Lychee Rose and Yuzu Chiffon Cake Longevity Peaches

I have a request for chiffon longevity peaches in two different sizes and flavours for a 66-year old lady!

I have shared how these peaches are made here and here so I will mainly share the cake recipe in this post. Please refer to the older posts for shaping and assembly instructions. I baked the green and red layer cakes separately from the peaches.

I use Daiso big heart silicone moulds for the big peach and Tovolo silicone mould for the smaller peaches. As the Tovolo ones were much thicker walled, I stacked the Daiso one with another big heart mould to provide more insulation as I bake both big and small hearts together.

Yuzu reduced yolk chiffon peaches (makes about eight 5cm hearts and one 10cm heart. Adapted from Susanne's post)
Ingredients:
1 egg yolk
7g caster sugar
32g canola/vegetable oil
40g yuzu tea*
1/4 tsp orange essence (optional)
44g cake flour
A pinch of salt
A few drops of white gel food colouring

3 egg whites
32g caster sugar
1/5 tsp cream of tartar

*Dissolve 3tbs yuzu marmalade in 108ml of hot water. I know this is way more than what is used but I chose to work with this amount because of what I do next. Blend the yuzu tea to break down the big citrus peel into smaller bits. This releases more flavour into the tea. Let the blended tea sit in the fridge overnight to let the citrus peel goodness seep into the tea. Strain the tea before use. Most bakers would just dissolve the marmalade and strain out the peel straight away but I prefer to work this way so it's optional to follow :). If you are not blending the tea, dissolve 1.5tbs of marmalade in 54ml of hot water and sieve out the peel straightaway.

Blended yuzu tea

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Place rack at second lowest position. Put a tray of water at base of oven (optional).

2. Prepare egg yolk batter. Whisk sugar and egg yolk until pale and thick. Add oil and whisk until well combined. Add yuzu tea and essence (if using) and mix well. Gradually add in flour and salt and whisk until no trace of flour is seen. Add a few drops of white gel food colouring if you wish to have a whiter peach base. Mix well.

3. Prepare meringue. In a clean metal bowl, use electric mixer to beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks form or about to reach stiff peak, gradually adding in sugar once the egg whites are foamy.

4. Fold the meringue into the egg yolk batter in three batch's quickly but gently with a spatula. Spoon the batter into the heart moulds until almost full. Gently tap the moulds on the table.

5. Turn the temperature to 150°C once the moulds are in the oven. Bake for 5 minutes before reducing temperature to 135°C and bake for 30 minutes. Check for doneness. If skewer doesn't come out clean, reduce temperature to 125°C and bake for another 10 minutes or so. Cool completely before gently unmoulding by hand. 

**please use baking temperature and time as a guide as each oven is different. If you are using a different mould the baking temperature and time would be different too.

Lychee rose reduced yolk chiffon peaches (makes about eight 5cm hearts and one 10cm heart)
Ingredients:
1 egg yolk
7g caster sugar
32g vegetable oil
38g lychee puree (blend canned lychee and sieve to remove woody bits)
1/4 tsp lychee flavouring (optional)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp rose water
44g cake flour
A pinch of salt
White gel food colouring

3 egg whites
1/5 tsp cream of tartar
30g caster sugar

Steps:
Same as yuzu chiffon peaches.

Here are some freshly baked and shaped peaches...

Don't fret if your peach is a little browned on the outside. It is safer to bake longer than to have the cake collapse. Simply use a small serrated knife dipped in water to carefully shave off the browned bits.

After assembly, remember to brush the lychee peaches with some of the canned lychee syrup and the yuzu peaches with some yuzu tea to keep the cakes moist and impart more flavour.

All packed!

With love,
Phay Shing