Source: http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/2014/08/earl-grey-chiffon-cake/
I found out that my tin isn't 26 cm but actually 25.5 cm so a recipe for the former works. The cake is flatter but the cooking times are about there. In fact, after trawling the Internet for any chiffon recipe, I only came across 1 recipe for a 26 cm tin which was for Pandan Chiffon by ieatshootpost. That recipe says that a 26 cm tin uses a 9-egg recipe. Gosh! 9 eggs is way too much for 2 people to consume!
My recipe adapted some of the measurements e.g. I reduced the sugar, omitted the cream of tartar (which I have found from my cheesecake souffle recipe research to be unnecessary and adds an unwanted sourness), and reduced the tea (which seemed rather wasteful and the same thickness of tea can be achieved with fewer teabags but a longer steep). The method has also been adapted from Christine's.
Ingredients
7 eggs
140ml of boiling water (increase to 200ml because i) the tea bags absorb water and I was left with approximately only 100ml of tea and ii) insufficient water to steep the tea bags in)
5 tea bags (reduced from 7 because I had plenty to rebrew and make very strong leftover tea!)
93ml oil (not the same as 93g of oil, luckily I checked!)
35g sugar (for addition to the yolks)
175g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
140g sugar (for addition to the whites) (reduced from 150g but someone said that while it was edible, it could have been sweeter! The sweetness should be just right once the tea is reduced too)
1) Make the tea and leave the tea bags in to steep until it cools down completely.
2) In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the 35g sugar and the salt until light and creamy.
3) Add the oil and continue to whisk until pale and creamy.
4) Add the 140ml of the brewed tea and stir to incorporate.
5) Sift the flour and baking powder. Add it to the egg yolk mixture in 2 additions, whisking carefully each time just to get everything to combine so that there aren't pockets of flour. Don't beat too vigorously because you don't want to create gluten.
5) In another big and very clean bowl (I wipe down the bowl, my whisk, and any spatulas I here with a vinegar soaked kitchen towel to remove any grease, water, or soap), whisk or beat the egg whites until opaque and foamy using a low speed. Add the first addition of sugar and beat. Add the sugar in another 2 additions (total 3 additions). Increase the speed and beat until just before stiff peaks. After the meringue reaches soft peaks, stop every 30s to check that you don't over beat the meringue and go beyond stiff peaks.
6) Taking 1/3 of the meringue, add it to the yolk mixture and fold in with the whisk. You don't have to worry too much about beating out the air at this point, this is just to lighten the mixture.
7) Taking a second 1/3 of the meringue, this time, fold in more carefully with a whisk.
8) Return the yolk + meringue mixture to the leftover meringue. This time, using either a spatula or whisk, very carefully fold in the meringue (I draw the meringue from the bottom of the bowl and lift through to the top as I rotate the bowl) until no egg white remains.
9) Pour into the cake tin from a height of 8 cm. (ieatshootpost advises not rotating the tin but this was lousy advice - my cake was lopsided! Maybe it depends on the batter. My batter wasn't flowy, so the tube blocked it from flowing to the other half of the tin. I would say, rotate the tin once or twice but not continually.)
10) Burst the bigger bubbles in the batter by dropping the cake tin sharply on the counter top several times. Using a skewer, draw zig lines through the batter, paying attention to the sides and bottom of the tin. No need to smoothen the top of the batter.
11) Bake at 170 deg C (no grill; it reads 175 deg C on my oven's dial) for 65 minutes at the bottom of the oven. Check after 60 minutes by inserting a skewer, which should come out clean. I found no need to open the door to rotate the tin at all for even browning this time.
(i) Some recipes suggest tenting with foil and reducing to 160 deg C but I found these unnecessary, AS LONG AS the temperature is constant at 170 deg C. I watched my oven thermometer like the hawk for the entire baking time.
ii) Another recipe stated that even after the skewer comes out clean, the cake still needs another 5 to 10 minutes to firm up, otherwise it might drop out under its own weight when inverted)
12) Never open the door until at least after half time or the cake will collapse. Christine opens the door at half time to score the top of the cake. This makes sense now after I developed serious cracks on the top.
13) Immediately once the cake is out of the oven, invert it onto a raised surface, I used a can of tinned food. (ieatshootpost asserts that u want to elevate it as far off the counter as u can to avoid condensation. He also advises draping with a damp towel to speed up the process. I didn't and it took 3 hours to cool completely, which is why the pictures go from day time/dusk to night time!)
14) Only attempt to unmould when the cake is complete cool. Insert a small offset spatula and trace around the tube. Insert a larger offset spatula or sharp knife and cut around the edges. Try not to use a sawing motion which leaves a shaggy/jagged edge, but use one swift continuous scraping motion. In both cases, scrap as close to the tin as you can, don't leave the delicious brown skin behind! (I managed to get some, as seen from the picture)
15) Invert the tin onto a serving plate or wire rack. Carefully push the bottom out (I nearly tore my cake because some of it was still stuck on the side, so run your spatula around again just to be sure). Now also cut/scrape the bottom of the cake off the bottom of the tin.
Voila! A beautiful chiffon in all its glory.
Enjoy!
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