Yuja Cha Chiffon (柚子茶戚风蛋糕)

It is my daily routine to drop by fellow bloggers' blogs...walking through each of their interesting and very inspiring baking repertoires has become very much a part of my daily activities.

Although I do not know anyone of them in person, I do feel that I can relate to them very well. I share with them their joy when they churn out a wholesome homemade loaf of bread, I cheered along when anyone of them have conquered and removed the stumbling blocks they faced in their baking journeys, and I totally understand how one would feel whenever I read about a catastrophic event in the kitchen.


Occasionally, I came across fellow blogger pals who actually mentioned me in their blog postings :D It warms my heart reading about their kind words and comments. Recently, I read with great amusement when MH mentioned about my pork-floss like chiffon cakes in her post ;') I have never realised that, and after looking through my photos...yes, indeed most of them looked like they were covered with a generous layer of pork floss, lolz!


It was the same thing when I unmolded this Yuja Cha Chiffon ;)

I bought a bottle of Korean Yuzu Tea or Yucheong or Yuja-Cha 柚子茶 jam. This marmalade-like syrup is made from thinly sliced citrus fruit called Yuzu. When mixed with hot water you get a beverage known as Yuja Cha. I like adding lots of ice to turn it to a icy, refreshing cold drink, excellent to quench my thirst during the hot afternoons.


I didn't have much luck making chiffon cakes lately. I under-baked my earlier attempt on a coffee chiffon, and upon unmolding, the cake sank like the Titanic, lopsided. After cutting a slice of the cake, the pathetic looking 'ring' reminded me very much of the structure at the Marina Barrage. It was really amazing that even though with the undesirable outcome, we wolf down half of the cake minutes later.

I had better luck with this Yuja Cha version. It didn't collapse, in fact it rose beautifully initially, but it started sinking in the oven when there was still another 10mins before the baking time was up :'(


Can you spot the dense layer at the bottom of the cake? I can either blame my oven for the unstable temperature, or, it could really be due to the whisking of the egg whites. I may have over beat or under beat the whites? Or could it be due to the folding of the whites to the yolk batter? It's very likely that I deflated the batter quite a fair bit as I kept folding and folding and folding just to get rid of the tiny lumps of whites that were trapped in the batter.

Anyway, the cake still tasted good, although the yuzu flavour was not as prominent as I would have expected. The bits of yuzu rinds did enhance the taste though. I will certainly try this recipe again soon...as I am left with less than half a jar of Yuzu syrup!


Yuja Cha Chiffon

Ingredient A:
(makes one 18cm cake)

3 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
50g yuzu syrup/jam
40ml vegetable oil
50ml hot water
70g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Ingredient B:
3 egg whites (original recipe calls for 4 egg whites)
50g caster sugar

Method:

1. Dissolve yuzu syrup with the hot water. Leave to cool.
2. Sieve flour, baking powder together, set aside.
3. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature. (It is easier to separate eggs when they are cold.)
4. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add in sugar, and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes very sticky and turn pale.
5. Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the Yuzu mixture. Sieve over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter.
6. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Beat in the sugar in 3 separate additions on high speed until just before stiff peaks form.
7. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
8. Pour batter into a 18cm (7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
9. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 30 ~ 35mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
10. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.

Recipe adapted from: 曾美子戚风cake零失败