Orange Chiffon Cake

I got this cake on my first attempt, but only because I used the lemon chiffon recipe I've done many times already ^^U

I made a few changes to the recipe in order to adecuate it to the orange flavour. The changes were:

1. Instead of using 40g+20g+1 tablespoon of honey I used the original 40g+40g of sugar.  
2. Instead of using all the juice of a lemon I used the juice of a half BIG orange.  
3. I added some orange wedges, completely peeled, to add some extra flavour.  

So, my recipe it's as follows:

Ingredients:

100g cake flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks

3 egg whites
80g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil
50ml water
juice of 1/2 big sized orange
zest of 1 big sized orange

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 170ºC.
2. Grease the bottom of the mould with butter.
3. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
4. Separate egg yolks/whites.
5. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add 40g of sugar in 2 separate additions and whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turns pale (it doesn't really matter if the wisk is manual or electric).
6. Pour in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the water, followed by the orange juice. Add the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. Add in the orange zest and mix well.
7. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Gradually beat in the rest of the sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
8. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
9. Pour batter into the mould. Tap the mould lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
10. OPTIONAL. Peel some orange wedges and add them to the top of the batter. The wedges will start to fall slowly to the bottom but don't worry, they won't get cooked (though the'll make the botton of the chiffon look ugly -_-U).
11. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 170ºC for 45 minutes (for me this is the exact time and temperature, but it can vary from one oven to another) or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
12. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before unmould (if you're using a metal pan then you should invert it inmediatly after taking it from the oven).

The idea of adding the orange wedges resulted to be one of the best ones I've had so far ^^ The wedges were uncooked, which helped to keep the cake moist for a few days and gave a fresher taste to it. Also, I was scared of not getting enough orange flavour but my worries proved to be unnecessary, because the cake had a nice and strong flavour ^o^

Coffee chiffon cake

I've made before lemon chiffon cakes and I finally managed to get it right, so I was confident enough to try another recipe. I was wondering how a coffe flavoured chiffon would be like, and when I saw in other blogs that the coffe chiffon cake's recipe was very similar to the lemon one that I've all ready made, I decided to adapt my recipe as it has demonstrated to be fool-proof. This time I substituted the lemon juice for freshly brewed coffee, the lemon zest for instant coffee powder and the water for milk. Also, I went back to the original 80gr of white sugar, instead of adding honey.

The resulting chiffon cake is not exactly what I was looking for (I wanted a coffee taste kinda like the one of the tiramisu), but it was still very good. Eating a portion of this leaves you the same after taste as drinking a cup of black coffee, though you can't really feel it while you're eating (it's more like a regusto). Probably next time I'll be adding a tablespoon of cocoa powder to "solve" this ;-)

So, my recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:        

100g cake flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
80g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil
50ml milk
30ml coffee
2 tablespoons coffee powder

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 170ºC.
2. Grease the bottom of the mould with butter.
3. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
4. Separate egg yolks/whites.
5. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add 40g of sugar in 2 separate additions and whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turns pale (it doesn't really matter if the wisk is manual or electric).
6. Pour in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the milk, followed by the coffee. Add the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. Add in the instant coffee powder and mix well.
7. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Gradually beat in the rest of the sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
8. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
9. Pour batter into the mould. Tap the mould lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
10. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 170ºC for 45 minutes (for me this is the exact time and temperature, but it can vary from one oven to another) or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
11. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before unmould (if you're using a metal pan then you should invert it inmediatly after taking it from the oven).

Fresh start: Lemon Chiffon Cake

I usually can't get a nice tasting cake on my first attemp and this one it's not an exception. On my fourth attemp I finally managed to bake it right!

I got the original recipe from Happy Homebaking, but I made a few changes because I felt it was better this way. The changes were:

1. Instead of using 40g+40g of sugar I used 40g+20g+1 tablespoon of honey (don't you think that lemon & honey make a nice couple?).  
2. I didn't measure the amount of lemon juice, I simply use ALL the  juice of a medium sized lemon.  
3. The vegetable oil used was olive oil (it's the best you can find here, in Spain).  
4. The mold wasn't plain round or metalic, it's made of silicone and has a pretty flowery pattern ^^

So, my recipe it's as follows:

Ingredients:

100g cake flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks

3 egg whites
60g caster sugar
1 tablespoon honey
50ml vegetable oil
50ml water
juice of 1 medium size lemon
zest of 1 medium size lemon

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 170ºC.
2. Grease the bottom of the mould with butter.
3. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
4. Separate egg yolks/whites.
5. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add 20g of sugar and the honey in 2 separate additions and whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turns pale (it doesn't really matter if the wisk is manual or electric).
6. Pour in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the water, followed by the lemon juice. Add the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. Add in the lemon zest and mix well.
7. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Gradually beat in the rest of the sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
8. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
9. Pour batter into the mould. Tap the mould lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
10. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 170ºC for 45 minutes (for me this is the exact time and temperature, but it can vary from one oven to another) or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
11. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before unmould (if you're using a metal pan then you should invert it inmediatly after taking it from the oven).

The resulting cake was moist and had a strong lemon flavour ^^