove the cake!
Ingredients
Caramelised Bananas:
1 cup, 240g mashed bananas
60g brown sugar
1 3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Chiffon base:
250g plain flour
50g corn flour
1 tbsp baking powder
215g caster sugar, spilt about equal halves.
1 tsp salt
5 eggs, separated
80ml oil
80ml milk
Caramelised Banana
Directions
1) Make the caramelised banana. Mix the ingredients together in a small tray or aluminium foil on a tray and bake it at 180°C for 5- 10 mins, or until you smell the caramelised bananas. Take out and let cool aside.
2) Make the chiffon base. In a mixing bowl, mix plain flour, corn flour and baking powder together using a wire whisk. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks, oil, milk, half of the sugar, and salt till fluffy. Add the mixed flour and stir till just combine.
3) Using a clean bowl and an electric mixer, add the egg whites and beat till foamy. Slowly adding in the remaining sugar with mixer running and beat till stiff peaks form.
4) Add 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture and stir till combine. You want to loosen the batter here before adding the rest of the egg whites in. When it is combined, add the remaining whites and fold it in gently till homogeneous. Pour into an ungreased 9 inch tube pan and bake at 180°C for 50-60 mins, or until a toothpick inserted inside comes out clean.
5) Immediately flip the tin upside down and place on a bottle or a wire rack to let cool completely. Using a spatula or knife, ease the sides and centre of the tube to remove the cake after it's cool. Enjoy.
This cake will last up to 4-5 days in room temperature.
Caramelised Bananas:
1 cup, 240g mashed bananas
60g brown sugar
1 3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Chiffon base:
250g plain flour
50g corn flour
1 tbsp baking powder
215g caster sugar, spilt about equal halves.
1 tsp salt
5 eggs, separated
80ml oil
80ml milk
Caramelised Banana
Directions
1) Make the caramelised banana. Mix the ingredients together in a small tray or aluminium foil on a tray and bake it at 180°C for 5- 10 mins, or until you smell the caramelised bananas. Take out and let cool aside.
2) Make the chiffon base. In a mixing bowl, mix plain flour, corn flour and baking powder together using a wire whisk. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks, oil, milk, half of the sugar, and salt till fluffy. Add the mixed flour and stir till just combine.
3) Using a clean bowl and an electric mixer, add the egg whites and beat till foamy. Slowly adding in the remaining sugar with mixer running and beat till stiff peaks form.
4) Add 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the yolk mixture and stir till combine. You want to loosen the batter here before adding the rest of the egg whites in. When it is combined, add the remaining whites and fold it in gently till homogeneous. Pour into an ungreased 9 inch tube pan and bake at 180°C for 50-60 mins, or until a toothpick inserted inside comes out clean.
5) Immediately flip the tin upside down and place on a bottle or a wire rack to let cool completely. Using a spatula or knife, ease the sides and centre of the tube to remove the cake after it's cool. Enjoy.
This cake will last up to 4-5 days in room temperature.