If your answer is yes, have you noticed that I have not publish any chiffon cake recipes lately?
This is because the ultra soft chiffon cakes that I have been experimenting are either too soft with excessive moisture or too firm and dry! Hmmm... I must admit that I am fussy and won't share recipes of any food that are not up to my standard!
For the past months, I have been trying to create ultra soft chiffon cakes that contains maximum amount of 1) firm oily ingredients like peanut butter, Nutella and couverture chocolate and 2) alternative sugars like maple syrup, molasses and gula Melaka and found that these cakes are actually very difficult to create.
Without the addition of any chemical agents like baking powder or cream of tartar, the cakes that are loaded with firm oily ingredients tends to heavy and dense. So they are obviously not fluffy and ultra soft at all! And at this point, I still have no concrete solution for this challenge! Sob sob!
It was also difficult to incorporate a significant amount of the alternative sugar with a reduced amount of caster sugar in order to beat a decent meringue and create an ideal chiffon cake that is not too sweet and has substantial amount of flavor from the alternative sugar.
After countless number of trial-and-error baking, I had an idea!!!
I'm using the Swiss meringue method to beat my egg white mixture with an alternative sugar and it works!
Guess what??? This method has actually created the SOFTEST Maple Syrup Chiffon Cake that I ever tasted!!! The cake is so soft and tender that something funny had happened... LOL!
This Maple Syrup Chiffon Cake is the SOFTEST chiffon cake that I ever tasted!!!
HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
Remember these ultra soft chiffon cakes that I have created?
Banana Chiffon Cake
Honey Chiffon Cake
Cranberry Yogurt Chiffon Cake
Cocoa Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Milk Chiffon Cake
Pandan Chiffon Cake with milk
Orange Chiffon Cake
Like Bengawan Solo Ultimate Soft Pandan Chiffon Cake with coconut milk
Kinako / Roasted Soy Flour Chiffon Cake
Cranberry Egg White Chiffon Cake
Zebra Almond Chiffon Cake
With NO chemical agents added to stabilise these cake structures, the success of these ultra soft chiffon cakes is highly depending on their egg white mixtures. In order to create a decent meringue that is stable and smooth with tiny bubbles, these recipes must incorporate a good minimal amount of caster sugar.
Now, I have discovered that heating the egg whites and ANY sugar ingredient to 65°C can create a good meringue too. In fact, it is even BETTER because it can make the chiffon cakes even SOFTER!!!
Knowing this means a big YAY for me! Now, I know that I can use any types of sugar to beat my egg whites mixture. And I don't have to overload my ultra soft chiffon cakes with excessive sugar and still enjoy the maximum taste of the alternative sugar added.
However, this method requires an additional troublesome step of heating the egg whites and sugar to 65°C meaning... It is not straightforward like how I baked my previous ultra soft chiffon cakes that are listed above. To do so, I will have to spend more time and efforts to mix my cake batter and require an candy thermometer to monitor the temperature of my egg white mixture.
Nevertheless, I must say that these extra effort of beating a BETTER meringue is definitely worthwhile especially when I tasted the ultimate softness of the cake!!! In fact, the cake is so soft that it might be difficult to slice even with a serrated knife!
So, what's next? Ultra soft gula Melaka chiffon cake! Ultra soft brown sugar chiffon cake!
I know that some of you might asked me if you can substitute this with that or that with this to make the chiffon cake that you want. I must say that most substitutions and modifications are NOT straightforward and easy because different ingredients can be very different!
So please stay tune if you want more of my ultra soft chiffon cake recipes without going through the pain of countless trial-and-error baking. To get the latest updates from my blog you can follow me at either my Facebook at here or here or my Instagram @zoebakeforhappykids.
Oh! Do you want to know the funny thing that had happened?
Have you noticed that I don't have a picture of this cake as a whole?
From my video, you will see that I was using a rather-modern chiffon cake pan without the side support to bake this cake. Gosh! This pan can be such a pain to use when the tall and well-risen cake is required to be inverted while it is cooled completely. To do so without compressing the top of the cake, I had to place a beer bottle into the middle of the inverted cake pan and let the cake pan stand on the beer bottle. Unfortunately, I placed the beer bottle into the CAKE!!! LOL!!!
You know what? I reckon that the cake must be so soft that I didn't even realize that I had poked the cake with the bottle. Ya. Blame the ultra soft cake! I can't be so sotong! LOL!!!
While the partially damaged cake was cooling, my husband and son came along. They saw the cake was damaged and thought that I didn't need to take a photo of it anymore. So they pinched and ate more than one-third of the cake within the next 5 minutes!!! Hmmm...
So there you go... I had only 4 intact slices of this cake to show in my photo. LOL!
So, in my video, you will see how I baked this ultra soft maple syrup chiffon cake using 1) the Swiss meringue method and 2) the baking strategy with slits for better uniform rising and more flavoursome well-baked cake crust but I'm sorry that it has a missing part of me inverting, unmoulding and slicing the cake. LOL!!!
Yes that I will bake this cake again but I'm too lazy to make another video with the inverting, unmoulding and slicing steps again. Opsie!
This ultra soft cake is made of maple syrup, maple sugar and maple extract.
Very maple-some! Very maple-ish! SUPER SOFT! Very very very very very YUMMY!!!
Like my recipes? To get the latest updates from my blog you can follow me at either my Facebook at here or here or my Instagram @zoebakeforhappykids.
Here's the recipe.
IMPORTANT: Please use the exact weight and make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature. Please do not use maple flavoured syrup which is not the real maple syrup!
Makes one tall and perfect 8-inch (20 cm) chiffon cake
For the egg white mixture:
240g egg whites (about 7)
100g maple syrup
30g maple sugar or caster sugar - this addition is required to boost the sugar content of the added maple syrup
For the egg yolk mixture:
120g milk
30g maple syrup
90g egg yolk (about 6)
50g neutral tasting vegetable oil
1/2 tsp maple extract
120g cake flour with 8% protein
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 170°C.
For the egg white mixture:
Combine egg whites, maple syrup and maple sugar in a large mixing heat proof bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Use a hand whisk to whisk lightly while the mixture is heated to 65-68°C (not more than 70°C). Mixture should look pale, foamy and slightly thickened.
Remove mixture from the heat and transfer mixture into a mixing bowl of an electric mixer. Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites in the lowest speed for at least 10 mins to stabilise the mixture.
While the mixture is beating, prepare and whisk egg yolk mixture.
For the egg yolk mixture:
Place milk and maple syrup in a saucepan or heat proof bowl. Cook mixture in the saucepan using the stove with low heat or microwave mixture in the heat proof bowl with short pulses of low power until the syrup dissolves into the mixture. Do not over-cook the mixture until it boils because overcooking the mixture might cause it to curd!!! Set aside for the mixture to cool slightly, about 10 mins.
Using a hand whisk, whisk egg yolks and oil in a large mixing bowl until mixture is combined. Then, whisk in milk mixture and maple extract until combined. Sift in flour and salt and whisk gently until the batter is smooth and combined.
Back to the beating of egg white mixture:
Increase beating speed to two higher speed and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Do not use too high beating speed. Do not over-beat the mixture. The meringue should be very smooth with tiny bubbles.
Using a hand whisk or a spatula, gently fold in the egg whites to the egg yolks mixture in 3-4 batches. It is ok to mix the 1st batch of egg white more vigorously into the egg yolk mixture but the subsequent portions must be folded in very gently. Make sure that most of the white is not visible after folding.
Pour batter into an un-greased 20 cm chiffon tube pan. Give the pan a gentle tap to remove any large air bubbles.
Chiffon baking options:
Basic - Bake at 170°C for 50 mins or until it is thoroughly baked. IMPORTANT: This cake has to be baked for at least 50 mins in total.
With slits - This chiffon cake baking strategy will help the cake to rise uniformly rising with minimal cracks. The cake will also have a deep flavoursome top and surrounding crust.
Bake at 170°C for at least 10 mins or 160°C for at least 15 mins or until a "skin" has formed on the cake surface and just before the cake surface starts to crack.
At the 10th to 14th minute, remove the cake out from oven. Cut 6 or more slits on the cake surface and place the cake back into the oven immediately. Continue to bake at 140°C for another 50 mins or until it is thoroughly baked. Increase oven temperature to 170°C and bake for another 10 mins until the top skin of the cake is nicely browned.
Please do not bake this cake with too low oven temperature or a tray of boiling water (also known as steam bake). Detailed explanation is at here.
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! The cake is very fragile!!! 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.
Slice and serve. WARNING: This cake is very soft and it can be difficult to slice even using a serrated knife!
Store any uneaten in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. And it is still very soft and moist even on the 3rd day of bake!
Enjoy!!!
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