Saturday, May 3, 2008

White Mocha Chiffon Cake


I used the same recipe by Rei to bake this White Mocha Chiffon Cake. I wanted to bake something for my wonderful mom for Mother's Day. So I embarked on this second cake, improvising as I went along. I replaced the orange juice with unsweetened soya milk (that was what I had in the fridge, healthier than fresh milk anyway) and some super duper white mocha powder.

Well, I made the same mistake as Orange Chiffon Cake this morning. The cake collapsed as well, and has a similar cheesecake texture. This one was even more underbaked :( I had to put it into a warm oven for a few minutes *sobbing* However, my boy LOVED it, he said it reminded him of something his kindergarten used to serve them on Mondays. What a sweet boy, he is in P4 this year. My girl likes the cake too, but said that she may not eat it any more if I rebaked it.

I'm glad I used a good quality white mocha powder, although I added another pack of 3-in-1 coffee as well (to enhance the coffee flavour). The result was a tasty cake, not too sweet either. I was so hopefully when I took the pan out of the oven (see the picture on top left), look how tall it was in the begining! Imagine my disappointment when I saw the cake (picture on top right) after I came home from dinner. My heart sank, just like the cake. I went on to unmould it, cut it and taste it. That was when I knew I didn't bake it enough. It was too moist and soft while it was tasty.

Now that Rei had diagnosed my possible "problem areas" I should try again. Next time, I should preheat the my (Sharp) micorwave/convection oven* to 200 deg C, then bake at 200 deg C for 10 minutes then 180 deg C for another 20 minutes before reducing the temperature to 160 deg C for another 10 minutes. Her idea of tenting the cake initially is good and I may retain that. After 40 minutes, I would bake at 130 deg C for another 7 to 10 minutes to brown the top. I hope this will work, keeping my fingers crossed.

At this point, I should place a question here for all my shifus: This happened for all 3 recent chiffon cake. The egg yolk mixture became lumpy when flour was added. I tried to add flour in batches, there wasn't any difference. As a result, I tried to press the mixture against the side of the mixing bowl. Not sure if that would cause "overbeating" of flour or egg yolks :S

*I have to rely on an oven thermometre to help me with this. I realised how off the temperature was today!

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