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