A chiffon cake is a foam cake, meaning it’s made by foaming eggs. But don’t mistake it for your regular sponge or angel food cake because chiffon cake uses both egg yolks and whites (though separately) along with oil and a leavening agent (baking powder). That’s what gives it its unique moist crust. Angel food cake, on the other hand, doesn’t use egg yolks, or any kind of fat or leavening agent.

Here’s what you need:

2 cups of flour
2 tsp of baking powder
½ tsp of salt
1 cup of castor sugar (for the yolks)
6 large egg yolks (120 gm) at room temperature
½ cup of oil (neutral tasting & smelling)
½ cup of milk
2 tsp of vanilla

For the meringue:

Egg whites from 7 large eggs at room temperature
½ tsp of cream of tartar
½ cup of castor sugar

Note: You don’t need the strawberries if you are making a plain, golden chiffon cake. I had fresh juicy strawberries at hand that day so I wanted to use them in some way!

Also, don’t forget to look at my beautiful red tube pan from Nordic Ware I am so in love with it! And of course, a tube pan is recommended if you want the traditional chiffon cake shape.

How to make it:

Beat egg yolks and 1 cup of sugar together for a minute or till the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add the oil and beat well till you have a uniform emulsion.

Now, you need to add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the beaten yolk mixture. Needless to say, dry ingredients should be sifted together so that air gets incorporated and no lumps make it into your cake batter. I like to sieve it straight into my yolk-sugar mix (for convenience sake).

Use a metal spoon or silicone spatula to mix the flour mixture into the yolk mixture till you get a smooth batter.

Now on to the Meringue. For this, beat the egg whites with cream of tartar for a minute or so till the eggs get foamy
Add sugar a little at a time and beat well after each addition till that sugar is completely dissolved.
In a few minutes, you will have stiff peaks and that’s your glossy, shiny, stiff meringue ready!

Note: Now you need to mix the two batters. Here is where you will need a little care. Now is when you will try to make sure that all that air trapped in your meringue deflates as little as possible during the mixing process because this air is what will give the structure an airy lightness to your Chiffon Cake.

Begin by adding a third of the meringue to the yolk mixture and mixing it all through to get a homogeneous mix. Now it will be easier to mix the rest of the meringue (in two additions) very gently without deflating it.

This is what your final batter should look like (below).

Pour this batter quickly into the ungreased Tube Pan and bake it for 50-55 minutes at 165° C.

That’s your Golden Vanilla Chiffon Cake out of the oven…whoa look at that crust and that crack!

At this point, while the cake is just out of the oven and the pan still too hot to handle, grab a pair of oven mitts and place the pan with the cake upside down on an elevated base as seen below.

Let it stand like this for at least and hour and a half preferably till it’s completely cooled. We do this because we don’t want our Chiffon to lose any of the volume and height or structure it has gained by shrinking down. You’ll see exactly what I’m saying in the below pictures.
So moment of truth now. Invert the cooled cake pan back now to stand the right way. Take a knife and run it all along the sides of the pan and do the same around the center tube. Give it a few taps on the base and it should easily come out. My Tube pan looked something like this after the cake was out.

Look at that height oh God! I loved it when I saw it! and you have to touch the cake to feel the softness and the sponginess.

I served my Chiffon with fresh strawberries and some whipped cream simply because I happened to have fresh strawberries on hand. But the thing about this cake is that it’s great to have as is. In fact, it’s my favorite to have with a hot cuppa.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your prettiest apron and a whisk, put on your favorite song, and start creating the magic!! Do share your experience of this post and recipe and your views and opinions! I would love to hear them!

Shop on Amazon: Here are some products that can help you in the kitchen while making this recipe

Baking Powder: https://amzn.to/3dMD8PW
Castor Sugar: https://amzn.to/2Tvx05n
Cream of Tartar: https://amzn.to/3oxMUue

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