‘Animal Family’ Pull apart Chiffon Cupcakes (Pull apart 'buns')

Happy 11th year wedding anniversary!! These are my first Pull apart Chiffon Cupcakes in a ring, inspired by those cute pull apart buns. I made this as a surprise for hubby as a special memory of our 11th year together (now with 3 more little ones). This ‘Animal family’ represents our small sweet family of 5 and our favorite animals/characters! Can you tell who is who?

(Obvious hints: Those who knew me in jc know that my favourite character is in pink ;). My son is my hubby’s mini ‘me’. My girls look alike and love the animal that ‘meows’).

I used my basic chiffon recipe below, and baked it in 2 bigger glass bowls (11.5 diameter) and 3 smaller bowls (8 cm diameter). Do look for thicker bake proof bowls, Pyrex or Iwaki brand.

I divided by batter roughly into 3 parts for the different animals/colours.

Egg yolk batter
3 egg yolks
20g castor sugar
39g vegetable/corn oil
42g water
5g vanilla extract
60g Prima cake flour, sifted

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

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.

2. Prepare egg yolk batter:

a. Whisk egg yolk with sugar using hand whisk until light and well-mixed.

b. Add in oil first, then water and vanilla extract and mix well.

c. Whisk in sifted cake flour and whisk well, ensuring that no lumps are formed.

3. Divide the batter into 3 parts.

To the first portion, leave plain. To the second portion, add approximately 1/5 of a teaspoon of strawberry paste/emulco. To the last portion, add approximately 1 teaspoon pumpkin powder. *You may substitute with your preferred food coloring/flavour.

4. Prepare meringue:

a. In a grease-free, dry bowl, using electric mixer, whisk egg whites with cream of tartar till frothy.

b. Add in ½ castor sugar for meringue and whisk at high speed till soft peaks form - peaks slope downwards forming a hook.

c. Add in rest of the castor sugar for meringue and whisk till firm peaks form - peaks point up but slightly hooked at the tip.

5. Divide the meringue into 3.

6. Fold in meringue gently into each colored egg yolk batter 1/3 at a time. *Fold in unidirectional, gentle strokes and do not overfold.

7. Fill the bowls with the batter till 3/4 full.

8. Bake at 160°C for 10 min then at 140°C for 20-25 min, or until skewer inserted into center of cakes come out clean.

9. Pour excess pink batter into 15-cm baking pan lined with baking paper. Pour excess plain and orange batter into cake pops molds. These are for the ears. Bake at 160°C for 15 min.

10. Allow to cool completely on wire rack, before unmolding by hand.


I used charcoal chiffon sheet cakes (from another bake) to cut out facial features using bento cutters. You can also pipe on using melted chocolate. I cut out ears from the sheet cakes/cake pops and used melted marshmallows to stick everything together. You can also use melted white chocolate to stick them together. 

Hope you like my simple, sweet ‘family of 5’ pull apart buns! Thank God for the blessings of family!

With lots of love,

Susanne

More loving, chiffon creations here =)