Baking craze : Chiffon cake

I have always ALWAYS loved eating chiffon cakes, this has been going on for many years since my teens. Such a simple cake right? I guess I like its light, fluffy texture and that it isn't too sweet and seems pretty guiltless eating it. I could probably devour a whole cake on my own in a day if I have less self-control!

When I was working in BP, a colleague of mine, a very good friend & neighbour who used to carpool me home and who happens to be a super cook will bake my favourite ORANGE CHIFFON! Her chiffon cake is really light, airy & fluffy. And she is really generous too. On my trip back to Msia in Dec/Jan, she brought over the BIGGEST chiffon cake I've ever seen! Anyway, she has attempted to teach me but at that time (6 years ago), the instructions & ingredients seem a little too intimidating so I have just been contented eating those lousy and not to mention EXPENSIVE chiffon cakes I can get in London (usually sold by chinese bakery).

Anyway, one day I stumbled upon Rasa Malaysia's Nyonya site which had the most tempting chiffon cake recipe. I looked at it & pondered about it for many days. Sigh, first and foremost, I don't even have the appliances - electric mixer & the tube pan. But reading the recipe for almost a week, I decided it is too easy not to do it so I borrowed both stuff from a friend.



My first attempt was an Orange Chiffon cake and it was a GREAT success. Well, at least the texture was right although the cake didn't look too nice. I found out later that you need to use the right tube pans, those aluminium ones and they cannot be non-stick (else it will not "drop out" when you turn it to cool). Over the next few weeks, whenever I can get my hands on my friend's tube pan, I'd be baking chiffon cakes. Shean Wenn & I can eat one cake every 2 days, sometimes I bring it out if we're meeting friends for playdates.

Anyway, a week later we bought extra pandan leaves & I decided to give the Pandan Chiffon cake a go and oh boy, the aroma is brilliant. I didn't use any food colouring for it and its green came from solely from the pandan leaves.

Pandan Chiffon Cake : Made from All Natural Ingredients

Upon request from Shean Wenn, I have also baked a Chocolate Chiffon Cake for her. It too, was a great success! I've been baking it a few times for her and she really loves it. (Shean Wenn's favourite wink, ala the Hello Kitty wink!)

Now, I'm thinking how I should get a tube pan from Msia/US. They don't sell the same ones here in UK - here they sell the non-stick ones and they used it to bake Angel Cake, instead.