suemunzlinger's Recipe

Chiffon Cake

Category: Desserts

Chiffon cake should have the airy height of angel food cake with the richness of pound cake. For our chiffon cake recipe, we eliminated the unnecessary step of sifting the dry ingredients. We also perfected the method for beating our eggs to avoid little pockets of cooked egg whites.

Serves 10 to 12


Separate the eggs when they are cold; it is easier. You will need a tube pan with a removable bottom for this recipe. . If your pan is footless, invert the cake onto the neck of a wine bottle to cool.

Ingredients
5 large eggs, separated (see note)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/3 cups plain cake flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. WHIP WHITES Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. With electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip egg whites and cream of tartar on medium high speed until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. With mixer running, slowly add 2 tablespoons sugar and whip until just stiff and glossy, about 1 minute; set aside.

2. FINISH BATTER Combine flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Whisk water, oil, egg yolks, and vanilla in medium bowl until smooth. Whisk wet mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Whisk one-third whipped egg whites into batter, then gently fold in remaining whites, 1 scoop at a time, until well combined. Scrape mixture into 16-cup ungreased tube pan.

3. BAKE CAKE Bake until tooth pick inserted into center comes out clean and cracks in cake appear dry, 55 to 65 minutes. Cool, inverted, to room temperature, about 3 hours. To unmold, Run a knife along edges of pan to release cake.
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Chiffon cake is baked in an ungreased pan. Why? The stiffly beaten egg whites need to cling to the pan to rise. If the pan were greased, they could not. Chiffon cake is cooled in its pan upside down while suspended in the air. (If you de-panned the hot cake, it would collapse under its own weight.) Once the cake is cool, pry it out with care. Here is how:


1. When the cake is cool, turn the pan right side up and run a flexible knife around the tube and outer edge.

2. Use the tube to pull the cake out of the pan and set it on an inverted baking pan. Cut the bottom free.

3. Now invert the cake onto a serving plate and gently twist the tube to remove.


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