This pumpkin walnut chiffon cake has a soft fluffy cottony texture with a wonderful aroma of pumpkin, cinnamon, and walnuts. The cake is lightly sweetened and stays soft for days and with no artificial color. It is one of my favorite recipes to use up pumpkin.
From all the cakes in the world, I have to say that I love chiffon cake to the core! 🙂 It’s a big statement I know. I can bake chiffon cake every day if I could. Each day with a different flavor LOL! I love how amazingly soft, fluffy, airy, light chiffon cake is. I always make my chiffon cake just lightly sweet because I simply can’t stand overly sweet dessert or cakes. You are definitely welcome to adjust the level of sweetness to your preference.
Ingredients
1. Eggs
I used room temperature large eggs. One large egg is about 55 grams with a shell. Each yolk weighs about 30-33 grams and each egg white weighs about 18-20 grams in case you want to know since you may use larger or smaller eggs, then you want to go by the weight
2. Milk
I use cow’s milk, but you can substitute with other non-dairy milk too
3. Sugar
I use regular granulated sugar. I haven’t tried this myself, but I’ve seen people use Keto-friendly sweetener like monk fruit sweetener
4. Pumpkin
I used canned pumpkin puree. You can use fresh pumpkin and steam them until soft then mash. You can also use other squash like butternut squash, acorn squash, etc. The color may not be as orange as using pumpkin
5. Cake flour
If you want to achieve the cotton soft fluffy texture, definitely stick with a cake flour. It’s not the same softness using all-purpose flour
6. Walnuts
Use unsalted and roasted walnuts for extra flavor
7. Cream of tartar (or Lemon juice /vinegar)
If you don’t have cream of tartar, you can use lemon juice or white vinegar. I’ve used apple cider vinegar too. This helps to stabilize the meringue
8. Baking powder
Baking powder helps to leaven the cake further. It’s not a must to use baking powder as long as you whip your meringue properly because chiffon cake counts on meringue to leaven the cake
Let’s get pumping, shall we? I mean baking!
How To Make Pumpkin Walnut Chiffon Cake
1. Separate the egg yolks from the whites. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with sugar, cooking oil, milk, pumpkin puree, and cinnamon powder.
2. Sift in the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into the yolks mixture
3. Use a rubber spatula to gently mix until you don’t see any more loose flour. Set aside
4. 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 lemon juice/vinegar or cream of tartar and whip until it turns whitish.
5. Gradually add the sugar as you beat.
6. I beat them on high speed (speed 6 on Kitchen Aid) until you get a stiff peak then stop, don’t overbeat it too. You will know you get to the stiff peak when you hold your whisk up and your meringue holds its shape and if you turn your bowl upside down, it won’t drip
7. Gently fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the thick batter. Using a rubber spatula, swipe from the side and gently fold over to mix and then continue. Repeat this motion several rounds
8. Continue on with the second 1/3 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. You shouldn’t see anymore white meringue
9. Scoop some of the batter into the chiffon pan to cover the base. This is to prevent the walnuts from sinking to the bottom of the pan.
10. Fold in the walnuts into the rest of the batter gently.
11. Pour the cake batter into an ungreased chiffon pan and use a rubber spatula to smooth the cake. The cake needs to cling to the pan to rise. You can use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles you see and gently drop the cake pan from about 10 cm height on the counter 2-3 times.
12. Pop into the oven and let it bake at 330 F (165 C) for 50 minutes. DO NOT open your oven door at least for the first 30 minutes of baking or you will deflate the cake. Then lower the heat to 300 F (150 C) and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean
13. Once out of the oven, carefully invert the pan upside down. Your chiffon pan may have the little stands for you to invert, but I find it not high enough. I use a glass jar and set the inverted pan on top of the jar and let it cool down completely. Please don’t be tempted to remove from the pan if it’s still warm. It takes about one to two hours to cool down completely
14. Once it’s cool down completely, use a spatula knife to run through the edge of the cake and outer middle tube to help release the cake. Gently push the base of the pan to lift the cake up.
15. Gently use your hand to release the cake from the bottom (as shown in the video). Enjoy and try to finish it within 3 days (which I’m sure it will be gone before then)
It tastes better the next day
I realize that chiffon cake actually tastes better the next day. The flavor develops further. So I usually let the cake cools down completely and then cover tightly with a cling wrap and it can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days, if there’s no whipped cream topping or anything that needs refrigeration. I only slice the cake when it’s ready to be served. Store the sliced cakes in an air-tight container to prevent them from drying out.
I didn’t chop the walnuts very finely, because I’m a nut freak and I like to bite into pieces of walnuts. But you can definitely chop them into smaller pieces
Important tips
1. Make sure your mixing bowl, whisk attachment is oil-free or you will have a hard time beating up the meringue into a stiff peak
2. Stop beating once you have reached a stiff peak. When you turn the whisk upside down, the meringue doesn’t bend or move
3. 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
4. Invert the chiffon pan immediately as soon as it comes out from the oven to prevent the cake from collapsing on its own weight
5. Do not try to unmould the cake until it has cooled down for at least 1 hour, 2 hours is best!
DID YOU MAKE THIS PUMPKIN WALNUT CHIFFON 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!
For baking/ kueh making: I highly encourage to weigh ingredients with a digital kitchen scale instead of using measuring cups as they are not very accurate especially when it comes to recipe that requires precision.
GRAMS TO CUPS CONVERSION (UNSIFTED)INGREDIENTS
Cake batter:
- 120 gr cake flour - 1 cup
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 5 egg yolks - room temperature (about 18 grams each yolk)
- 20 gr sugar - 2 Tbsp
- 50 gr cooking oil - 5 Tbsp
- 70 ml milk - 5 Tbsp
- 120 gr pumpkin puree - about 1/2 cup
- 2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 100 gr roasted unsalted walnuts - 1 cup, chopped
Meringue:
- 5 egg whites - room temperature (about 30 gr each egg white)
- 80 gr sugar - 6 1/3 Tbsp
- 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar - or 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
INSTRUCTIONS
- 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
Bring ingredients to room temperature:
- Before you start making the recipe, make sure the eggs and milk are at room temperature. Get them out from the fridge for 20-30 minutes and let them sit at room temperature before you plan to start working on this
Prepare cake batter:
- Separate the egg yolks from the whites. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with sugar, cooking oil, milk, pumpkin puree, and cinnamon powder
- Sift in the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into the yolks mixture, then use a rubber spatula to gently mix until you don't see any more loose flour. Set aside
Whip the egg white 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 lemon juice/vinegar or cream of tartar 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 then stop, don't overbeat it too. You will know you get to the stiff peak when you hold your whisk up and your meringue holds its shape and if you turn your bowl upside down, it won't drip
Fold meringue into the cake batter:
- Gently fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the thick batter. Using a rubber spatula, swipe from the side and gently fold over to mix and then continue. Repeat this motion several rounds. Continue on with the second 1/3 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. You shouldn't see anymore white meringue
- Scoop some of the batter into the chiffon pan to cover the base. This is to prevent the walnuts from sinking to the bottom of the pan. Fold in the walnuts into the rest of the batter gently. Pour the cake batter into an ungreased chiffon pan. Use a rubber spatula to smooth the top evenly. You can use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles you see and gently drop the cake pan from about 10 cm height on the counter 2-3 times to pop any large bubbles inside the cake batter
Baking:
- Pop into the oven and let it bake at 330 F (165 C) for 50 minutes. DO NOT open your oven door at least for the first 30 minutes of baking or you will deflate the cake. Then lower the heat to 300 F (150 C) and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean
- 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
Invert the cake once out of the oven:
- Once out of the oven, drop the cake pan from about 10 cm height on the counter several times to prevent shrinkage. Then carefully invert the pan upside down. Your chiffon pan may have the little stands for you to invert, but I find it not high enough. I use a glass jar and set the inverted pan on top of the jar and let it cool down completely. Please don't be tempted to remove from the pan if it's still warm. It takes about one to two hours to cool down completely
- Once it's cool down completely, use a spatula knife to run through the edge of the cake and outer middle tube to help release the cake. Gently push the base of the pan to lift the cake up. Gently use your hand to release the cake from the bottom (as shown in the video). Enjoy and try to finish it within 3 days (which I'm sure it will be gone before then)
