Custard Chiffon Cake

I'm a pretty terrible blogger. I post things weeks to months after taking photos of them, forget to post up recipes and generally don't end up being bothered to post half of the stuff that's supposed to end up on this space. And this one's no different!

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be invited to  Appliances Online's Mother's Day Morning Tea. Yep, you read right- Mother's day. Some 4-5 months ago actually.

I don't usually go to any of these kind of events, but this one was so close to uni, and I just so happened to be starting uni late that day that it would be a shame if I didn't go! :) And I'm glad I did- it was a wonderful event, where we got to take a small tour of the Appliances Online office and have a short cooking demonstration with ladies of the Monday Morning Cooking Club who also prepared us a delicious morning tea where we got to have a bit of a chat with everyone.

I hadn't heard of the Monday Morning Cooking Club before (though something did tell me that as a food blogger, I probably should!!) but the ladies made the morning incredibly interesting with their stories whilst showing us how simple it was to make three recipes from their cookbook: kindlech, honey macadamia nut wafers and almond kifli.


What I really love about their cookbook is that there is a story behind every recipe. I was particularly drawn to the custard chiffon cake recipe when Merelyn told us the story of how it was her mother's secret recipe prior to the cookbook (and you can read the touching story here) and was lucky enough to be given a copy of their cookbook to try the recipe out myself!

I've made chiffon cakes before, and they never turn out too bad because they're soft and airy........so even if it doesn't turn out quite as you'd hoped, it's still quite pleasant and enjoyable. And they're light which makes devouring the whole big cake a lot easier than it would seem.

But this cake is incomparable to the ones I've made before- it's in a world of its own!

It's light as you'd expect of a chiffon cake. It isn't too sweet either (though I like to tone down the sugar a tad bit), and is everything you'd expect from a chiffon cake. But it's the custard adds that little bit of depth which goes surprisingly well with the texture of the cake, which makes it especially addictive. And I mean so addictive that you will have a hard time not finishing the whole thing in one go!

 I don't often rave about cakes- actually, I don't often rave about anything in general, but this cake is so good, I was making it on a weekly basis for quite a while.......so I think it deserves a bit of a mention ;)

Custard Chiffon Cake
Recipe from Monday Morning Cooking Club Cookbook

175g (1 1/6 cups) self raising flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
35g (1/4 cup) custard powder
6 large eggs, separated
345g (1 1/2 cups) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
80ml (1/3 cup) extra light olive oil or vegetable oil
170ml (2/3 cup) warm water

1. Preheat oven to 180C. You will need an ungreased chiffon cake tin (not a non stick one as well). Do NOT grease it.
2. Sift the flour,1 teaspoon of cream of tartar and custard powder three times to ensure they are fully combined.[I actually added the cream of tartar to the egg whites when whipping them up rather than to this mixture here as it helps stabilise the eggwhites]
3. In an electric mixer, whisk egg yolks with 230g( 1 cup) of sugar until pale and creamy, then add the vanilla extract.Pour the oil and warm water into a jug. While the yolks are still whisking on low speed, add the flour mixture and the oil & water at the same time, whisking until just incorporated.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the remaining sugar and continue to whisk until the egg whites are stiff but not dry. Very carefully fold the batter into the egg whites with a metal spoon until just incorporated.
5.Pour mixture into the cake tin. Bake for 1hour or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into cake.- I baked it for 1 hour and 10 mins. (Note to self, reduce the oven temp to avoid the cracks)
6. After removing the cake from the oven, immediately invert it to cool by balancing the middle funnel onto a bottle neck. It is important for the cake to be inverted and suspended upside down until it is cool to stop it from collapsing.