Wholemeal Chiffon Cake ~ 全麦戚风蛋糕

 

I was a bit apprehensive when I wanted to try making a chiffon cake with wholemeal flour.  If I were to use wholemeal flour totally, will the chiffon turn out to be dense or will it not rise or only rise a fair bit? As wholemeal flour is heavy and coarse I had to make adjustments to the normal recipes I used for my chiffon cakes.  So I browsed through my chiffon cake recipes and decided on a mixture of wholemeal and plain flour with an additional egg white to fluff up the batter.  I was delighted when the finished product turned out well, the cake didn't collapse when inverted and the taste was good, light, soft and refreshing wthout much hint of coarse wholemeal. 

Wholemeal Chiffon Cake   ~   全麦戚风蛋糕

Ingredients (A)

• 5 'L' egg yolks
• 30 gm light brown sugar or caster sugar
• 75 ml vegetable oil
• 75 ml milk
• 75 gm wholemeal flour
• 45 gm plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• a pinch of salt

(B)

• 6 'L' egg whites
• 75 gm light brown sugar or caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar or 1 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar

Method

1. Sift the plain flour with baking powder, salt, set aside.
2. With a ball whisk, whisk egg yolks with the light brown sugar, add in milk, oil, vanilla and whisk till creamy.
3. Mix in the wholemeal flour.  Sift in the plain flour mixture again.  Mix till well combined.  (Mixture is thick at this juncture).
4. In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites till frothy, add in the white vinegar and whisk till foamy.  Gradually add in the light brown sugar and whisk till stiff but not dry.
5. Fold in 1/3 meringue into the egg yolk mixture, mix well.  Pour this into the remaining meringue and fold till well incorporated but taking care not to overdo and deflate the meringue.  You can shake the bowl a bit to dispel any air bubbles.
6. Pour this batter into an ungreased 23 cm chiffon cake pan.  Level the surface.  Bake in a preheated oven @ 170 deg.C for 50 to 55 mins. till golden brown.  Test with a skewer till it comes out clean.
7. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately invert it to cool completely and then umould by hand.