A Chiffon Sponge Cake

 

This week’s bake is a Tiramisu-Inspired Wedding Cake from Claire Saffitz !   It’s a three layer olive oil chiffon sponge cake, with a mocha creme chiboust filling and topped with a cream cheese Mascarpone frosting !

Chiffon is a very light fluffy cake made with eggs, flour, sugar, baking powder and vegetable oil, in place of butter, plus flavorings of your choice. It is called chiffon cake because of the key difference in the process of beating eggs. The airy texture of chiffon cake, as the name suggests, is obtained by beating the eggs (egg white) well and the other ingredients are gradually added.

  Usage of oil in the recipe instead of butter keeps the chiffon cake soft long after it is removed from the oven, as oil, unlike butter, does not solidify easily in lower temperatures.

 Chiffon cake was invented by an insurance agent, Harry Baker, in Los Angeles. In 1927, he came up with an unusual cake that was light and fluffy, more tender than angel food, more flavorful than sponge cake. It became the toast of Hollywood. Baker sold it to stars for their parties, and he made cakes for the Brown Derby restaurant.

Baker was selling as many as 40 a day. For 20 years, he wouldn’t tell the secret ingredient. Finally, in 1947, he agreed to sell the recipe to General Mills, so “Betty Crocker could give the secret to the women of America.”

When the company released the secret recipe in the May 1948 Better Homes and Gardens magazine, it did it with a splash. Calling it “high, light and handsome,” General Mills declared the cake “light as angel food, rich as butter cake.”

The secret, it turned out, was vegetable oil. Baker had replaced the usual butter with oil and skipped the step of creaming butter. Instead, you make a flavored batter, and then you fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. The egg whites puff up in the oven, making a tall, fluffy cake.

There are only two tricks to making chiffon cake. The first is beating egg whites. If the egg whites aren’t stiff enough, the cake will be tough. 

The other trick is using cake flour, which is lighter. The original General Mills recipe was developed using Softasilk, although any cake flour will work.

Although the cake is best known as a tube cake, made in an angel food pan, it can also be baked as a layer cake. Just line the bottom of the pan with waxed paper and cool the cake in the pan upside down.

The pan is ungreased, so the cake can cling to the sides while it bakes. And the pan is always cooled upside down, so the cake doesn’t flatten. Stand the tube pan over a funnel or a small-necked bottle until it’s completely cool.

Light and airy, chiffon cake is made for spring

Here is the recipe:

Claire Saffitz Makes Vinny's Tiramisu-Inspired Wedding Cake 

Instructions

OLIVE OIL CHIFFON SPONGE

1½ cups cake flour (202g)

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1½ teaspoons kosher salt, plus a pinch

6 large eggs, whites and yolks separated, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar (200g), divided

½ cup olive oil (104g)

½ cup buttermilk (120g), at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

MOCHA CREME CHIBOUST

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 ounces chopped semisweet chocolate

1½ cups whole milk 

3 tablespoons whole coffee beans 

1 teaspoon vanilla paste or seeds scraped from ½ vanilla bean

¾ teaspoon kosher salt, plus a pinch

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

4 large egg yolks

1½ teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin 

3 large egg whites 

PInch of cream of tartar 

½ cup granulated sugar 

¼ cup brewed and cooled espresso

¼ cup best-quality extra-virgin olive oil 

MASCARPONE FROSTING 

4 oz. unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

4 oz. mascarpone cheese, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

Pinch of kosher salt 

2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

prepare ½ sheet baking tray with parchment paper and only grease the bottom - not the sides

Sponge Cake

Add baking powder, baking soda and salt to cake flour and whisk together

Place 6 egg yolks in large bowl and add ½ sugar (reserve rest of sugar for using to whip egg whites)

Whisk together the yolks and sugar until pale and thick for about 1 minute

Stream in the olive oil, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix until smooth

Add dry instructions and whisk until smooth

Add egg whites to stand mixer with whisk attachment -

Add cream of tartar and pinch of salt and start beating on medium low

Once foamy increase the speed to medium high and sprinkle in the sugar until it becomes a dense glossy foam that forms stiff peaks - make sure to stop at stiff peaks

Gently fold the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture, in three batches - mix just until streak free

Pour into sheet tray or three 8" pans  

tap on counter to remove air bubbles

Bake at 350 for 18 to 20 mins

Filling   

Creme Chiboust (a pastry cream lightened with Italian meringue, often flavored with chocolate, orange zest or liqueurs

Pour milk, coffee beans, vanilla bean and salt into sauce pan and heat over medium-low heat until steaming, and just rippling beneath the surface, about 10 minutes

In a small dish, sprinkle gelatin powder over 2tbs cold water - do not stir

Set aside and allow the gelatin to hydrate at room temperature for 10 mins

Place cornstarch in a large bowl and whisk together with 3tbs of sugar

Once milk is ready, add yolks to sugar mixture and whisk until thick and ribbon-like

Slowly strain milk mixture into egg mixture, whisking together 

Transfer mixture back into sauce pan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly until thick and bubbling, about 3 minutes

Place chocolate and butter into large bowl and pour cooked pastry cream over chocolate and butter and whisk until smooth and combined

Place softened gelatin into small sauce pan and melt on low-medium low heat - do not boil -

Once melted mix into pastry cream

Add ½ c sugar and 2 tbs water to sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat until it reaches 238F

When sugar reaches 225-230F, start whisking egg whites in stand mixer with cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks are reached

Once sugar reaches 238F immediately remove from the heat, turn mixer to medium high and slowly add to egg whites

Whip until firm peaks but not beyond that 

Fold the meringue into the pastry cream in three additions and lightly mix until it is streak free

Assembly

Place plastic around inside of large 8" cake pan

Cut out cake layers from sheet tray - two whole layers and two  ½ layers - half layers will be middle layer of cake

Gently peel away the golden brown film on the top of the sponge and discard

Place first layer of sponge into mold

Use a pastry brush to dab the espresso across the layer of sponge, then repeat with the olive oil

Then add 2 cups of filling and spread evenly over layer

Take over-hanging plastic and wrap over the surface of the cake so it is airtigh

Chill overnight in refrigerator until completely set

Frosting

Add butter, mascarpone, cream cheese, pinch of salt and vanilla paste to stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium low until combined

Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and mix slowly on medium low to combine and then increase to medium high and continue to beat until the frosting is light and smooth

scrape down sides of bowl as needed 

invert cake so dry layer is on top

apply a crumb coat of frosting and chill

apply final frosting layer - chill and serve

Here are some pictures from the bake:

Have a great day !