Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 283 Chiffon Cake

"It's best to use eggs that have been slightly chilled when baking cakes, as this is when the egg whites have the greatest expansion. We all know that egg whites have a strong elasticity, and they can expand as long as they are stirred quickly, right? Many dishes use egg whites in this way."

"Chiffon cake is completely different from traditional cake in terms of the ingredients preparation process. First of all, the egg whites and yolks must be completely separated. So, the egg whites are beaten into the bowl of the mixer, and the egg yolks are placed in a bowl. Be careful, not a single bit of egg yolk can get into the bowl. And there can't be any water or oil in the bowl, not even a little bit."

"Okay, now that the eggs are separated, the next step is to separate the sugar. The ratio of flour to sugar to eggs in the cake base is 1:1:5, or if you prefer it sweeter, you can use 1:2:5, but the maximum is 1:2. Also, if you add too much sugar, be careful when baking. Bake at a low temperature and slowly, otherwise the cake will be too dark and won't look good."

"Add half the sugar to the egg whites. Be sure to use caster sugar, as the granules are much smaller; regular sugar has larger granules. Add half of it first."

"Then start beating the eggs. Start on the lowest speed to fully mix the sugar and egg whites, then beat on high speed. There's no fixed time, as the time it takes for the egg whites to rise can vary depending on temperature and humidity. You mainly need to watch it closely."

"Watch closely, the egg mixture will gradually thicken. Notice the lines where the claw touches the egg mixture; the deeper and larger the lines, the drier the egg mixture has become. Stop the machine, remove the claw, and pull it out like this. See, the egg white mixture forms a long peak. If this peak can be stretched and stand upright, the egg mixture is whipped properly. If it's a little soft, whip it a little longer. Now it looks a little soft, so whip it a little longer. Add a little cream of tartar; cream of tartar can help stabilize the whipped egg mixture."

"The amount of cream of tartar depends on the weight of the egg mixture. The ratio of cream of tartar to egg mixture is 0.6-1.5. We usually take a middle value, 1. Some people like to add a little more, which is fine too. Mix the cream of tartar with the remaining half of the sugar, add it in, and then run it at high speed."

"Look, the peaks are standing firmly. The egg whites are ready. Set them aside for now."

"Here are the egg yolks, a little salad oil, half the sugar, and a little milk powder. You can also add milk to the other ingredients, but be careful with the amount."

"Stir well. See, it's a little sandy, that's good. Then add the flour. The flour must be low-gluten flour. We have specially produced cake flour sold at Guanyuan, so you don't have to worry about buying the wrong kind, it's very convenient."

"You must sift the flour before adding it to prevent it from clumping. Sifting is essential."

"Add the flour and mix well. Then, combine the batter with the beaten egg whites. One is white, and the other is yellow, right? Add them together. Add half at first, and you have to mix it from the bottom up. You can't use a machine to beat it. So, what do we do?"

Master Li rolled up his sleeves and then dipped his arm into the egg white batter, saying, "Like this, don't be afraid of the cold, it's good for your skin. Look at my arm, isn't my skin great?" The people watching laughed.

"One is white, and the other is yellow. It's easy to see if they're even. Now, add the rest of the batter, stir, and mix well. That's it."

"Brush the bottom of the mold with oil, not too much, just enough, make sure to coat the sides completely. Actually, we also have special baking paper liners for lining the bottom, which are very convenient, you can just use those from now on."

"Okay, now pour the mixed batter into the mold, two-thirds full. This will rise a lot, so adding more would be a waste."

"Preheat the oven now. Preheating is essential. Set the temperature to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for five or ten minutes. You can preheat the oven while preparing the batter."

"Okay, now that the oven is preheated, put the mold in. When you put it in, tap it gently to let out any large air bubbles in the batter. But don't tap it too hard, or it will collapse."

"Put it in, okay, close the oven, set the top heat to 150 degrees Celsius and the bottom heat to 140 degrees Celsius, and bake for 40 minutes. This is my first time using this oven, so I'm just guessing at the time. I don't really know how long it will take. Don't laugh at me if it doesn't turn out well."

"Baking cakes is all about experience. You have to experiment and practice until you get a feel for it and become skilled. Take the temperature of the top and bottom heat, for example. What's the best temperature? Should the top heat be higher or the bottom heat lower? How long should you bake it? There's no fixed answer. It varies from place to place. You might find that 150 degrees Celsius for the top and bottom heat and bake for 50 minutes is ideal here, but that won't work in another location."

Chef Li adjusted the oven, washed his arms, and said with a smile, "It's really cold in here. Just stirring it like this for a few seconds makes my arms feel stiff."

Everyone laughed, and Sister Shang poured Master Li a cup of hot water.

Master Li took a couple of sips of hot water and said, "Come on, while we're baking, let's fix this. This 'steamed cake,' oh, plum blossom cake, what 'steamed cake'?" Everyone laughed again.

Master Li took a piece of the baked rice cake, broke it open, took a bite, nodded, and said, "Not bad, better than I expected."

He tossed the cake aside, clapped his hands, and said, "For a cake to taste good, you need plenty of eggs and the right amount of sugar. And this baking soda affects the texture. Are you using a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio? It should be something like that. Too much flour makes it taste bad. Let's try an 11 ratio, using 1 part flour, 1 part eggs, and 1 part sugar. Let's try baking it using the honeycomb method. How about that? I don't know if it'll work or not; I've never baked one before."

He pointed at Sister Shang and said, "You do it, I'll watch. This can be done with a whole egg."

Sister Shang rolled up her sleeves and went over to crack the eggs.

Beat the eggs, add sugar, turn on the machine, and after mixing for a while, add the flour with baking powder. Stop the machine immediately after adding the flour. Because the machine rotates at high speed, the flour is mixed evenly in just a few seconds.

Chef Li looked down into the bucket, nodded, and said, "It's fine. Actually, this can be used as the base, but the texture is slightly inferior to chiffon cake. Okay, bake it."

Grease the molds, add batter to each mold one by one, and there's still some left. Chef Li took two birthday cake base molds and said, "Bake two large ones, and you can see the difference for yourselves in a bit."

Shang Jie took it, brushed on oil and added batter, preheated the oven, put the mold in and started baking.

Master Li peered into the oven through the glass plate, then looked around and said, "It seems like we still have a long time. Let's bake some egg shortbread; it's a kind of biscuit, very delicious. Do you have plenty of piping nozzles?" Xiao Wei nodded. Master Li said, "Get a few large piping nozzles, and a few more baking trays." Xiao Wei went to get the things.

Master Li pointed at Guan He and said, "You come here."

Guan He glanced at Xiao Wei, blushed, and walked over.

Chef Li said, "Separate the egg yolks and whites like you would when baking chiffon cake. The ratio of flour, sugar, and eggs is 1:2:3. It's okay to have a little more eggs; it will taste even better."

Guan He deftly cracked the eggs and separated the yolks.

(End of this chapter)