Lavender Chiffon Cake

After baking Earl Grey Tea Chiffon Cake, I tried using lavender in a chiffon cake. This Lavender Chiffon Cake has an interesting taste. I personally like it as I love lavender. I didn't manage to photograph the whole cake because we were too greedy and ate some of it.

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.

Sources from here, here and here

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 - Lavender Chiffon Cake

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ tbsp edible dried lavender flower

160g all purposed flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

5 egg yolks

25 g caster sugar

75g vegetable oil

125ml cooled Lavender tea (infuse 1 tbsp lavender flower in 125ml hot water)

5 egg white

70g caster sugar

¼ tsp cream of tartar

Utensil: 20cm tube pan

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 160C.
Infuse 1 tablespoon of lavender with hot water. Set aside to cool.
Blend Lavender flowers in the blender for few seconds.
Sift flour and baking powder. Add salt and blended Lavender. Mix well and set aside.
Beat the egg yolks, 20g sugar and vegetable oil with a hand whisk till sugar dissolves. Add in cooled Lavender tea and combine well.
Add flour mixture in three batches into the egg yolk mixture. Mix well and set aside.
Use a large clean bowl, making sure there’s no water, egg yolk or oil in it. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until bubbles form. Add the cream of tartar. After mixing well, add the 70 grams of caste sugar gradually until stiff peaks form.
Spoon out 1/3 of the meringue and fold into the egg mixture. Lightly fold in the rest of the meringue with a spatula, until just combined.
Pour into a 21cm tube cake pan and bake in preheated oven for about 60 to 70 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Remove cake from the oven and invert the pan. Allow it to cool completely before removing from cake pan.