Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Happy 2011 - Summer Berry Tea Chiffon Cake

 

Happy 2011! Its a start to a brand new year and I am sure it would be a great year ahead.

It has been nearly two weeks since I last posted. I was supposed to be busy with with my 2nd, 3rd and 4th round of Xmas baking during the last week of 2011 but they never quite materialized. For my 2nd round of Xmas baking, I attempted to make a blackforest log cake for my family but it was a total flop attributed by too many mistakes which snowballed into a big failure. Nevertheless, I managed to make chicken cordon bleu and a hawaiian pizza for my family Xmas lunch. I didn't manage to take any pics of them though, hence there was nothing to blog about...

For the 3rd round of Xmas baking, I wasn't in the mood to bake as I was preparing for a presentation. So, there wasn't any bakes and any entries either....When I was about to commence on my 4th round of Xmas baking, I was down with fever and flu. How unfortunate!   


Now that I have fully recovered, it's time to do some baking and get back to blogging. I have originally intended to submit this Summer Berry Tea Chiffon Cake as an entry for the 1st aspiring bakers in Nov but I wasn't satisfied with the outcome then. The flavour was very pronounced but the texture was overly moist. Furthermore, my chiffon cake dropped out of the tin the moment it was overturned for cooling. This time round, I decreased the amount of liquid and it came out nicely moist and fluffy. Flavoured tea leaves works wonders when it comes to flavouring chiffon cakes. I shall be experimenting with more flavoured tea leaves for chiffon cakes in time to come.

Summer Berry Tea Chiffon Cake
Serving size: 10 -12 slices
Taste and texture: Fruity, soft, moist and fluffy with a little crunch.
Equipment and materials:
1) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater
2) Measuring spoon set
3) Spatula
4) Mixing bowl
5) Metal bowl
6) Wire rack
7) 21 cm chiffon tin (oil-free)
8) Balloon whisk

Ingredients:
2 x Lipton Craneberry,Raspberry and Strawberry tea bags
65g hot water
60g vegetable oil (corn, canola etc)
5 yolks, at room temperature (use 55-60g eggs)
35g castor sugar
100g cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
5 egg whites, at room temperature (use 55-60g eggs)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (optional)
60g castor sugar


Making the cake:
Prepare Oven: Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

Prepare dry ingredients: Sift cake flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Use a wire whisk to whisk the flour and baking powder to ensure even distribution.

Prepare tea liquid: Soak 2 sachets of tea in the hot water and allow the flavour to disperse in the hot water. Allow tea liquid to cool.

Preparing the egg yolk mixture: In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 35g castor sugar, vegetable oil and tea liquid until combined. Add flour mixture to egg yolk mixture and mix until smooth and well combined. Cut open the used tea bags and add in the wet tea leaves.

Beating egg whites: In a metal bowl, beat eggs whites and cream of tartar starting with low speed. When the egg whites turn frothy, slowly increase the speed to high and beat until egg whites are soft peaks (egg whites form peak that is drooping). Add the sugar (60g) slowly at this point and continue beating until egg whites are almost stiff. This is when the bowl is overturned, the egg whites would not budge. Egg whites form shiny and creamy upright peaks when beater is withdrawn. Take care not to overbeat the egg whites as they will become dry or may water out.

Incorporate egg whites into egg yolk mixture: Fold one third of beaten egg whites with a balloon whisk into egg yolk mixture to lighten and mix well. Incorporate the rest of the egg whites and fold gently to obtain a smooth uniformly coloured foamy batter. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula to ensure batter is well mixed.

Baking the cake: Pour batter into chiffon cake tin carefully and bake for 40-45 minutes.

Cooling and unmoulding: Invert chiffon cake tin to cool before unmoulding.

Notes:
1) Chiffon tin must be oil-free. Do not grease, line or flour the tin.
2) Metal bowl for beating whites and beater must be oil-free. Egg whites should be at room temperature. These are necessary to obtain maximum volume for beaten egg whites.
3) Feel free to experiment with other fruity flavoured tea bags.

18 comments:

  1. looks great! i would love to have a slice!

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  2. Happy New Year ZY!
    Hope 2011 will be a wonderful year for you and your baking :)

    btw, your chiffon turned out really good. How did you get the top so nice and smooth? Mine always cracks and craters...

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  3. hey im playing around with tea flavored chiffons too. and the same thing happened to my milk tea chiffon then despite i used the same ratio of liquid. Wonder why.

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  4. Happy New Year to you! That's very nice chiffon for a new start! Looking forward to read more baking from you!

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  5. I haven't tasted any cakes made with fruit teas yet. It seems refreshing.

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  6. That's a pretty-looking chiffon! Even the name sounds good!

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  7. Ah, that explained your disappearance! I hope you have completely recovered and back to good health!
    That was a beautiful chiffon. I'll be waiting for the recipe!
    Happy new year to you and your family!

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  8. happy new year to you! (: the cake looks nice (: im sure tea cake have a nice smell and unique taste (: look forward to more bakes from you and take care! (:

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  9. Happy New Year - ZY. Very nice cake.

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  10. Very professional made chiffon. Can't wait to see how you do it :D

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  11. ZY, happy 2011 and hope you had a good break. Looks like you started the year with a very nice chiffon cake too. Love the height and I wish mine was like this too.

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  12. Hello!
    Nice Blog...I shall add it to my favourites, and come by again, when I have more time to read your older posts. Love the jet / sky background of the blog! Very creative!
    If you are looking to try some great Raspberry Cake or any Raspberry Recipes...visit my site: Raspberry-depot.com

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  13. hey Jess,

    thanks and happy 2011!

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    Hey Eelin,

    happy 2011 and may you have a wonderful year of baking ahead =]

    you might want to bake at 140-150 degrees using your oven. I am baking mine at 160degrees C which is considered on the low side..

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    Hey Jean,

    you might want to bake ur chiffon cake longer abit longer after the skewer comes out clean, probably 5 mins more.

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    Hey grace,

    happy 2011! look forward to you bakes too!

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  14. hey wendy,

    you might want to experiment with fruity tea. it works much better than essences imo.

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    hey Judy,

    thanks! I am quite surprised by the flavour when I 1st tried it. Fruity tea works well as a flavouring in cakes to my surprise.

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    hey Jane,

    happy 2011! Thanks alot =] it feels good to be able to bake and not be bed ridden..

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    hey Jamine,

    thanks and happy 2011! look forward to your 2011 yummy bakes too =]

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  15. Hey Chris,

    Happy 2011! May you have a great year ahead!

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    hey zoe,

    thanks! its pretty much like a basic chiffon cake but the flavouring is fruit tea instead of essences/other flavourings.

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    hey Jo,

    happy 2011 and may 2011 be a wonderful year for us all =]. Actually my cake isnt that tall. it's only 2/3 of the entire height of the pan. The photo is misleading..

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    hi raspberry cake,

    thanks for dropping by! happy 2011 =] thats an interesting site you have.

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  16. Happy 2011 to you too! I'm inspired by your bakes. Will you be joining Aspiring Baker #3?

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  17. hi Quay Po,

    thanks and Happy 2011!

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    hi KWF,

    thanks! happy 2011 to you too =]. If I manage to bake something related, i will be submitting in to aspiring baker 3

    ReplyDelete

Dear readers, thanks for visiting my humble little blog. Feel free to leave a message so that I can learn and be a better baker. Its a great feeling to share our culinary experience and adventures in the kitchen.

Thank you and have a nice day! Cheers =]

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