Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake {inspired}

My Chiffon Cake inspired by Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake Recipe

Chiffon cake.  I love this cake but every time I attempt to make it again it makes me nervous.  The reason?  Well I have had epic failures baking the chiffon cake.  How many failures?  FIVE times.   During these five times the chiffon cake either collapsed or was really wet inside.  When making this cake again today,  I thought to myself if I fail once again after five times I will really throw out that chiffon cake tin and scream my lungs out.   I was persistent to be successful this time - I measured correctly and took care with the way I folded the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture.  I really suck at baking but I felt so much victory today because of this cake! :).  Thanks to Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake" recipe I am pretty happy.

While watching the segment  I noticed that she did a couple of things quite differently from the written recipe.  She tipped her egg yolks in the flour mixture instead of the beating the egg yolk with sugar til light and fluffy (like a commenter on the board noticed).  Also when she 'folded' both egg and egg white mixture she mixed it gently with a whisk (to incorporate more air) not a spatula.  I did these two steps and my chiffon cake turned out airy and moist and did not collapse.  It did rise more than other times I baked chiffon cake!  I was a very happy girl today.

Cake wasn't high since I used a 25cm tin instead of a 22cm tin

I used a 25cm angel cake food tin that I bought from Matchbox in Brisbane for around under $30.  They didn't have any smaller so I opted for the bigger cake tin.   This is why I think my cake didn't rise to a complete height.

Finished product

Also instead of using Poh's ganache recipe (I am not a very big chocolate fan on cakes), I opted to dress up the whole cake with whipped cream, toasted desiccated coconut and used macadamia nuts instead of hazelnuts.

Cutting in three layers was quite hard.

Since my cake wasn't at full height cutting it in three layers was quite hard!  It wasn't as straight as Poh's but nevertheless it wasn't quite noticeable :).  It did give the cake extra height but I wished that I could of made more whipped cream to make the cream layers thicker! 

The verdict?  It was so yummy!  The orange citrusy flavour went well with the coconut!  It was very light and airy.  I am so going to make this again in a few more weeks and make other flavours like durian :) hehe.

Poh's Orange Chiffon Cake

 

Ingredients

Serves 8-10

• 5 egg whites (at room temperature)
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, sifted
• 1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 5 tbs (100ml) coconut milk
• 4 tbs (80ml) vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar, extra
• 4 tbs (80ml) orange juice
• 1 tbs finely grated orange zest
• 150g plain flour, sifted
• 1 3/4 tsp baking powder, sifted
• pinch of salt

Roasted Hazelnuts
• 150g hazelnuts

Filling
• 400ml pouring cream
• 3 tbs icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or natural vanilla extract

Ganache
• 150ml pouring cream
• 200g good quality dark chocolate chopped or broken into small pieces

Method

1. Preheat oven at 170°C (160°C fan forced).
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the sugar one tablespoon at a time and beat thoroughly after each addition until you achieve stiff peaks. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks with extra caster sugar until thick, pale and fluffy. Add coconut milk, vegetable oil, orange juice and zest, flour and baking powder, and whisk until combined. Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture three batches.
4. Pour into a 22 centimetre angel cake tin. Bake for 30 minutes on the middle shelf, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the oven on to roast the hazelnuts.
5. When cake is out of the oven, immediately invert the tin and leave the cake in the tin to cool completely (about two hours).

Roasted Hazelnuts
1. Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for seven minutes, or until the skins are splitting and flakey. Remove from the oven and pour into the middle of a clean tea towel, wrap up and gently rub the skins off. Place the nuts on a chopping board and chop to desired texture.

Filling
1. Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until stiff, be careful not to overbeat as the cream will split. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until required.
2. When the cake is cool and ready to be assembled, run a knife around the edge and base of the cake and invert to release. Slice the cake with a sharp chef's knife into three equal layers. Spread half of the filling and a third of the chopped hazelnuts on each layer.

Ganache

1. Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and whisk until the chocolate is melted and well combined. Place the cake on a wire rack and, using a spatula, spread the ganache evenly over the top and side of the cake and sprinkle with the remaining chopped hazelnuts.