Pillow-soft chiffon sponge cake is inspired by the flavor of the popular gingerbread and fruit cake, yet the cake is light and not cloyingly sweet. It is perfect to celebrate Christmas or any holiday events.
If you are obsessed with chiffon cakes like I am, I hope you will like this one. I really love baking chiffon cakes with all the different possible flavors I could think of. I’m still in Christmas mode and so here I am using the popular Christmas flavors, gingerbread, and fruit cake. The cake isn’t as dark as the traditional gingerbread or gingerbread cookies we know because I did not use dark brown sugar and molasses in the recipe. I’m just a bit concern by using molasses the cake may not rise well as it is more on the acidic side. Perhaps I will experiment more in the future, but for now, I’m happy with this version.
The recipe rundown
1. Taste: It has that familiar warm aroma of spices and it tastes just perfectly sweet without overdoing it
2. Texture: It’s so soft and fluffy
3. Ease: Medium
How to make soft fluffy chiffon gingerbread fruit cake
1. Prepare the dried fruit mix
Halve the maraschino cherries and then cut into quarters. Put the dried fruit mix in a bowl with the maraschino cherries
2. Add flour and toss to coat them well
3. Sift off excess flour and set aside. Adding flour to the fruit mix is to ensure our dried fruit mix won’t sink to the bottom of the pan and distributed as evenly as possible
4. Mix the dry ingredients and set aside
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with brown sugar and cooking oil, then add milk
5. Sift in the dry ingredients
6. Gently fold to mix everything. The batter shouldn’t have any lumps. Set aside
7. Place the egg whites in a clean bowl. Beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy, add cream of tartar or lemon juice/vinegar, and whip until it turns whitish. Gradually add the sugar as you beat. I beat them on high speed (speed 6 on Kitchen Aid) until you get a stiff peak. Stop once you reach a stiff peak. You will know you get to the stiff peak when you hold your whisk up and your meringue holds its shape. If you turn the bowl upside down, it won’t drip
8. Gently fold in 1/4 of the meringue into the cake batter
9. Using a rubber spatula, use a motion of swiping from the side and gently fold over to mix and then continue. Repeat this motion several rounds. Continue on with the second 1/4 of the meringue again to mix. Continue to do this until you are done with the meringue and the batter and meringue are nicely mixed and you no longer see the white meringue
10. Fold in the dried fruit mix you prepared earlier as evenly as possible. Try not to overfold or the egg white meringue will lose too much air and the cake is running a risk of deflating during baking
11. Pour the batter into an UNGREASED chiffon cake pan
12. Use a rubber spatula to smooth the surface. Gently drop the cake pan from about 10 cm height on the counter 2-3 times. This helps to pop large bubbles inside the cake batter
13. Put in the oven (middle rack) and let it bake at 330 F for 50 minutes. DO NOT open your oven door at least for the first 40 minutes to check on the cake during baking or you will deflate the cake. Then lower the heat to 300 F (150 C) and bake for another 10-15 minutes or a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. My oven is a conventional oven with bottom heat. I do not use convection (fan mode)
14. Once out of the oven, drop the cake pan from about 10 cm height on the counter several times to prevent shrinkage. Then carefully and quickly invert the pan upside down. Please don’t be tempted to remove it from the pan if it’s still warm. It takes about one to two hours to cool down completely
15. Once it has cooled down completely, use a spatula knife to run through the edge and the outer center of the tube to help release the cake. Gently push the base to lift the cake out. Use the knife again to run through the base of the pan and then carefully release the cake.
16. There you have it !!! 🙂 Enjoy and try to finish it within 3 days (which I’m sure it will be gone before then)
Important tips you need to know
1. Please make sure the chiffon tube pan you use doesn’t have a non-stick coating or the cake won’t rise
2. The recipe is written for 8 inches (20 cm) chiffon tube pan. If you use a larger pan, the cake will be shorter. I won’t recommend using a smaller pan as it will overflow
3. Use cake flour if you want that soft and fluffy texture. Using all-purpose flour won’t yield the softness compared to cake flour
4. Make sure the eggs and milk are at room temperature
5. Preheat the oven when you begin working on the recipe to give your oven enough time to warm up
Did you make this chiffon gingerbread fruit cake recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
You may also like these Christmas cookies
German Potato Cookies (Melting Moments Butter Cookies)
Pandan Cream Cheese Crinkle Cookies
Jan Hagel Koekjes (Cinnamon Almond Dutch Cookies)
Red Velvet Cream Cheese Crinkle Cookies (from scratch)
Soft and Fluffy Chiffon Gingerbread Fruit Cake
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 120 gr cake flour 1 cup, see notes 1
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 Tbsp gingerbread spice see notes 2
Wet ingredients:
- 5 egg yolks room temperature, from a-55 gram whole eggs with shell
- 40 gr light brown sugar 8 tsp, you can use dark brown sugar for darker color
- 80 ml cooking oil 5 Tbsp + 1 tsp
- 100 ml milk 7 Tbsp
Meringue:
- 5 egg whites room temperature, from a-55 gram whole eggs with shell
- 1 tsp lemon juice or use 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 60 gr sugar 5 Tbsp
Dry fruit mix:
- 100 gr mixed dried fruit about 1 cup, see notes 3
- 15 gr all-purpose flour 2 Tbsp
- 10 pieces Candied maraschiono cherries
Instructions
- Please make sure your chiffon cake pan does not have a non-stick coating or your cake will not rise. The cake needs to cling to the side of the pan to rise tall
- Please make sure eggs and milk are at room temperature. Get them out from the fridge 20-30 minutes and let them sit at room temperature before you plan to start working on this
Prepare the dried fruit mix:
- Halve the maraschino cherries and then cut into quarters. Put the dried fruit mix in a bowl with the maraschino cherries. Add flour and toss to coat them well. Sift off excess flour and set aside. This step is to ensure our dried fruit mix won't sink to the bottom of the pan and distributed as evenly as possible
Prepare the cake batter:
- Mix the dry ingredients and set aside
- In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with brown sugar and cooking oil, then add milk. Sift in the dry ingredients. Gently fold to mix everything. The batter shouldn't have any lumps. Set aside
Whip the meringue:
- Preheat your oven to 330 F (165 C). Place the oven rack 3rd from the top
- Place the egg whites in a clean bowl. You will have trouble whipping your meringue if there's a trace of grease in your utensils or bowls. Beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy, add cream of tartar or lemon juice/vinegar and whip until it turns whitish
- Gradually add the sugar as you beat. I beat them on high speed (speed 6 on Kitchen Aid) until you get a stiff peak. Stop once you reach a stiff peak. You will know you get to the stiff peak when you hold your whisk up and your meringue holds its shape. If you turn the bowl upside down, it won't drip
Fold meringue into the cake batter:
- Gently fold in 1/4 of the meringue into the cake batter. Using a rubber spatula, use a motion of swiping from the side and gently fold over to mix and then continue. Repeat this motion several rounds. Continue on with the second 1/4 of the meringue again to mix. Continue to do this until you are done with the meringue and the batter and meringue are nicely mixed and you no longer see the white meringue. Fold in the dried fruit mix you prepared earlier as evenly as possible. Try not to overfold or the egg white meringue will lose too much air and the cake is running a risk of deflating during baking
- Pour the batter into an UNGREASED chiffon cake pan. Use a rubber spatula to smooth the surface. Gently drop the cake pan from about 10 cm height on the counter 2-3 times. This helps to pop large bubbles inside the cake batter
Bake:
- Put in the oven (middle rack) and let it bake at 330 F for 50 minutes. DO NOT open your oven door at least for the first 40 minutes to check on the cake during baking or you will deflate the cake. Then lower the heat to 300 F (150 C) and bake for another 10-15 minutes or a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. My oven is a conventional oven with bottom heat. I do not use convection (fan mode)
- Don't be alarm if your cake has some cracks on top. What you are looking at will become the bottom of your cake. I find that baking at this temperature in my oven prevents the cake from cracking
Cool down:
- Once out of the oven, drop the cake pan from about 10 cm height on the counter several times to prevent shrinkage. Then carefully and quickly invert the pan upside down. Please don't be tempted to remove it from the pan if it's still warm. It takes about one to two hours to cool down completely
- I find that the flavor develops further if you can wait until the next day. Once it has cooled down completely, use a spatula knife to run through the edge and the outer center of the tube to help release the cake. Gently push the base to lift the cake out. Use the knife again to run through the base of the pan and then carefully release the cake. There you have it !!! 🙂 Enjoy and try to finish it within 3 days (which I'm sure it will be gone before then)
Notes
- You can make your own cake flour by using 95 grams all-purpose flour + 25 grams of cornstarch
- If you can't find gingerbread spice you can use: 1 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 3/4 tsp cinnamon powder, 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder, 1/4 tsp cloves powder, 1/2 tsp all-spice powder
- You can also mix in chopped nuts if you like. I suggest half of it is dried fruit mix and the other half is assorted nuts like chopped pecan, almonds, cashews, etc
