FEBRUARY MISSION: YOUNG MO KIM'S CHOCOLATE CHIFFON CAKE

I just got my Amazon package! In the box was a cookbook I have been yearning for, Young Mo Kim's A Collection of Fine Baking. The book is amazing. It's professionally presented and is the winner of the "Gourmand" World Cookbook Awards. Kim is the president of the Korean Bakers' Association and teaches as well as appears in television shows in Korea. He was selected as one of the judges for the 2004 and 2005 World Pastry Team Championships. If you can read Korean (which I don't) you can visit his website http://www.k-bread.com/.

The recipes are all illustrated and are easy to follow for the home baker. What is kind of quirky about the cookbook is that it has a series of anime characters who walk you through the process of baking. The selection of cookies, cakes, pastries, breads and fusion desserts is awesome. In it I found traditional French desserts such as macarons, financiers and opera cakes. However, the Eurasian desserts really caught my eye. Among the recipes that caught my eye: Green Tea Cake, Green Tea Chiffon Cake, Sweet Potato Cake, Macaroons, Chestnut Pudding, Pave Earl Grey Fresh Chocolate, Double Chocolate Mousse Cake and so much more!

For my February Recipe Mission I will be attempting to make Kim's Chocolate Chiffon Cake. The recipe calls for way more egg whites (10) than I'm used to using in a chiffon cake recipe and yields 2 chiffon cakes! Yikes. That's a lot of cake. I'll have to bring some to work to share. It's frosted with a chantilly cream and dark and white chocolate curls too. The frosted cake looks fantastic with its huge white swirls of stiffly whipped cream running up the sides like a propeller. This swirling technique looks like it's going to be the toughest part. I can envision myself spending an inordinate amount of time swirling and reswirling the chantilly cream to achieve the beautifully decorated sides.

CHOCOLATE CHIFFON CAKE
from Young Mo Kim's A Collection of Fine Baking

Sponge:
egg yolks 120 g (6 egg yolks)
A. sugar 90 g (1/2 cup and 1 T)
water 120 g (1/2 cup and 4 t)
olive oil 120 g (1/2 cup and 4 t)
cake flour 160 g (1 1/2 cups and 1 T)
cocoa powder 20 g (1/4 cup)
baking powder 7 g (2 t)
egg whites 320 g (10 egg whites)
B. sugar 120 g (3/4 cup)

Chantilly Cream:
heavy cream 300 g (1 1/2 cups)
sugar 30 g ( 2 1/2 T)
rum 5 g (1 t)

Topping:
dark chocolate 315 g (11 oz)
white chocolate 315 g (11 oz)
chocolate syrup

equipment: 2 angel food pans (7"); 1 baking pan
yield: 2 chiffon cakes
baking time: 55 minutes @ 300degrees F/150degrees C

Sponge:

1. Preheat the oven to 300degrees F/150degrees C. Put egg yolks in a large bowl and beat for about 10 seconds. Then, add A. sugar and beat at high speed for about 2 minutes or until the colour lightens.
2. Add water and beat. Then, add olive oil and beat well.
3. Mix cake flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder and sift three times and then add to the batter. Beat until you no longer see any powder.
4. Then, in a separate bowl, make a meringue using the egg whites and B. sugar
5. Add half of the meringue to the batter and fold in using a spatula. Then, add the rest of the meringue and fold in.
6. Spray water all around the inside of a 7" (18cm) angel food pan and place it inside the baking pan. Pour the batter into the angel food pan. Fill up only about 3/4 of the pan. Then, use a chopstick or any clean stick to dip in the batter and go around the pan twice to get the air out from the batter.
7. Bake at 300degrees F for about 55 minutes or until golden brown. Do not lift the angel pan with batter inside; put the entire pan assemblage in the oven to bake.
8. Immediately turn the pan upside down and place it on a cooling rack (or stick the center of the pan onto the neck of a bottle).
9. Run a metal spatula around the inside of the pan. Then, take the sponge out. Use a knife to separate the bottom of the angel food pan and the sponge.

Chantilly Cream:

In a separate bowl, put heavy cream, sugar and rum and beat until it is stiff (remember to add the sugar half at a time for better results).

Decoration:

1. Slice the sponge in half and apply a layer of cream. Put on the upper sponge and transfer the cake to the turntable.
2. Put a thick layer of chantilly cream on the top first, then put enough in the center to cover the sponge. Put cream around the side using a metal spatula.
3. Put a generous amount of the cream on the spatula and gently press against the side and drag about 2" (5 cm) as you turn the cake around. Repeat this process and decorate all around the cake.
4. Put another portion of the cream on the tip of the spatula and place it on top of the cake as shown.
5. Use a knife to scrape both chocolates slowly toward yourself for the decoration, making curls.
6. Decorate half of the cake with the white chocolate shavings and the other half with the dark chocolate shavings. Pour on some chocolate syrup to finish the decoration.

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