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. It is one of my favorite recipes to use up pumpkin.
5egg whitesroom temperature (about 30 gr each egg white)
80grsugar6 1/3 Tbsp
1tsplemon juice or vinegaror 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. 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 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 50-55 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)
Video
Notes
Recipe adjustment for different tube size:
For 6 inch tube: use 2 eggs and multiply 0.4 the rest of the ingredients. Bake for 35-40 minutes , then lower temperature to 300 F (150 C) for 5-10 minutes
For 7 inch tube: use 3 eggs and multiply 0.6 the rest of the ingredients. Bake for 40-45 minutes, then lower temperature to 300 F (150 C) for 5-10 minutes
For 9 inch tube: use the same recipe with 8-inch tube pan recipe (the one I posted on the recipe card)
For 10 inch tube: use 8 eggs and multiply 1.6 the rest of the ingredients. Bake for 50-55 minutes, then lower temperature to 300 F (150 C) for 10-15 minutes