The soft and spicy Christmas Chiffon Cake is a tall and fluffy cloud, so good and fragrant in my kitchen.
During the Christmas holidays, I like to surprise my guests with delicious and beautiful desserts. This year I decided to prepare for them this cloud of cake, which I love so much, to which I added my Christmas touch.
These days are a succession of parties, lunches, and dinners to celebrate Christmas with my friends and my husband’s colleagues, and I made the cake you see in the photo just for the occasion.
I must say I received many compliments, and it was all eaten, not a crumb left, the plate was cleaned up.
The Fluffosa, or rather, the Chiffon Cake, is a very soft dessert that lends itself to being prepared in multiple variations, combining flavors, colors, spices, and flours.
A tall and fluffy dessert, with the spiced flavor of Christmas, with a simple powdered sugar topping that makes the sweet even more elegant and festive.
I used a 26 cm mold, but I repeat, reduce the doses if you have a smaller mold. It is easily found in many homeware stores, otherwise, you can easily find it online at great prices.
Do not grease the inside of this mold; the batter will be poured without having to grease and flour it first.
It is crucial to use cream of tartar in this cake, a natural leavening agent that in this recipe has the function of keeping the egg whites stable; you can find it in supermarkets in the baking powder section.
If you don’t have it, you can safely prepare it by halving the doses and cooking it in a 26 cm diameter ring mold.
Tips for success: the water must be lukewarm while the eggs must be at room temperature, and the flour, spices, and baking powder should be sifted.
If you like, you can use pisto for flavoring.
(Pisto is a spice mix found in the spice section; if you can’t find it, I provide the doses here for 40 grams, although the recipe only requires 3 grams, but make it anyway, it always comes in handy and lasts a long time in the pantry.
You’ll need 15 grams cinnamon powder, 5 grams pepper, 5 grams nutmeg, 2 grams cloves, 2 grams star anise, and 2 grams coriander seeds to be crushed or ground and stored in a glass jar).
Here is the recipe and some useful tips.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 25 Minutes
- Portions: 14
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients for the Christmas Chiffon Cake
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 7 eggs
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup water (lukewarm)
- 1 packet baking powder
- 5 g cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 ground cloves (a pinch, don't overdo it)
- nutmeg (a pinch)
- 1 pinch pepper (optional)
- salt (a pinch)
- to taste powdered sugar
- chocolates (optional for decoration)
Tools
- Stand Mixer
- Electric Whisks
- Mold
- Food Scale
- Measuring Jug
- Spatula
- Bowl
- Sifter
Steps for the Christmas Chiffon Cake
Preheat the oven to 320°F, static mode.
First, separate the yolks from the whites and place them in two different bowls.
(Eggs should be at room temperature).
Start whipping the whites with the stand mixer (or electric whisks).
When they start to form white foam, add the cream of tartar and continue whipping until you get a very firm and compact meringue.
In another bowl, beat the yolks with the sugar until a frothy and light mixture is obtained.
Sift the flour with the baking powder and add the spices separately.
Mix the water with the oil and pour it into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Using a hand whisk, start mixing the ingredients.
Work well to avoid lumps.
Add the yolk and sugar mixture and mix again.
Finally, add the stiff egg whites and, with an upward motion, continue to mix well without deflating the mixture.
(We help ourselves with a silicone spatula).
Then pour the cake into the chiffon cake mold “26 mold” (which must absolutely not be greased!) and bake in the preheated oven at 320°F for about 55/60 minutes. (Static mode oven).
Once the cake is baked (do the toothpick test, please!), let it cool upside down.
Once our chiffon cake is baked, turn the mold upside down, wait for the cake to cool and detach itself from the mold walls.
For decoration, use powdered sugar generously.
Decorate with chocolates (if desired) and various sprinkles.
Enjoy your meal.
Happy Holidays from your Angie.
Tips and Notes
It keeps in a cake container for 5-6 days.
The basic ingredients are essential, and the procedure seems simple, but as soon as you try variations and additions, you risk clamorously failing.
The reason? The Chiffon Cake is a very tall cake, rich in eggs, low in animal fats, and with a delicate balance whose cooking is slow and progressive.
By varying the doses and ingredients, you risk ending up with an incredibly moist cake close to raw or extremely dry and sandy.
Unlike many other cakes, the Chiffon Cake wants the oven in static mode.
The cooking is also very particular: at 320°F for 55/60 minutes.
Never open the oven before 2/3 of the cooking time, otherwise it will deflate and remain raw inside.
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Curiosities
The chiffon cake is a typically American cake, distinguished by its softness and lightness. Its name (of French origin) indeed refers to a particularly delicate silk fabric.
This characteristic depends on the care with which the eggs are whipped but also on the addition of cream of tartar, a natural leavening agent activated by contact with liquids, which, by reaction, develops carbon dioxide that allows for particularly fluffy and soft batters.
The chiffon cake mold also contributes because it allows air passage and even cooling of the cake, which therefore results in being as light as a cloud.
The chiffon cake mold also contributes because it allows air passage and even cooling of the cake, which therefore results in being as light as a cloud.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
Why didn’t you grease the mold?
Not greasing or buttering the mold is crucial for this reason: this cake has such a delicate balance that it must adhere to the sides and center of the support tin while rising. Otherwise, it will collapse or deflate.
For this reason, you will always find batter residues along the central tube and the edges of the mold.Why didn’t my cake rise well?
This flaw can be caused by improper handling of the egg whites.
The egg whites may have been beaten too much or too little, causing suboptimal height.
Or it may derive from the way the whites are added to the remaining mixture: stirring too much and poorly can cause excess air formation.
Remember not to use cold egg whites from the fridge: they must be at room temperature.
Finally, it may have been caused by too low an oven temperature.
