CAKES - Chiffon Cakes
Carrot Chiffon Cake
July 20, 2017
| Recipe by Bake with Paws
I baked this Carrot Chiffon Cake in a normal square pan. The top of the cake cracked slightly as the oven was a little too hot. I just changed to new oven and was not familiar with it. Other than that the cake is moist and nice.
This Carrot Cake is very soft, light and fluffy compared to the regular Carrot Cake which is a lot more dense.
I would suggest you read the following notes especially if you are don't bake often.
MERINGUE
Meringue plays a very important role in Chiffon Cake. Over beating meringue may cause the cake to crack, while under beating will cause the cake to collapse or it may not rise much.
Use room temperature egg whites, this will yield more volume. Cold egg whites will not whip well. It is easier to separate your eggs when they are still cold, then leave the egg whites aside to come to room temperature.
Make sure your bowl is clean and there is no any trace of egg yolk or fat. Fat will interfere with the formation of meringue.
Use cream of tartar to stabilise the whipped meringue. Cream of tartar is acidic and can be replaced with lemon juice or white vinegar. The replacement ratio is 1:2. If your recipe asks for 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar, then replace with 1/2 tsp lemon juice.
Stages of Meringue:
Soft Peak – The meringue is soft and unable to hold its form, it will drip after you turn your whisk upside down. You will see the ribbon lines, but it disappears the moment you stop whisking.
Firm Peak – The peak will hold and fold back slightly when you turn your whisk upside down. The meringue is glossy and the ribbon lines stay. This is the stage we look for if you do not want your cake to crack.
Stiff Peak – The peak will hold straight and doesn’t fold back when you turn the whisk upside down. The meringue is very glossy and thick too. Most chiffon cake recipes will prescribe this stage but the cake will easily crack when baking. However, if you don’t mind the cake cracking then it is fine. It doesn’t affect how the cake tastes.
Over-beating – The meringue looks grainy, broken and dull. We do not want this stage in baking as you will not be able to fold it into the flour batter nicely.
OVEN TEMPERATURE AND BAKING TIME
Do note that the baking temperature and timing provided are what works for my oven and should also be regarded as a guide only. Every oven behaves a little differently, so please adjust accordingly for your oven.
It would be good to use an oven thermometer when baking. This will help you understand and know the actual temperature you are baking at. The actual temperature in the oven may not be the same as the oven’s setting. Leave the thermometer on the same rack where you place your baking.
I usually bake cakes with top and bottom heats setting. I don’t encourage baking cakes with fan-forced mode as this setting uses a fan to circulate the hot air for quick baking or cooking at high temperature and may result in cracks on the cake. However, if fan mode is used, it is recommended to reduce the temperature setting by about 20C if using a fan-forced mode.
WATER BATH vs DRY BAKE
For a water bath, the cake pan sits within another pan filled with a little water. Place the cake pan within a larger pan and pour hot water into the outer pan until it comes up to a level of 1.5cm – 2 cm. Place the whole thing in oven and bake.
The benefit of water bath is that it will moderate the baking temperature and prevent the cakes from cracking. The cake texture will be very moist too.
Chiffon cake baked without a water bath is more brown and crumbly. Some may prefer this texture. Please make your own choice between water bath or dry bake. This is a very individual personal preference.
If you have any questions regarding this recipe or any other post, please leave me a comment in the “LEAVE A COMMENT” link and I will reply you as soon as possible.
Recipe - Carrot Chiffon Cake
Yields: One 6 inch square cake
INGREDIENTS:
4 egg yolks
50g coconut/olive oil/vege. oil
60g soybean milk/fresh milk
100g grated carrot
85g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon (reduce to ¼ tsp if you do not want so strong cinnamon flavor)
¼ tsp salt
4 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
60g castor sugar (please add more sugar if you like sweeter)
Utensil:
6 inch square cake tin (greased the sides and line the bottom with non-stick baking paper. Wrap the pan with aluminium foil so that the water doesn’t get into the pan)
METHOD:
- Shred carrot with grater. Keep aside.
- Use hand, whisk egg yolks, coconut oil and milk. Then add grated carrot and mix well. Set aside.
- Sift flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt. Then add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix until all well combined with the hand whisk.
- Using an electric mixer, whisk egg white until frothy before adding cream of tartar and continue to beat until foamy. Gradually add in sugar and whisk until firm peaks formed (firm peaks is between soft peaks and stiff peaks. The meringue will curve a slightly when you turn the whisk)
- Mix 1/3 of meringue with yolk batter with a hand whisk. Add another 1/3 portion and fold gently with the whisk. Then pour in balance of meringue. Fold gently using a spatula until well incorporated.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and tap pan lightly to remove air bubbles.
- Bake in a water bath for 60 minutes at 160°C. Remove water bath and aluminium foil, then return the cake to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
- When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and drop the pan at a height of 10 cm onto a table top. This will prevent cake from sinking.
- Unmould as soon as you can. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and invert the cake on non stick baking paper. Peel off baking paper from the base and re-invert onto a rack to cool.
Labels:
CAKES - Chiffon Cakes,
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI had tried to bake the Carrot Cake, please advise why does the carrot sink to the bottom of the cake.
Thank you.
Hi, thanks for trying. It could be your batter is too runny and the shredded carrot sank. I am just guessing.
ReplyDeleteCheers :)