Lemon chiffon

I had a lemon leftover and had no idea what to do with it. Since the orange chiffon was so successful, I decided to adapt it for the lemon recipe. The only difference I made was to increase the sugar.

Ingredients (for 26cm pan)

8 eggs

77g sugar (increased by 20g or 1 tbsp; for yolks)

68.5 ml (¼ C or approx ½ lemon) freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tbsp grated lemon rind (approx 1 lemon)

68.5 ml (¼ C) oil

½ tsp salt

126g cake flour

140g sugar (no change from orange chiffon recipe; for whites)

Method

1) In a medium bowl, beat the yolks and sugar until pale yellow. Add oil and beat till pale.

2) Add the rind and salt. Whisk till distributed.

3) Add the juice and whisk. Add the flour in 2 batches and fold in gently. Set aside.

4) In a very clean big bowl, whisk the eggs till stiff peaks.

5) Add the meringue in 3 batches. The first batch, it is used to loosen the yolk mixture so you don't have to worry about knocking out the air. Ensure no white streaks remain. With the second batch, fold in carefully with the whisk. For the final batch, pour the yolk mixture back into the leftover third of meringue. This time, very carefully fold in using the whisk. Ensure no white streaks remain.

6) Pour from a 10cm height into the prepared pan. Use the spatula to trace around the inner and outer rims to dispel air bubbles. Smooth the top. (Do not drop on the counter top)

7) Bake in 180 deg C oven for 80 minutes. I reduced to 175 deg C after 30 minutes and still tented with foil for the last 20 minutes as it was still browning too fast, maybe because of the extra sugar?

8) Invert out of the oven to cool completely. Unmould once completely cool.

Recipe feedback

- It wasn't unduly sweet with the extra 20g of sugar but neither was the lemony taste very distinct.

- This is the fifth chiffon I've done. This and the orange seemed to brown much faster, probably because I was using a much higher heat than all other chiffons - 180 deg C. I think 175 might be a more appropriate temperature for both recipes but still 80 mins.

Pouring and shape

I've learnt that in all my chiffons, the centre around the chimney seemed to rise much faster than the outside, leading to a dome shape (see the chocolate chiffon which has the most pronounced dome). This means that after turning it over, the cake slants at an odd angle. Also, one website said not to rotate the pan but I've had one other lop-sided (see the coffee chiffon) chiffon with right side higher than the left. 

To combat this, I've learnt to

a) concentrate pouring my batter at the outer rim and let it flow inwards naturally. 

b) rotate the pan halfway through the batter and start pouring from the opposite edge and let the batter meet in the middle.

c) Smooth out the top. Any little peaks/lumps will burn.