Snowman & Reindeer 2-Tier Chiffon Cake (Jap Cream Cheese Vanilla and Chocolate Chiffon)

I love Christmas time! Not only about the season of giving and gifts, but it’s a time we remember the greatest gift, our Saviour coming into the world! This 2-tier Snowman & Reindeer Chiffon Cake is made for a friend’s early Christmas celebration for mummies and babies =).

And it’s my second big tiered Snowman! My first 2-tier Snowman Chiffon Cake was made a year ago and was the first tiered chiffon cake to be ever made! This Snowman is a hybrid-flavoured Snowman as she requested for both Japanese cream cheese chiffon and Vanilla chiffon to cater to different groups of people. The Japanese cream cheese chiffon makes the 9-inch base. It was first shared by lovely Baking tai tai with some adaptations here, mainly addition of sugar and salt, which really helps to bring out the flavour more. Reduced egg yolk vanilla chiffon cake makes the 7-inch top. I have previously shared that temperature control towards the end is important to prevent browning of the cake, and I have been using reduced egg yolk recipes for fluffier chiffon cakes and for whiter cake. The recipes are below again for your easy reference.

Jap cream cheese chiffon cake (8 to 9-inch chiffon tin)
4 egg yolks (weigh around 72g, original recipe 80g)
70g castor sugar
80g vegetable/coconut oil
200 ml milk
160 g cake flour
200 g cream cheese (Philadelphia)
1/2 tsp salt

Meringue
8 egg whites (weigh 290g, original recipe 280g)
58g castor sugar (original recipe 50g)
¼ tsp cream of tartar

1. Warm up the milk using water bath. Add in cut cream cheese pieces and stir till completely dissolved and no lumps are left. Set aside 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 texture.

3. Whisk egg yolks with 1/3 castor sugar (of egg yolk batter) until completely dissolved, then add in the remaining sugar in 2 additions and whisk till pale and fluffy.

4. Add in oil, mix well then add in the cream cheese mixture. Mix till well combined.

5. Add in sieved flour and whisk swiftly till no trace of flour found (make sure no lumps are formed).

6. Meringue: Beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till foamy, add in caster sugar in 3 additions and beat till glossy firm peak.

7. Gently fold in the meringue into the respective batter 1/3 at a time.

8. Pour the remaining cream cheese batter into the tin, leaving 2 cm from the top.
*Tip: do not overfill for smooth top.

9. Gently tap the tin on table 3x to remove air bubbles (but do not overdo it!).

10. Bake the chiffon cake for 160°C for 15 min, then 150°C for 10 min, 140°C for 20 min, then 130°C for 10-15 min (or 170°C 50 min in original Jap recipe), or until skewer comes clean.

11. Invert the chiffon cake immediately once out of the oven to cool

12. Unmould by hand after the cake is cool. (see 'Hand Unmoulding Chiffon Cakes for a Smooth Finishing' video tutorial).


Reduced Egg-yolk Vanilla Chiffon Cake (7-inch chiffon tin)
1 egg yolk
20g sugar
36g corn/vegetable oil
47 ml water
5 ml vanilla extract
60g cake flour

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

1. 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 for moister cake.

2. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale yellow before stirring in oil, water and vanilla extract.

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

4. Meringue: Beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till firm peaks form or just to the point of reaching stiff peak, mixing in caster sugar in 2 additions.

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

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

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

8. Bake the chiffon cake for 15 min at 160°C and then at 140°C for 30 mins.

9. Invert immediately once out of the oven to cool

10. Unmould by hand after the cake is cool (see 'Hand Unmoulding Chiffon Cakes for a Smooth Finishing' video tutorial).

The hat is also made from Japanese cream cheese chiffon (1/3 the recipe) in a wilton ball cake pan (6-inch) using blue pea flower extract (35 flowers in 10 ml water) and a drop of blue food colouring.
The cute ‘carrot’ nose is made from baking cream cheese chiffon (with a drop of orange coloring) in a paper cone! To unmould the paper cone, just gently peel off the paper, leaving the chiffon cake intact.
I made the pink scarf and black deco by baking chiffon cake as layer (in 10-inch baking paper-lined tray), and then cutting out strips or circles. These were then attached onto the cake using a brush of melted marshmallows. The arms are made of tiny charcoal chiffon cake swissrolls wrapped around bamboo sticks.
The reindeer is made from Chocolate Chiffon Cake (cone cake for face, and 5 smaller swissrolls for body and limbs).

Thankful the cake was well-loved! Early blessed Christmas to all!

With lots of love,
Susanne