Singapore Flag Red Velvet Chiffon Cake

This is an early National day bake for my son who is currently into world flags. Check out his drawings :p Drawings can be improved but they are so dear to me!

I used natural red colouring from beetroot to make the red velvet chiffon cake, similar to my previous post Red Velvet Racing Cars Chiffon Cake. I managed to grab hold of some beetroot powder online, so I couldn't wait to try it out. Without the proper acidic pH, the beets will turn brown. So to keep the colour vibrant and red, make sure that you use natural cocoa powder (which is more acidic than its Dutch-processed cousin) as well as baking powder (and not baking soda), and of course buttermilk.

Here's how the beetroot powder looks like.

 Recipe for red velvet chiffon cake is adapted from Heart of Mary.

Red velvet chiffon cake (17 cm chiffon tin)
3 egg yolks
20g sugar
39g vegetable oil
36 ml buttermilk
15 ml beetroot puree + beetroot powder
5 ml vanilla extract
60g cake flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
red colouring (optional, to darken if you feel beetroot is insufficient)

4 egg whites
45g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Prepare beetroot puree. Boil 2 fresh beets chopped into cubes (left pic) till soft in 50 ml water (right pic) and puree the mixture. *You can freeze the extra in small 15 ml cubes for use within the month like baby puree.

2. Preheat oven to 160°C.

3. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale yellow before stirring in oil, buttermilk, beetroot juice, and vanilla extract.
4. Add in sieved flour and cocoa powder and whisk till no trace of flour/powder is found. I further added beetroot powder (over 1.3 tbsp) till the mixture is very bright red. If you do not have beetroot powder, you can use red yeast powder or red colouring.
5. Beat the egg whites with cream of tartar till stiff peak, mixing in caster sugar in 2 additions.
6. Gently fold in the meringue into the batter in 3 additions.
7. Bake the chiffon cake at 160°C for 15 min, then 150°C for 30-33 min or when skewer comes clean.
8. Invert when cake is removed from oven and unmould by hand and spatula when the cake is cool.

I used a mixture of royal icing and snow powder, stirred into to a paint-like consistency to paint the moon and stars on the chiffon cake. I didn't measure the amount exactly but the consistency is somewhat like "ribbon-stage consistency. Make sure the amount of snow powder added is thick enough so turn the mixture white.

My son loved the special cake for him! :)

With love,
Susanne