3D Cat 2-Tier Lemon Chiffon Cake (Reduced Egg yolk recipe)

This is my humble attempt at a 3D cat from chiffon cake, for a friend’s sweet 2 year old’s birthday. Her favourite flavour was lemon, so this cake is made wholly of Lemon chiffon cake. But because she requested for a cream colour cat, I had to reduce the lemon zest from 1 tbsp (from 2 lemons) to ¼ tbsp, as lemon zest is yellowish and turns the cake yellow. Instead, I compensated by using water boiled with lemon zest, and also used lemon juice-infused syrup on the cake instead of plain syrup on the final cake (to keep cake moist during long assembly). I also reduced the number of egg yolks for a whiter cake. The end result is nice and lemony, and reviews of the lemon chiffon cake were good, and that it was refreshing =)

Lemon Chiffon Cake (Reduced egg yolk recipe) (9-inch or 23 cm chiffon tin)

2 egg yolks
50 g castor sugar
76 ml vegetable/corn oil
50 ml water (boiled with 1 tbsp lemon zest, or zest from 2 lemons)
50 ml lemon juice, freshly squeezed
120 g cake flour
¼ tbsp lemon zest or zest from ½ lemon (*if you do not need a whiter cake, pls use 1 tbsp)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp vanilla extract

8 egg whites
90 g sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar

1. Prepare lemon zest (from 3 lemons) by grating the outer skin of the lemon. Avoid grating the white layer under the zest as it is bitter. Bring 60 ml water to a boil with 1.2 tbsp lemon zest (let it steep for another 30 min). Leave to cool.

2. Preheat oven to 160°C. Prepare a tray of water at the bottom of the oven (I used the lowest rack to bake the cake). *You may omit steam baking; I like to use it to control my oven temperature rise and for moister cake.

3. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale yellow before stirring in oil, water boiled with lemon zest (50 ml), lemon juice and vanilla extract.

4. Add in sieved flour and whisk till no trace of flour found.

5. Meringue: Beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till stiff peak, mixing in caster sugar in 2 additions.

6. Fold in the meringue gently into the batter 1/3 at a time.

7. Pour the batter into the chiffon tin from a height.

8. Gently tap the tin on table 3x to remove air bubbles.

9. Bake the chiffon cake for 15 min at 160°C and then at 150°C for 10 mins and 140°C for 20 min, then 130°C for 15 min.

10. Invert immediately once out of the oven to cool

11. Unmould by hand after the cake is cool. Gently pull the cake from the sides of the tin at each angle and push the removable base up to unmould the sides. To unmould the cake from the base, gently lift up the cake from the base using hands, repeating this at each angle before turning the base over (see 'Hand Unmoulding Chiffon Cakes for a Smooth Finishing' video tutorial).

For the lemon-infused syrup for the final cake, use 1:1:1 (lemon juice: water: sugar).

My friend sent me pictures of the cake at the party. It went really well with her golden customised name topper and the whole thing looked sweet and class! Thankful it was well-received too! Happy birthday to sweet Sophia!

With lots of love,
Susanne