Now, Chinese New Year is sort of done and dusted and all the hard work is over...
Have you been baking heaps for Chinese New Year?
Do you have heaps of leftover egg whites in the freezer after baking heaps of yolks-rich goodies like pineapple tarts, cookies and cake lapis?
I know. I'm the same too!
And I do have a few really good egg white recipes to use and they are:
- Always-Successful-Italian-Meringue French macaron recipe at here, here, here, here, here, here and here
- Chocolate Meringues Emoji Poo at here
- Very Moist Egg White Mocha Marbled Butter Cake at here
Next, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND this Ultra Soft Cranberries Egg White Chiffon Cake!!! Wanna know more?
Ultra Soft Cranberry Egg White Chiffon Cake
Why is this non-egg-yolk cake an Egg White Chiffon Cake? Not an Angel Food Cake?
Although both cakes are made with mostly egg whites, they are actually different.
Based on my research, I see that most typical Angel Food Cake recipes contain 9-12 egg whites with cream of tartar to stabilise the egg white structure, about 1 1/2 cups (300g) caster sugar, about 1 cup cake flour and has no added oil or fat. Some recipes contains added water and some don't. Besides, all recipes has no added milk and no any other liquid ingredients.
Unlike an Angel Food Cake, I would say that mine is more like a chiffon cake because it has added oil and milk and has NO cream of tartar to make the cake softer and less rigid.
The best thing about my recipe is it contains a lot LESSER sugar (just 120g) than most typical Angel Food Cake and yet it is SO SOFT and delicious!!! Plus not to worry... This all-egg-white cake won't have any eggy aftertaste!!! YAY!!!
As a matter of fact, it is so soft that it is as feathery light and tender as tofu when it is freshly baked and it can stay extremely soft and moist for the next 3 days! So amazing!!!
It is extra amazing that the added dried cranberries won't even sink to the bottom of the soft tofu-like cake! What can I say? YAY!!! LOL!!!
I have baked an Angel Food Cake before at here but it is never as good as this egg white chiffon cake.
Every slice of this cake is so heavenly moist, soft and tender!!!
See! This cake is so ultimately SOFT and cottony!!! And it can't be any softer!!!
Told ya... This recipe is HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
Watch my video to see how I baked this cake.
It can be easy to bake this cake if you follow my recipe to the tee and also take note of these baking tips:
1) First and most fundamentally, please use the exact weight of the ingredients and make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature.
2) With NO added cream of tartar, the success of this chiffon cake is highly depending on the egg white mixture. So, please be aware that beating the egg white mixture into its best form is very important! Hence, please follow my egg-whites-beating instructions to the tee. Please do not rush or take any short-cut to skip any steps. And never beat the egg whites with too high speed and never over-beat the egg white mixture!!!
3) You need at least 120g sugar to beat the egg white mixture into its best form. Please do not reduce this amount of sugar added. If you think that the cake is still too sweet for you, you can either use 50% sugar reduced dried cranberries like what I did or add 50-100g dried cranberries instead of 150g. I must admit that the addition of 150g of dried cranberries in one 20 cm chiffon cake is actually very generous and it can make the cake a lot more sweeter than what you think.
4) With the maximal amount of moisture, this cake will rise rapidly during baking and will shrink a lot more after cooling. For this reason, I prefer to bake the cake with cool moderate oven temperature at 130 to 150°C and baked it longer for at least 70 mins in total. When doing so, please be aware that the temperature setting in different ovens can vary. For example, my Ariston oven is typically warmer than most ovens and so I'm baking my cake at 130°C. If your oven is not strongly heated like mine, you will have to bake yours at 150°C which is has always been the standard temperature to bake the extremely tender soufflé cakes with maximal moisture.
5) It's always better to over-bake this cake than to under-bake it and this step is important!!! Nothing is worse than eating an under-cooked cake with dense texture and uncooked eggy taste. If the top of the cake turns brown too quickly, cover the top of the cake very loosely with a piece of foil after 40-50 mins of baking and continue to bake for at least 70 mins in total.
6) NO STEAM bake, please!!! I know this is all personal preference but I don't prefer eating chiffon cakes that taste like steamed. Do you? Not to worry... I can assure you that this cake will be very moist and you don't need to steam-bake it for any extra moisture.
What happens if your oven temperature is slightly too high and cause the cake to crack? Just reduce your oven temperature to 130°C but not lower than 125°C. Please please please do not bake this cake with too low oven temperature or bake with a tray of boiling water (also known as steam-baking). Not to worry... It's ok that your cake has cracks! It is the taste that matters. Sorry for being such a nag... It is always better to over-bake the cake than to under-bake it! And NO STEAM bake, please!!! LOL!!!
7) Like my other ultra soft chiffon cakes, this fragile and cottony soft chiffon cake needs to be handled with tender loving care! Please do not unmould the cake by pressing it!!! To unmould, please use a blunt thin plastic spatula or knife to run along the cake's edges and gently push the cake out from the pan. Plus, please use a serrated knife to slice the cake.
8) This recipe makes one tall and perfect 8-inch (20 cm) chiffon cake. So, please do not ask me to calculate the amount of ingredients required to bake your chiffon cake in different sizes. To do so, you can either I) prepare the same amount of batter and bake a smaller cake using your larger pan or II) prepare the same amount of batter and use partial the amount to bake a smaller cake cake using your smaller pan or III) buy a 20cm chiffon cake pan! Cheers!
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Here's my recipe.
For the cranberries:
150g dried cranberries
- I used the 50% sugar reduced ones. See the above baking tip 3 if you prefer the cake not to be too sweet
adequate cake flour to coat
For the no-egg mixture:
60g neutral tasting vegetable oil
90g milk
1 tsp vanilla paste or 2 tsp vanilla extract, optional
100g cake flour with 8% protein
1/4 tsp salt
For the egg white mixture:
300g egg whites (about 9)
120g caster sugar- please do not reduce this essential amount of sugar any further! See the above baking tip 3
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F.
For the cranberries:
Coat dried cranberries in adequate cake flour. Sift to remove any excess un-coated flour. Set aside.
For the no-egg mixture:
Using a hand whisk, whisk oil, milk and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until mixture is combined. Sift in flour and salt and whisk gently until the batter is smooth and combined.
For the egg white mixture:
Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites in the lowest speed for at least 10 mins to stabilise the mixture. Increase beating speed to the next higher speed. While beating, add sugar gradually. Increase beating speed to another higher speed and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. The meringue should be very smooth with tiny bubbles. Do not over-beat the mixture.
Using a hand whisk or a spatula, gently fold in the egg whites into no-egg mixture in 3-4 batches. It is ok to mix in the 1st batch of egg white more vigorously but the subsequent portions must be folded in very gently. Make sure that most of the white is not visible after folding.
To prevent the dried cranberries from sinking to the bottom of the pan, pour a small portion of batter into an un-greased 20 cm chiffon tube pan that is adequate enough to fill the base of the pan.
Stir the flour-coated dried cranberries very gently into the remaining batter and pour all batter into the pan. Give the pan a very gentle tap and use a skewer to draw a zigzag to remove air bubbles on the surface of the batter.
Bake for 10 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 130°C / 265ºF to 150°C / 300ºF depending on your oven heating (please see the above baking tips 4, 5 and 6) and continue to bake for 60 mins or until it is thoroughly baked. Cover the top of the cake very loosely with a piece of foil when it turns brown too quickly and continue to bake until the cake is baked thoroughly. Important: Do not under-bake the cake! If your cake is too pale after 70 mins of baking, you can increase oven temperature back to 160°C / 320°F and bake for another 5-10 mins until the top and sides of the cake is golden brown.
Note: My Ariston oven tends to be strong heating and I'm baking my cake at 160°C / 320°F for the first 10 mins and 130°C / 265ºF for next 60 mins.
After baking, drop the cake from a 20-30 cm height immediately onto your tabletop to minimise shrinkage. Then, invert the cake immediately to cool on a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before removing it from the pan. Important: Do not unmould the cake by pressing it! To unmould, please use a blunt thin plastic spatula or knife to run along the cake's edges and gently push the cake out from the pan.The cake is fragile and so it is easier to slice with a serrated knife. Enjoy!
Store any uneaten in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. This cake is so soft that it will stay very soft and moist for the next 3 days!
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