Elderflower Chiffon Cake

Kath November 24, 2017

Here are some of the things I have been enjoying this month:

I’m quite late to the party on this one as I think Issue 10 has just been released, but I finally got my hands on Issue 9 of Cherry Bombe Magazine.
This month I am loving all the lovely Spring flowers. I have enjoyed many a bunch of roses picked from our garden, and have picked a bunch of hydrangeas each week for the last four weeks or so. I also bought a small bunch of peonies and they are taking pride of place on my desk at the moment.
Now that I am back working in the CBD of Sydney, I am enjoying popping over to the Food Hall in David Jones to check out all the lovely food and produce. I was excited to find they sell bagels and challah by Brooklyn Boy Bagels (my freezer is now stocked in case of a bagel emergency!).
I finally started listening to this podcast and am so glad I did.
Starting to think about Christmas and eyeing off all the cute festive things at Kikki-K.

Elderflower Chiffon Cake

This cake is Summer on a plate for me. Elderflower and berries are Summer staples, and they both go so well in this cake. If you don’t have any elderflower cordial you can substitute it in the cake for lemon juice (so 180ml lemon juice in total). For the cake pictured in this post I used duck eggs (which are pictured in the above photos), because I can’t not buy them when I see them! I used 6 as they are much bigger than chicken eggs, and they gave the cake and amazing rise. It was the tallest chiffon cake I have ever made!

Using Duck Eggs to Make the Chiffon Cake

Elderflower Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

300g self-raising flour

330g golden caster sugar

7 eggs, separated

100ml + 1 tsp elderflower cordial

80ml fresh lemon juice

1.5 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

200ml pouring cream

berries & edible flowers to decorate, optional

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (or 170 degrees Celsius fan forced), and keep an angel food cake pan handy, but do not grease it.

Add 165g of the sugar and the egg yolks to the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat for at least 5 minutes or until the egg yolks have become thick and pale in colour.

While the egg yolks are beating, sift the flour at least 3 times to ensure it is well aerated.

With the mixer on low, gradually add the elderflower cordial (100ml), lemon juice, 1 tbsp of the lemon zest to the egg yolks. Mix until combined.

Sift the flour over the egg yolk mixture and gently fold in to the batter. Gently use a whisk if there are lumps of flour remaining in the batter.

Using another large bowl fitted to a stand mixer, beat the egg whites using the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Sift over the cream of tartar, then gradually add in the remaining sugar (165g), and whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the meringue mixture is stiff and glossy.

Using a large metal spoon, gently fold the meringue mixture into the egg yolks in 2 or 3 batches, and stop mixing once everything is just combined. They key is not to over mix, as the air you have beaten into the egg whites will help give the chiffon cake it’s characteristic rise.

Transfer the mixture into the ungreased angel food cake tin, and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Once the cake is done, invert it so the hole in the middle of the cake tin sits over the neck of a bottle. Leave like this until completely cooled - if the cake is not inverted once it comes out of the oven, it will sink. Once the cake has cooled, remove from the tin by carefully running a knife around the outside, middle and underneath of the cake.

To finish the cake, beat the cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form. Add the remaining lemon zest and elderflower cordial and whisk to combine. Use the cream to decorate the top of the cake, finishing with berries and edible flowers.

Reference: ‘Indulgent Cakes’ by The Australian Women’s Weekly (Bauer Media Books, 2014) pp.218-9.

Blood Orange Chiffon Cake & A New Kitchen

Kath September 11, 2016

As soon as blood orange season arrived, I had recipe ideas swimming around in my head. I buy them about once a week, from the shops near where I work, only three or so at a time so they are easy to carry home after work. Then, come the weekend, I use some for baking things like this cake, then I juice the rest and freeze the it to use later on. My freezer is now quite full, along with the copious amounts of varying berries, homegrown mandarins and so much bread, the zip lock bags and small containers of blood orange juice are artfully placed in small gaps and spaces ready to be used once the weather gets warmer and ice blocks become necessary.

The base recipe of this chiffon cake has been adapted from my favourite chiffon cake (of all time), the Custard Chiffon Cake which can be found in the Monday Morning Cooking Club’s first book. This chiffon cake was the first I ever tasted or made. Now it still remains my favourite, however adaptations such as this Blood Orange Chiffon are amazing and a great way to mix things up a bit and show off some lovely fresh produce. Not to mention I always love a cake with pink icing! Any excuse for pink icing!!

I have also added a few before and after photos of the kitchen to this post - just in case anyone was interested to see what I kept going on about for 4 months! As I mentioned in my last post, I am spending as much time as possible in the kitchen now, and am really enjoying being able to bake again. Making something like this Blood Orange Chiffon wasn’t at all possible for a while there, and I am so so happy it is all over and done with now!

Click on the gallery below to check out the old kitchen vs the new kitchen!

Old Kitchen

New Kitchen

Old Kitchen

New Kitchen

Old Kitchen

New Kitchen

Old Pantry/Food Storage

New Pantry

Blood Orange Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

175 g self-raising flour

35 g plain flour

1 tsp cream of tartar

6 eggs (large), separated

345 g caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

finely grated zest of one small/medium blood orange

170 ml blood orange juice, strained of pulp

80 ml vegetable oil

3-4 springs of rosemary

Ingredients for Icing:

2 cups icing sugar, plus extra

juice of 1-2 blood oranges

sprigs of rosemary (with flowers if possible), for decoration

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Have an angel cake tin ready and nearby but do not grease it. The tin should not be a non-stick tin as the cake needs to cling to the sides of the tin as it cooks.

Place rosemary into the oil, and leave to infuse. If you have time, leave it for as long as you can. Mix it about and squash into the oil to release some more flavour.

In a small-medium bowl, sift the flours and cream of tartar three times.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with 1 cup of the sugar, until pale and creamy. If you have a free standing mixer with a paddle attachment, use this attachment for the egg yolks and save the whisk for later. Once pale and creamy, add the vanilla and blood orange zest. Remove the rosemary from the oil, and discard. Place the oil and blood orange juice in a jug and along with the sifted flour mixture, add to the yolk mixture while the mixer is beating on a low speed. Beat only until just combined.

Using a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites using an electric mixer until soft peaks have formed. Add the remaining sugar, and whisk until the peaks are stiff (but not dry).

Gently fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites with a metal spoon, a third at a time. Continue to gently fold until the mixtures are just combined. Do not over mix.

Transfer the mixture to the cake tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven you must invert the cake (stand it upside down). Using the hollow centre of the cake tin, place the cake upside down on the neck of a bottle and leave to cool. This process will stop the cake collapsing. This is also the reason for not greasing the tin, as you don’t want the cake to slide out at this stage.

Once the cake is completely cool, use a small serrated knife to cut the cake out of the tin. Start with the outer sides then lift the cake out using the bottom of the pan. Then carefully cut the cake off the base of the tin.

Carefully place cake on serving plate or cake stand. In a medium bowl, sift in the icing sugar. Gradually add the juice of 1 blood orange. Stir until well mixed and add more icing sugar if the mixture is too wet, or more blood orange juice if it is too dry. The consistency shouldn’t be too thick, as it should be able to run down the sides of the cake, and not weight the top of the cake down. Gently drizzle/spread the icing over the cake and arrange the rosemary sprigs around the top of the cake.

When serving, cut the cake with a serrated knife.

Reference: ‘The Monday Morning Cooking Club’ by Merelyn Frank Chalmers, Natanya Eskin, Lauren Fink, Lisa Goldberg, Paula Horwitz and Jacqui Israel (2011), p 35.

The Monday Morning Cooking Club @ BakeClub and a Custard Chiffon Cake

Kath October 11, 2014

fressing [Yiddish], eating for the pure joy, obsession and love of it.

When I think about the meaning of fressing, I feel I have been practising this concept for much of my life. I believe food is something that should always be enjoyed. Food and the recipes that accompany it play a large role in our lives. Apart from being sustenance, food can bring people together, be the centre of a celebration, be a comfort, and become an heirloom.

The concept of fressing and the importance of food is strikingly clear when one looks at the two books produced by The Monday Morning Cooking Club. Both books provide wonderful recipes and focus on the people behind the food and the recipes. It is obvious that food and cooking has and continues to play an important role in the lives of all who have been involved in these books. Through the act of sharing these recipes we are shown how food has brought joy, been loved and fuelled obsessions.

The six women who make up The Monday Morning Cooking Club have focused on the idea of recipes being heirlooms, and have a strong desire to preserve recipes that would otherwise be lost if not written down. Through the act of sharing these many recipes, we have been allowed into the lives and kitchens of the curators and contributors of these books. This in turn, preserves these family recipes, and places these cherished family memories into a collective heirloom in which anyone can share.

At a recent BakeClub event, I was able to see three of The Monday Morning Cooking Club in action. Baking recipes from their books, but also speaking about The Monday Morning Cooking Club process, evolution and the idea of ‘heirloom baking’. Despite the original book idea being around fundraising for charity, the project had delved into preserving recipes from their community. The concept of recipes as heirlooms is firmly entrenched in The Monday Morning Cooking Club collective and one can only feel privileged that so many families personal food memories and heirlooms, have been shared.

Cakes & Baked Goods from the Monday Morning Cooking Club event at BakeClub

Cakes & Baked Goods prepared by the Monday Morning Cooking Club. BakeClub event held at the Flash in the Pan Studio.

After attending the Monday Morning Cooking Club event at Bake Club, and tasting their amazing food, I decided to attempt the Custard Chiffon. When I first tasted it, it was so light, spongey and sweet. It was pure joy. To me, it also exemplified the notions of fressing and heirloom baking and I hope they don’t mind me sharing this wonderful recipe here.

For this recipe you will need an angel cake tin with a removable base. It is also a great idea to find a bottle whose neck will fit into the centre of the tin. You will need this to invert the cake on after it has finished baking. The whole process might seem a bit strange and involved, however the effort put into this cake really pays off.

Ingredients:

175 g self-raising flour

35 g custard powder

1 tsp cream of tartar

6 eggs (large), separated

345 g caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

170 ml warm water

80 ml vegetable oil

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Have your angel cake tin ready and nearby but do not grease it. The tin should not be a non-stick tin as the cake needs to cling to the sides of the tin as it cooks.

In a small-medium bowl, sift the flour, custard powder and cream of tartar three times.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with 1 cup of the total sugar, until pale and creamy. If you have a free standing mixer with a paddle attachment, use this attachment for the egg yolks and save the whisk for later. Once pale and creamy, add the vanilla. Place the oil and water in a jug and along with the sifted flour mixture, add to the yolk mixture while the mixer is beating on a low speed. Beat only until just combined.

Using a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites using an electric mixer until soft peaks have formed. Add the remaining sugar, and whisk until the peaks are stiff (but not dry).

Gently fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites with a metal spoon. Continue to gently fold until the mixtures are just combined. Do not over mix.

Transfer the mixture to the cake tin and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

To serve, sprinkle with icing sugar if desired.

Custard Chiffon Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream & Dried Edible Flowers

Original Recipe from ‘The Monday Morning Cooking Club’ by Merelyn Frank Chalmers, Natanya Eskin, Lauren Fink, Lisa Goldberg, Paula Horwitz and Jacqui Israel, p.35 (2011).

Originally Posted July 5, 2014.

Elderflower Chiffon Cake

Elderflower Chiffon Cake

Blood Orange Chiffon Cake

Kulinary Adventures of Kath

Food Photography, Recipes & Baking