Mocha Chiffon Cake

Sometimes we need to indulge ourselves with a soft and fluffy cake.  I made mocha chiffon layered coffee fluffed cream.  Top with a cup of tea, what a way to end the day.  That was yesterday's treat!

I have always preferred cakes that are fluffy and soft, probably because I am asian.  Although chiffon cakes originated from California, USA, but the recipe I have is slightly different the original recipe from Mr. Harry Baker back in 1927.  The difference is baking powder.  For cake that is so soft and light, the presence of baking powder actually gives off a slight chemical taste.  So, personally, if I can avoid it, I usually skip the baking powder.

The recipe I am using I obtained from my Taiwanese friend who is currently residing in Boston.

Ingredients:
7 egg whites
5 egg yolks
160 g cake flour (mix with 20 g coco powder)
80 g sugar
160 ml milk and coffee
80 ml vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 tsp vanilla
45 g sugar (for the egg white)

Preheat oven at 345 F and turn down to 335 F when you slide the cake into the oven.
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Now, in order to experiment with the different flavor, I suggest that you keep the proportions about the same and try out with coco powder, banana, orange, lemon, etc.  If you have more liquid, use less milk or if you use a lot of coco powder, reduce the flour slightly.  You can also adjust the sugar level if you want it less sweet.  But since coffee and coco powder can be bitter, I kept the sugar level at 80g for the egg yolks batter and 45 g for egg white.

You'll need two large bowls.  Crack the eggs and separate the egg yolks and whites into separate bowls.  Leave the additional 2 yolks for other baking or cooking.  In the egg yolks bowl, beat and slowly add the sugar.  Continue beating at high until the color becomes pale.  Then add the oil slowly while beating (just like making mayonaise).  And it'll look like mayonaise too.  Then add the milk (or the final liquid) and vanilla into the batter and mix well.  Set aside.
Using clean whisk, beat the egg white while slowly adding the sugar until soft peak.
Then mix the egg white into the egg yolk batter.  First, add 1/3 of the egg white and mix thoroughly.  Then the rest, and mix gently so that the air from the egg white do not escape too much.
Finally, into the traditional chiffon cake mold (pretty much angel cake mold).  Do not butter or oil the mold!  Then into the oven.
Once cake is done, flip it upside down. You can let the hole in the middle of the pan sit on a bottle.  That's pretty much how I did it.  Once cool you can unmold it.  And decorate as you please like I did with whip cream.