Esther this year asked for an Earl Grey Chiffon Cake. I like baking cakes, so I said I would make that if she sent the recipe. It is a lovely, light sort of cake, similar to sponge, but softer. The video below is where I learned it, and below that is my transcription.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=2IqQkouHYag&feature=youtu.be
For the cake
Dry ingredients
256 grams cake flour (9 oz )
285 grams granulated sugar (10 oz )
1 Tbsp baking powder (14.7 grams)
1 tsp table salt or 2 tsp Diamond Crystal Kosher salt (5.7 grams)
Wet ingredients
5 large egg yolk (about 90g)
177g freshly brewed and cooled earl gray tea (3/4 cups)
112g vegetable oil (1/2 cup )
1 tsp vanilla
Separate wet ingredients
8 large egg whites (about 240g)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar57 grams granulated sugar (2 oz)
* * *
For the icing
90g freshly brewed and cooled earl gray tea (6 Tbsp)
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
1 tsp vanilla
464g cold heavy cream (2 cups)
56 grams sifted powdered sugar or to taste (2 oz)
* * *
brew 3 Tbsp of loose tea in two cups of water. set aside.
preheat oven to 325 F.
sift dry ingredients together twice.
mix (use hand mixer) wet ingredients thoroughly, add in the wet tea leaves.
mix this with the drys, making sure nothing dry is left.
beat the egg whites. when foamy but droopy slowly add in sugar
fold egg whites into yolky flour mixture.
pour into tube pan. (no grease.)
tap sides to remove big air bubbles
put in hot oven. check at 60 minutes
for whipped frosting.
sprinkle gelatin on tea in microwave safe bowl. let stand 5 minutes. microwave in 10 second increments until completely dissolved. set aside.
sift powdered sugar.
combine vanilla with tea
whip cream. as it thickens add in the gelatin, then slowly add in the powdered sugar.
When the cake comes out of the oven, you want to hang it so that it cools fluffy and is less likely to condense itself a bit. (Our Worcestershire bottle proved a good way to support the tube pan).
Once it is cool, slide a knife or spatula around the edges, release the out shell of the tube pan first and then the base and tube.
Now decorate with the whipped frosting.
I made this again with a citrussy rooibus instead of earl grey and an added bit of cointreau to enhance the citrus flavor along with and partially replacing the vanilla. This was excellent.
I made it using a sencha green tea, with added matcha. I think I should have left off the matcha, and I know that I want jasmine instead of green to get the right flavour. Do not go cheap on your tea for flavour. If the tea smells bad, don't use it. I threw out a cup of green tea citrus-just too bitter--and though the sencha/matcha was good, it really was't quite right for getting across a nice light green tea flavor.
Basically, though, this is a happy cake recipe. Like sponge cake, it has a higher egg content. which I think translates to a more filling cake. The frosting is not too sweet, and I really like how the gelatin holds the whipped cream up.
