Osmanthus/Green tea “Rainbow Cloud” Chiffon Cake

I dreamed of a happy cake with rainbow arching up the cake towards the clouds (I'm still a dreamer :))! I wanted to try patterning a rainbow on the sides of the chiffon tin using the improved patterning batter recipe that had better consistency. 

Osmanthus flowers were then in vogue, so I decided to try osmanthus chiffon. I paired it up with green tea as it was a pleasant combination, and I was looking for natural colouring for the cake (am still not a fan of too much artificial colouring). 

Here's how I made this happy cake :)

Ingredients (makes one 17cm chiffon tin)

3 egg yolks
20g sugar
35g vegetable oil
45ml boiled water
1 tbsp osmanthus flowers
1.25 tsp matcha powder
60g cake flour (+ 1/3 tsp cake flour for the patterns x 4)
Red, yellow, green, blue wilton colours (for the rainbow)

(Meringue for patterns)
1 egg white
1/6 cream of tartar

(Meringue for cake)
4 egg whites
45g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Use a wilton food marker to draw rainbow patterns on the chiffon tin. The marker is fully erasable during washing.
3. Infuse 1 tbsp osmanthus flowers in 50 ml boiling water and cover for 15 mins to make osmanthus tea. Filter away the flowers to get the tea, but keep the flowers for the main cake batter later.
4. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale yellow/white before stirring in oil and osmanthus tea (filtered).
5. Add in 60 g sieved cake flour and whisk till no trace of flour found.
6. Meringue for patterns: Beat 1 egg white with 1/6 tsp cream of tartar till stiff peak.
7. Rainbow pattern: Scoop out 1 tsp of egg yolk batter into 4 separate bowls each. Add in a tiny dip of red/yellow/green/blue colours to each bowl. Add 1/3 tsp of cake flour to each bowl and mix well. Scoop over 2 tbsp of meringue. Quickly but gently fold it in till well-combined.
8. Use a wilton 230 tip to pipe the red rainbow line, follow by yellow, green and blue lines. For lines with even thicknesses, it is best to drop the patterning batter onto the tin instead of piping directly. Bake the patterns for 1.5 min. *For good transfer of patterns, patterned batter onto tin must be thick.
9. To the rest of the remaining egg yolk batter, add in 1.25 tsp matcha powder and the remaining osmanthus flowers. Mix well.
10. Meringue for cake: Beat 4 egg white with 1/4 tsp cream of tartar till stiff peaks form, adding the sugar in 2 additions.
11. Fold the meringue into the egg yolk batter in 3 additions using flexible spatula or hand.
12. Pour in the cake batter gently over the pattern, making sure that it is covered without air pockets. Then the rest of the batter from a height.
13. Bake the cake in preheated 160°C oven for 20 minutes, then 150°C for 30 mins (to reduce browning for the patterns).
14. Invert when cake is removed from oven and unmould when cake is cool.
15. For the clouds, sieve icing sugar over a cloud template. Gently press on the icing sugar to make fluffy imprints. *This step to be done right before serving.

Hope you have as much fun as I did!

With love,

Susanne