Citrus Chiffon Cake

Recently I was watching an episode of MasterChef New Zealand online--I have never even been there, but I enjoy cooking shows from all over the world. Anyways, they had a sponge cake challenge, a tricky combination of whipped egg whites folded into an egg yolk batter, cooked up high and fluffy. This is not a super common cake in the United States, where I tend to see more butter cakes with whole eggs used. My sister invited me to a family dinner and I decided I would try my hand at a version of this sponge cake. I found a lovely recipe for a chiffon cake--with lemon and orange zest for only about 215 calories a piece.  The chiffon cake is a sponge cake with huge whipped egg whites, usually made in a tube pan like n angel food cake. I do not have such a pan--but I do have a silicone bundt mold.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c cake flour
1 1/2 c sugar
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c orange juice
1/4 c cold water
1/2 c vegetable oil
5 large eggs and 2 extra egg whites
1 tbs orange zest
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

First step is to separate the eggs--doing this when the eggs are cold is best, but the eggs need to be room temperature to mix up the batter. So do this well in advance of cooking. I saved the two extra yolks for another application. While those came to room temperature, I zested the lemon and orange--I used Meyer lemons because I really like the sweeter taste, and WalMart has bags of them for 2$. Then I juiced them--it actually took 1 1/2 of each to get the amount of juice I needed.

Once the eggs were room temperature I whisked together the dry ingredients, including most of the sugar. I didn't read that clearly and had to take some out. 1 cup of sugar added at this point, with a half cup reserved for the egg whites. The juice, egg yolks, zest and oil are supposed to be added at this point. Originally I had forgotten the oil and not put the extra water in (the recipe says to sub the 1/2 cup juice for the 3/4 c water) and it had looked super dry. So I added 1/4 c cold water, and then finally the oil when I remembered--glad I remembered before it was too late! I whipped it until it was nice and smooth.

The next step is the trickiest. I actually borrowed a bowl for it--my one glass bowl was in the fridge with bread dough in it. I made sure the beaters and bowl were clean and residue free. The room temperature egg whites and the cream of tartar went into the metal bowl and were beat until soft peaks form. I really thought I'd over beaten them, but added the sugar and kept beating until stiff peaks formed and it was glossy with the sugar dissolved.  A third of the egg whites are added to the yolk batter and folded ever so gently to combine. Then the rest is slowly folded in with a rubber spatula, being careful not to deflate the eggs.

The batter is poured into a bundt pan that was carefully cleaned of residue. It was a lot of batter for the pan, so I put some in cupcake molds as well. The pans bake in a preheated 325 degree oven. The cupcakes baked for 30 minutes, and the cake for about an hour and 15. I did put a tent of tinfoil over the top in the last half hour as it had started to get dark. I had baked them on a sheet pan as I wasn't sure of the stability of the silicone bundt on the rack, which I think resulted in a lighter cook on one side and darker on the other.

The cupcakes came out and cooled upside down. The silicone pan made it very tricky to balance the cake upside down. While the cake stuck nicely to the pan, the silicone tried to slip down the bottle and listed to one side or the other. I did rig up some cookbooks to hold it upright so I didn't have to stand and hold it.

A bit of the cake didn't come out of the mold right, but it was mostly in one piece. I made some raspberry-lemon and blueberry-lemon sauce to serve with it and some lemon or mango sorbet.

The Verdict: This is a delicious light and fluffy cake that isn't too sweet, with a hint of the tart lemon and orange. The texture was so airy, moist, but not too fragile. The sauce really helps the cake, adding that contrast of flavors and textures. Next time I try a chiffon cake I will use a different cake pan, but I do think I will try this again. My family said it was yummy and moist and cleared their plates.

Lotta Lemons Part 1

 This is kind of an off the wall recipe for me. I'm such a beginner cook, that most of the recipes I try are the first time I've made something and sometimes the first time I've eaten it! Now, this is mostly due to my upbringing, lack of eating out, and relative inexperience with new foods. My goal with this blog is to try new things, expand my culinary horizons, and learn to be a better cook. One thing I want to try soon is a traditional tagine--in the crock pot, since I'm not going to shell out for a tagine pot for my first attempt. One of the typical accompaniments to a chicken tagine is preserved lemon, which you can buy. But I love lemons, and this seemed like something I could make--it is time consuming in that it takes almost a month to be ready, but most of that is sitting and looking pretty. So this is the set up post, I'll post the results in a month along with the tagine!

I actually have a recipe for this in one of my books--I bought a much beloved canning and preserving bible whose spine had broken in several places. I used that and some of what I read on line to throw this together!

Ingredients:

10 or more lemons
kosher or preserving salt
peppercorns
corriander seed
bay leaves
dried pepper
quart jar and lid

I boiled the jar for about 10 minutes to sterilize it, and then let it cool for a little bit. I rinsed and scrubbed the lemons. I cut off a little bit of the stem end of around 5 of the lemons, then quartered them without cutting through to the middle. This is kind of a trick, and some got cut too much and some weren't cut enough.

I put a tablespoon of the salt in the bottom of the jar, and then working over a bowl, stuffed a tablespoon of the salt into each lemon. After putting three of the lemons stuffed with salt in the jar, I added the bay leaves, the pepper corns, the coriander, and a pinch of red pepper. The rest of the quartered lemons in salt were added, and the remaining salt. Then all of the rest of the lemons were juiced and the juice was poured in the jar. The recipe said to fill almost all the way to the top, but I needed some lemons for something else, so it didn't quite make it full. I believe the lemons will release some of the juice to make up the difference.

I screwed the lid on and it is a very pretty jar of sunshine on my table this winter! I'll report on how it tastes in a month!