Paulette’s Orange Chiffon Cake

This is one of my older posts from almost 6 years ago. I decided to revamp it and make it both easier to read as well as add the pictures and instructions which I normally incorporate. This comes about primarily because I visited again with Paulette and she served this cake! I love it and I hope you will enjoy the new version of the recipe.

If you are lucky, then you have some friends who are soul mates.  One of my girlfriends, Paulette, is such a one.  Among our many things that we have in common,  we are both foodies and love to talk about food, plan food events (oops, I mean events which, natch, have food) and yes! read cookbooks.  Neither of us thinks the other strange when we stroll over to a shelf and pluck a few cookbooks to browse through. 

Whenever we get to visit each other (I live in Israel, she lives in London and Gibraltar) we have fun together in the kitchen.  I have tried many of her recipes at home and shared my recipes with her.  On one of our many visits, she prepared an orange chiffon cake that wowed both me and DH.

I have a cheat that I use with most cakes with whipped egg whites which I incorporate into the batter without dirtying another bowl.  It works beautifully if the batter (without the whites) isn’t too heavy. 

This is a delightful chiffon cake, moist and flavorful, can be made with lemon juice and rind but the orange is so wonderful that I much prefer it.  It also turns the cake a lovely orangey color inside and out.

The absolute best part of the whole deal is that you don’t have to bake this in a tube pan and turn it upside down to cool.  I oil spray a 9 x 13 rectangular pan pour in the batter and ta-da!  Yes, it shrinks a bit from the sides and loses a bit of height but it does not detract from the texture of the cake at all.  Yay is all I can say.

So gather your ingredients and let’s do this!

Preheat the oven to 325 F/162 C.

And here are the separated whites in the mixer bowl

K. We want the whites to whip up fluffy but they will not be quite meringue-y in consistency. Patience is required to achieve the texture. So start without adding any sugar for a minute or two on high speed until they get frothy like so:

Now add the sugar in a stream while continuing to whip the whites.

Now make sure all your remaining ingredients are lined up and ready to go since you want to get the finished batter into the oven straight away. The trick is you are whipping the egg yolks, oil, juice and vanilla (sugar or extract, whichever you have to hand) into the egg whites briefly just till combined and you don’t want to deflate them too much. Then you add the flour, salt and baking powder and grated orange peel very quickly and briefly to the mixture.

Whip this in quickly and briefly just till combined.

Just mixed in and now the flour, baking powder, salt and orange peel

It deflates a bit but not too much. Take a 9 x 13 (23 x 33 cm) rectangular pan and spray with oil.

and pour the mixture into the greased pan.

Pop into the preheated oven and bake about 35-40 minutes or till puffed, browned and not jiggly in the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. It should look like this:

Fair warning! It doesn’t retain this wondrous height and puffiness, sinking a bit but not flattening, no worries. It should sink a bit and look like this.

Let cool completely in pan and cut in squares to serve. A wonderful light cake which is terrific with a cup of tea.

Paulette’s Orange Chiffon Cake

8 eggs, separated

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice

4 tablespoons vegetable oil 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla sugar

1 cup (125 grams) flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

grated zest/peel of an orange – not including the bitter white pith just under the peel

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325/162 C degrees. This is especially important with the chiffon cake. It needs the lift of the air which you whipped into the whites to properly rise so it needs to be baked as soon as the batter is ready.

Whip the egg whites and as you see it get frothy, slowly add the sugar till a nice fluffy not quite meringue-like consistency is achieved (it’s not quite that glossy but should be white and stiff with peaks). 

Put all the liquid ingredients, egg yolks, juice, oil, vanilla into the mixer whipping as you add them on low, just till incorporated.  This will take a minute or two and keep an eye on this.  If you whipped them stiffly enough, they will not deflate much and will mix nicely.  Turn off.

Mix flour, zest, baking powder and salt.  Turn mixer on low, shake in flour mixture mixing just until incorporated.  This happens quickly – don’t overmix. 

Pour batter in oil sprayed 9 x 13 inch (23 x 33 cm) tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes.  Make sure cake is puffed, browned on top and not jiggly. Check for doneness with toothpick, should come out dry.  Let cool on wire rack.  Once cold, cut into squares to serve.