Happy New Year, everyone! I’ve got a list of resolutions about a mile long and, just like everyone else, one of them is to eat better in order to drop a little weight. One of my other resolutions is to write more… keeping up with this thing has got to become a priority. While going through photos to see what I wanted to post I found this (see delicious photo above). It’s a Lemon Chiffon cake with fresh Whipped Cream-Coconut Icing that I made months ago. And now I want to make one again… and eat the whole thing and throw resolutions out the window.
I found the recipe online at Happy Home Baking, a Blogger page. The recipe is perfect… though you’ll need either a kitchen scale or a conversion chart to execute it. I didn’t have a bundt pan or a tube pan so I poured mine into a plain old 9”x13” and then cut it in half (hot-dog style), and then stacked the halves on top of each other with the icing in between. The icing recipe is mine so if you’ve got any edits I’d love to hear it! Since my brother’s visit ends today maybe I’ll make a half-batch. Just as a celebratory thing, of course. Then I won’t ruin my resolutions completely, right? Wish me luck and enjoy!
Whipped Cream-Coconut Icing
2 cups fresh whipping cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon melted butter 3 tablespoons coconut powder
Whip the cream and vanilla extract until it begins to firm up. Add the teaspoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of coconut powder. Whip until the mixture gets to be pretty firm and moldable (holds its shape when you move it). Smooth all over the completely (!) cooled cake and top with the remaining coconut powder.
(!) This icing will start to melt if your cake is at all warm, or if its left in a warm place. Refrigerating a Lemon Chiffon cake isn’t ever advised but keeping it in a cool spot is definitely advised. On the other hand, the slightly melty icing is mind-blowing, if you’re going to be eating it immediately. :)
Lemon Chiffon Cake
Ingredients
100g cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
50ml vegetable oil
50ml water
25ml lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
3 egg whites
40g caster sugar
Method:
- Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
- Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature. (It is easier to separate eggs when they are cold.)
- Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add sugar in 3 separate additions and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turns pale.
- Drizzle 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. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. Add in the lemon zest and mix well.
- In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar and beat on high speed until just before stiff peaks form* (after note: after several attempts at baking chiffon cakes, I learned that the whites should be beaten until just before stiff peaks form).
- Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
- Pour batter into a 18cm (7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
- Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 45 ~ 50mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.
That sounds amazing. I wish I had any baking skill
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