Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

This is another chiffon cake attempt. I was surfing the net and saw HHB's Earl Grey Chiffon Cake. Since my family loves drinking this tea, I think they'll enjoy having it in a cake too.

I'm not an expert in baking, and I'm definitely a novice in chiffon making. But I attempted to modify the recipe slightly. Original recipe uses dried tea leaves in the cake but I infuse the tea bags into the water to get the fragrant instead as I wasn't sure how the cake will turn out with tea leaves in it. Will it cause the cake to become bitter? I better take this risk as I don't like failure.

While whisking the egg whites, I got distracted and over-whisked the eggs without realising. It happened too fast, just that split second and the whites were overwhipped, slightly. The top of the whisked egg whites still has it's shine. I decided to go ahead to bake the cake and luckily, the cake turned out quite alright (ie edible). The texture is still soft but slightly compact.

The family likes it so I'm definitely going to bake this again.

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake
Ingredients(makes one 18cm cake)
(A)
1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea powder (about 3 satchels)
100g cake flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil
75ml water

(B)
3 egg whites
40g caster sugar

Method

1. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature. (It is easier to separate eggs when they are cold.)
3. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add in sugar, in 3 separate additions and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turn pale.
4. Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the water. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. Add in the earl grey powder and mix well.
5. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
6. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
7. Pour batter into a 18cm (7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Bang the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
8. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 45 ~ 50mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.