Orange and Passionfruit Chiffon

Ever since my last successful chiffon, I've been thinking of baking an Orange and Passionfruit chiffon. I don't know why I chose this combination, perhaps it's due to inspiration from Happy Homebaker's Mango and Passionfruit chiffon. I have always wanted to try an orange chiffon. I thought adding passionfruit is not a bad idea since passionfruit seems to blend in well with orange. I bought a bottle of passionfruit pulps last time when I bought some 爱玉 jelly, so I used it this round.

I recently read from Happy Homebaker that the egg white used in chiffon does not require to be stiff peak, soft peak can do the job too. This is really something very interesting to me. I have always thought that if we cannot achieve stiff peak, the chiffon is bound to fail, or at least that was what most people have been telling me. As a result, I always make sure my whites are beaten to very stiff stage, so much so that you'll have a little difficulty moving the whisk around. The disadvantage is, you'll have a harder time getting the white into the yolk batter evenly (which explains why my chiffons always ended up with white spots in them). This time round, I no longer whisk the whites till super stiff stage. I still achieve stiff peak. I guess I'll need a bit more courage to try baking one with soft peak. LOL......

The chiffon turns out well this time too, thankfully. There wasn't any cracks or volcano eruptions on top. Guess I'm finally beginning to understand my 20L oven a little.



However, my skills for removing the cake still need improvement. Tore the cake a little in the process of getting it off the pan. Too impatient, perhaps.



The texture is springy and moist, just like a sponge. The orange and passionfuit instill a nice fragrance into the cake. The kids, especially the girls, love the cake.





Orange and Passionfruit Chiffon

Ingredients
5 egg yolks
30g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
40g corn oil
70g passionfruit pulp
60g orange juice (from 1 orange)
Rinds from 1 orange

Sift together
130g cake flour
1.5 tsp baking powder

5 egg whites
50g sugar

Method
1. Cream egg yolk and sugar with a hand whisk until sugar dissolve. Add salt and mix well.
2. Add corn oil. Mix well.
3. Mix the passionfruit pulp with the orange juice and add it to the yolk batter. Mix well.
4. Add orange rinds and mix well.
5. Fold in sifted flour mixture with a hand whisk.
6. In a clean bowl, beat egg white till soft peak. Add in sugar in 2 additions and beat till stiff peak.
7. Add 1/3 of the egg white into the yolk mixture to soften it.
8. Fold in the remaining egg white in two rounds until well incorporated.
9. Pour into 21cm tube pan. Knock pan on table top to remove trapped bubbles.
10. Bake at 170C for 45-55 mins. Tent top if it gets too brown. (I bake for 55 mins. Adjust the timing according to your oven.)
11. Invert cake to cool once out of the oven.