Maybe that's the way it should be?

As mentioned in my last post, I suspect I could have over beaten my egg whites whenever I did my Chiffon cakes. I watched these videos from 周老師 yesterday. They are of great help.

Chiffon Cake Part 1
Chiffon Cake Part 2
Chiffon Cake Part 3

Last night I couldn't contain my excitement after watching the videos, so I had to bake the same Chiffon cake again early this morning. This time round, I used speed 3 (instead of 4) of my mixer. After I had achieved the curved tip (which is supposedly soft peak), I took care to check every 1-2 minutes. Once the tip could stand without falling when the beaters were turned upwards, I went on for another few seconds, then stopped. The resulting egg white was softer than what I usually had. With the softer egg white, mixing it into the yolk batter was easier. I did not see as many specks of white in the batter as I mixed. HHB, if you're reading this, maybe that could be the reason too for your specks of white.

The cake rose higher in the oven even though the amount of batter looked the same as my previous rounds.


It looked ok too straight out of the oven.


But after it had cooled completely, it looked very much the same as my previous trial,


although when released from the pan, it looked so deceivingly perfect. I wonder if it's due to my oven being too hot.


The big holes are still there. I reckon they could be due to the mango pieces added?


So, you be my judge. Can this be considered a successful Chiffon? Or am I just being too picky? I don't know, but I have this bad habit of wanting things to be as perfect as possible.

For those who wish to try, here's the recipe. It's an almost fat-free cake as there is no oil/butter in the recipe. Maybe that's why it's not behaving as it should? Should you have a chance to try, please let me know whether you can get a nice cake.

Mango Yogurt Chiffon Cake (Adapted from Rei's Blueberry Yogurt Chiffon Cake)

Ingredients
(A)
40g Castor sugar
4 egg yolks
100g mango yogurt
80g fresh mango, diced into small pieces

(B) Mix together and sieved 2 times
120g cake flour
1.5 tsp baking powder

(C)
5 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
40g sugar

Method
1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar till the sugar dissolves.
2. Add the mango yogurt and mango. Stir to mix well.
3. Stir in sifted flour mixture and mix well.
4. Using electric mixer, beat egg white and cream of tartar in another clean bowl till soft peak.
5. Add sugar in 3 separate additions and beat till just initial stage of stiff peak.
6. Gently fold 1/3 of the egg white into the yolk batter. Mix well.
7. Pour the yolk batter into the remaining egg white and fold in/mix till blended.
8. Pour the batter into a 21cm tube pan and smooth the batter evenly with a spatula. Bang the pan once to get rid of any trapped bubbles.
9. Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 45-50 mins till the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Note: The temperature and time is for my oven. Other ovens may need only 35-40 mins.
10. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Cool the cake completely before unmoulding.