Lace & Chiffon

When I step inside a bakery in china-town, I immediately look for two things: egg custard buns and chiffon cake. The cake, like the fabric, is exquisitely light and airy. And the texture is laced with such a yummy eggy flavor. Mmm!


Chiffon cake is one of my favorite breakfast foods, a companion of milk tea. I thought it would be a challenge to make it because of the delicate texture, but an investment of $1.59 for cake flour seemed worth it to overthrow my kitchen temerity.

Serving size: 3 small cakes or 1 medium cake; double the recipe for 4+ people
Estimated time: 1 hour

Ingredients A
60 gr cake flour
1.5gr or 1 spoonful baking powder
a pinch of salt
optional powdered flavoring (matcha, cocoa powder) 0.5 gr

Ingredients B
2 large egg yolks
30 gr milk (room temperature is best)
30 gr vegetable oil
10 gr granulated sugar

Ingredients C
egg white from 2 large eggs
1 gr cream of tartar
35 gr granulated sugar

Step 1: Combine ingredients A together, mix well, and sift for homogeneity. Preheat the oven to 320 F.

Step 2: In a dry bowl, whisk the egg yolks lightly until uniform. Add the rest of the ingredients B and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Check for clumps by dipping a spatula in and out; if there are no clumps, you're good to go.

Step 3: Add 1/2 of the flour mix into B. Whisk until uniform. Then incorporate the other half of the flour mix. After mixing, the consistency should be thick and runny; hold of your whisk and your batter should fall back down in a ribbon. Set the batter aside.

Step 4: In a dry large bowl, add the egg white and cream of tartar. Use an electronic egg beater and beat at low speed until pale and foamy.

Step 5: Beat at medium-high speed and add 1/2 of the granulated sugar (ingredient C list) slowly. Continue beating for 3 min. and the mixture should turn white and bubbly.

Step 6: Add the rest of the granulated sugar and beat at high speed until stiff peaks. (To test, lift the whisk up and you should see the meringue stand upright without folding back down. Refer to my macarons recipe for more details.)

Step 7: Add 1/2 of the meringue into the batter from Step 4. Fold confidently to incorporate the batter into the meringue (about 5-7 times). Then add the combined mix to the rest of the meringue and fold until homogeneous (another 7-10 times). Keep as much air as possible.


Step 8: Pour the batter into your bakeware and after putting it into the oven, increase the temperature to 350F. Bake for 12-15 min for small serving sizes or about 25 min for doubled the recipe.

(bad knife-cutting skills)

The surface should be a lightly browned and when you press the center down, it should puff back up. Also, it's best to use your hands to lift the cake from the mold. (If your cake does not bounce back up or is dense and chewy, you probably overfolded.)

No need to ponder what's for breakfast now :)