Orange Chiffon Cake

I am always happy to find people who, like myself, share the same passion for food,  or are passionate about cooking and baking with the same intensity but am happiest when my daughter, told me to look at her pictures in facebook.  Before i could log in to facebook, i thought that it would be pretty pictures of my grand daughter, but no, they were pictures of her bakings and cookings.  I was so proud of her, her butter marble cake was so well baked.  Now, i know we are in the same page, i have promised to teach her how to make Chiffon Cakes and for a start, i have to post this recipe which i have depended on to produce the best chiffon cakes ever.  My cousin, Audrey, who i have shared this recipe with, has been making so many successful chiffon cakes, more than i can count.

Ingredients:

A
4 egg yolks
5 tbsps fine granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp  orange paste
Zest from 1 large orange

B
3/4 cups cake flour
1/3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tbsp
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

C
5 egg whites
1/8 tsp Cream of tarter
7 tbsps fine granulated nsugar

Method

Preheat 350f

Measure all ingredients A,B and C

Pass ingredient B through a fine sieve for 3 times, to aerate.

Beat egg yolks with half the sugar in ingredient A until light, then add in the remaining half of the sugar and the vegetable oil.  When mixture is well mixed, add  orange juice, zest and orange paste.  Beat well, then add in ingredient B.

Whisk egg whites in a clean dry bowl in medium speed, add in cream of tartar and continue to whisk until soft peak before adding in the sugar slowly 1 tbsp at a time.  Whisk until glossy stiff peaks - not too stiff otherwise too dry.

Add 1/3 of the whisked egg whites to the egg batter and stir in until egg batter is loosened and tempered.  Then add in all the egg whites, this time fold in gently with a large spatula,  using the cut and fold method (cut down the spatula at 6 o'clock, then scraping the bottom of the bowl and fold the mixture to the top, turning bowl as you fold).  Repeat this folding gently.

Bang bowl onto counter to remove bubbles.

Pour batter into UNGREASED  20 cm/8 inches tube pan with the bowl as near to tube pan as possible.  Level the batter in tube pan by turning the tube pan in a jiggling movement.  Using a chopstick or a thin spatula, run through the batter to remove big bubbles.  Bang on counter again to remove more buddles.

Put in the lower 1/3 rack of the oven, bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce 325f  and bake further 30 minutes until a prick test comes out clean, then cake is cooked through.

Remove from oven and invert tube pan either with tube on a bottle, steel funnel.  (inverting tube pan using the 3 legs of the tube pan is not as good, as it is too low and the heat from the cake hits back and moisten the surface of the cake)

Wait until cake is cooled before using a flat narrow knife, scrape the tube from top to bottom to dislodge the cake.  Scrape the sides of cake, positioning the knife as close to the side of tube pan as possibly.  Push cake up from the loosen base of tube pan.  Then, scrape the bottom of the base of tube pan to dislodge cake.

Slice cake using a serrated knife in a sawing motion so that slices will be nice and neat.  Do not press on cake.

Enjoy