Coconut Chiffon Cake
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time:
Serves:
- 6 egg whites (around 240g/8.8ozs)
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup/210g caster or superfine sugar
- 6 egg yolks (around 110g/3.9ozs.)
- 1/2 cup/105g caster or superfine sugar
- 180ml/6flozs. coconut cream
- 120ml/4flozs. oil
- A few drops of coconut flavouring
- 1.5 cups/225g/7.9ozs. cake flour, sifted twice
Coconut Frosting
- 1.5 cups/195g/6.9 ozs. icing or powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons coconut cream (not milk)
- 30g/1oz butter, room temperature
- Pinch of salt
- Toasted coconut chips to decorate
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 160C/320F and have a 21cm/8.2inch chiffon cake tin ready. Do not grease the tin. Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar in a very clean mixer bowl until soft peaks form. Then add the first lot of sugar in a steady stream and whisk until stiff peaks form. Scoop out of the mixer bowl into another bowl and set aside. Then in the same mixer bowl (I don't bother washing it after the whites) add the egg yolks and the second lot of sugar. Add the coconut cream, oil and coconut flavouring and mix until smooth.
Step 2 - Sift in the cake flour into the egg mixture in batches until you get a smooth mixture without any lumps. Then add the meringue mixture in several lots making sure to fold it through in a circular motion. The key is to not deflate the mixture so be gentle with folding the whites in while making sure there are no streaks. Scoop into the tin and ensure that there is a gap of 1 inch from the top of the tin. Bake for 50 minutes or until the top springs back. As soon as you take the cake out of the oven, turn it upside down onto a plate and allow to cool completely.
Step 3 - Using a palette knife, loosen the cake on the sides and the base of of the tin scraping against the tin as much as possible and place on a serving plate. In a food processor whizz the icing sugar so that there are no lumps and then add in the coconut cream, butter and salt and whizz to create a frosting. Spoon over the icing and then sprinkle with coconut chips. Uniced, well wrapped chiffon cakes can be frozen for up to 3 months.