Wednesday 1 April 2015

Miffy Lemon Vanilla Chiffon Cake



This is a sweet Miffy chiffon cake for a friend’s sister who likes Miffy! The yellow base is naturally colored with turmeric-based yellow colouring and lemon zest. I’m loving the rare natural colours (Queen’s) from Cold Storage Malaysia (thanks PS!). To my surprise, there is not a strong turmeric taste which is important for natural coloring. I preferred a yellow cake base as yellow is a typical Miffy colour and also makes for a cheerful background to contrast with the creamy white Miffy. I found out recently that vanilla with a tinge of lemon actually goes very well, so the chiffon cake is lemon vanilla flavoured (lemon zest is also yellow).


Lemon Vanilla Chiffon Cake (9-inch chiffon tin)
8 egg yolks
53g sugar
105g corn/vegetable oil
101ml water boiled with lemon zest (1 lemon)
160g cake flour
13ml vanilla extract
2 tsp turmeric-based natural coloring (Queen’s)

11 egg whites
120g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven at 160°C. *I used steam baking like ogura cakes but it is optional.
2. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale yellow before stirring in oil, boiled water with lemon zest and vanilla extract.
3. Add in sieved flour and tumeric-based powder (2 tsp) and whisk till no trace of flour found.
4. Meringue: Beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till stiff peak, mixing in caster sugar in 2 additions.
5. Fold in the meringue gently into the batter 1/3 at a time.
6. Scoop the chiffon tin and gently tap on table to remove air bubbles
7. Bake for 160°C 15 min, then 150°C 10 min, 140°C 20 min, 130°C 15 min.
8. Invert once out of the oven and unmould by hand when cake is cool (see 'hand unmolding chiffon cakes for a smooth finishing' video).

I used a reduced egg yolk recipe to get a whiter chiffon cake for the Miffy. To shape the Miffy face, the Miffy face was baked in a small round bowl (11 mm OD Iwaki), the limbs from a cake pop maker (makes small semi-spheres), and ears cut from cake from an oval bowl. The pink body from another oval bowl, and the arms from mini swissrolls. If you do not have oval bowls, you can substitute with chiffon cake in layers and cut into the required shape.

Miffy cream vanilla chiffon cake
1 egg yolk
20g sugar
39g corn/vegetable oil
37 ml water
5 ml vanilla extract
60g cake flour
Pink beetroot powder (also Queen’s)

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

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale yellow before stirring in oil, water and vanilla extract.
3. Next add in sieved flour and whisk till no trace of flour found. Scoop over 15 tsp for pink batter and add a tsp of pink beetroot powder and a drop of strawberry paste (you can substitute with pink wilton colour if you do not have).
4. Meringue: Beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till stiff peak, mixing in caster sugar in 2 additions. Scoop over 30 tbsp meringue to the pink batter and fold in 1/3 at a time.
5. Fold in the rest of the meringue gently into the plain colored batter 1/3 at a time.
6. Scoop the plain batter into the bowls and cake pop maker. Scoop the pink batter into a 6-inch tray lined with baking paper and an oval bowl (or tray if you do not have).
7. Gently tap the bowls on table to remove air bubbles.
8. Bake the bowls for 15 min at 160°C and then 15 min at 150°C, and layer cake and cake pop for 15 min at 160°C.
9. Unmould after the cakes are cool. For the swissrolls, roll while cakes are still hot. Cut the cakes into the appropriate sizes/shapes.
10. Arrange them onto the base chiffon cake and glue with melted marshmallows. I had black cake from a concurrent bake, else you can draw the features on using food markers or charcoal paste.

Enjoy baking! Thankful that the birthday girl is happy and the children had fun =).

With lots of love,
Susanne

13 comments:

  1. Hi, do you mind sharing how you make Miffy?

    Thank you!

    Mixue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Mixue, it's above at the second half of the recipe, not sure if you missed it. The Miffy head was from chiffon cake from a bowl, limbs from cake pop chiffon cakes, arms from swissroll.. etc.

      Delete
  2. Susanne, thank you for highlighting it to me. I really miss out that portion.

    Mixue

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Susanne, could you advise how to I achieve like yours not having the brown layer at the outer layer? My chiffon cake outer layer is light brown.

    Mixue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Mixue, you can try lowering the oven temperature even more after the first 15 min. If browning likely oven temperature is too high. Every oven has slightly different temperatures so you can try lowering it more and increasing baking time. Thanks!

      Delete
  4. Susanne, thank you so much.
    Mixue

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Susanne, why did you use so many egg yolks and whites for the Lemon Vanilla Chiffon Cake instead of the usual 4 or 5 ???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, it's for a 9-inch chiffon tin. Opps I realise it's not above. Will edit the post. Thanks for bringing it up to me.

      Delete
  6. Hi
    The recipe ingredients is only for the yellow 9" cake right? Then the Miffy we make another mix with less yellow eggs?

    ReplyDelete