You will absolutely love this super soft and fluffy orange chiffon cake made with freshly squeezed orange juice and orange zest. All the tips you need to know with step-by-step photos and a video tutorial.
Serving suggestions (any combination of the followings):
Ice cream
Whipped cream
Fresh orange slices
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
Before you start making the recipe, make sure eggs and orange juice (if you keep in the fridge) 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
Squeeze some orange juice and grate some orange zest:
Wash the oranges with clean water and pat them dry. Use a sharp grater to grate the rind of the oranges to get some orange zest. Be careful not to grate the bitter white part. Squeeze some orange juice out to get the amount you need for the recipe
Mixing the thick batter:
Separate the egg yolks from the whites and let them sit out for 30 minutes at room temperature. The meringue whips better at room temperature
Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder and whisk to mix. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with sugar and cooking oil, then add orange juice and orange zest
Gradually add the cake flour mixture to the egg batter while mixing OR if you have sieve or flour sifter, sift in the cake flour mixture into the batter, there will be no lumps when you do this, otherwise mix until smooth and no lumps, try not to overmix it too. Strain the batter if necessary to get rid of any lumps
Whipping the meringue:
Preheat your oven to 330 F (165 C). Place the oven rack 3rd from the top, basically in the middle of the oven. For convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 F (15 C)
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 acid of choice and whip until it turns whitish. Gradually add the sugar in 3-4 batches as you beat. Beat at high speed (I used speed 6) until you get a stiff peak. You will know you get to the stiff peak when you hold your whisk up and your meringue holds its shape
Fold in meringue into the thick batter:
Gently fold in 1/4 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 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
DO NOT grease your chiffon pan. 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. This helps to minimize shrinkage after baking
Bake the cake:
Put the chiffon pan in the middle rack and let it bake for 40-45 minutes for 6-inch, 45-50 minutes for 7-inch, 50-55 minutes for 8 inch, 55-60 minutes for 9 inch, 60-65 minutes for 10 inch. The time is just for a reference. Your oven may need less or more time to bake
Don't be alarmed 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 to cool down:
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
Once it's cool down completely, use a spatula knife to run through the edge of the cake to help release the cake. Gently push the base of the pan down. Use the knife again to run through the top of the cake to help release it from the base of the pan
For simple decoration on the cake (optional):
Arrange some thinly sliced oranges. Dust with some confectioners sugar and serve
Video
Notes
For 20-22 cm tube size recipe: To make 120 gr cake flour, use 95 gr all-purpose flour + 25 gr cornstarch. For 26 cm tube size recipe: To make 220 gr cake flour, use 175 gr all-purpose flour + 45 gr cornstarch.