Monday, May 9, 2011

Red Velvet Chiffon Cake

It is getting more and more obvious that my favourite kind of cake is chiffon, right? I would definitely choose a soft and light cake over a rich, dense, and heavy one any day.

While I enjoy eating traditional red velvet cake, I have forever been wondering if there was a chiffon version of it. The only red velvet chiffon cake recipe available online seems to be that of Cooks Illustrated. To view their recipe, however, one has to be a (paying) member. Luckily, the site offers a 14-day free trial and so, I did the natural thing and signed up.

The recipe for red velvet chiffon cake turned out to be rather strange to me. Of course, I know that this recipe had surely been tried and tested before it was published. Compared to the basic chiffon cake recipe I am used to, the amount of cake flour was considerably less for the same amount of sugar, eggs, oil, etc. (Again, as I've always said it, my understanding on how these ingredients work together is very limited so I can only wonder why.) Also, some of the eggs were left whole and beaten with the dry ingredients. All of the site's chiffon cake recipes actually followed the same basic ingredient proportions and procedure.

I decided in the end, I would rather risk experimenting on my own recipe than using theirs (even if it meant I could fail). And so for Mother's day, I whipped up a batch of my own version of red velvet chiffon cake.

Two layers of cake frosted and filled with cream cheese frosting and topped with pecans and coconut flakes. Sides are covered with cake crumbs.

What can I say...this cake turned out beautiful! Imagine the same great red velvet cake taste, only lighter, fluffier and less sweet. I did try my best to stay true to the original ingredients of traditional red velvet cake. If there is probably one thing I would alter or try later, it would be to add a little bit more cocoa powder to bring out more of the chocolate taste.

For the cream cheese frosting, I used the one from Joy of Baking. I skipped the mascarpone cheese and just used two bars of cream cheese. This frosting is also much less sweet compared to other cream cheese frosting recipes as it only has 1 cup powdered sugar.

Here's the recipe for you to try. Hopefully, you would enjoy it as much!

RED VELVET CHIFFON CAKE (suitable for one 10" round, 3" high pan, or two 9" round, 2 1/2" high pans)

A}
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar

B}
7 egg yolks (from extra large eggs, room temperature)
1/2 cup canola or corn oil
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons liquid red food colouring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

{C}
7 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

{D}
3/4 cup sugar

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. In a large bowl, combine {A} well. Add in {B}. Beat with electric mixer or by hand until smooth and well blended.
3. In a separate bowl, beat {C} on high speed until frothy. Gradually add in the sugar {D} and beat until stiff peaks are formed. Gradually and gently fold in egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Pour batter into an ungreased 10” round, 3” high pan (or whatever pan you're using).
4. Bake for about 60 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Invert pan into wire rack immediately and cool completely.
5. To release cake from pan, carefully run a thin knife around sides of pan and invert cake onto a large serving plate. Frost and decorate as desired.

PS. A belated Happy Mother's day to all you moms out there!

43 comments:

  1. Wonderful, Thanks So much! Can't wait to try it out.

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  2. hello i can't find a cake flour here in uk. can i use plain flour?how much will i use?thank you..

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  3. For every cup of cake flour, substitute 1 cup plain flour less 2 tablespoons then add 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Or in other words, 1 cup cake flour = 7/8 cup plain flour plus 1/8 cup cornstarch.

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  4. Hi Corinne, howdy! Did you figure out how much cocoa we have to add? Wouldn't it change the texture of the finished product. Hope you're doing great! Thanks!

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  5. Hi Mela,

    Sorry, no, I haven't tried making this cake again. If I were to, however, I would most likely add an extra tablespoon cocoa powder and deduct the same amount from the cake flour. Perhaps you can do the experimenting for me?

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  6. Hi corrine do you use this recipe dor your other velvet cakes posted in your blog and also fir the cupcakes? Would buttercream be nice on it? Thanks!

    Lanie

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  7. Hi Lanie,

    No, I don't use this recipe. Yes, buttercream is good with the red velvet as well.

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  8. Thanks, Corinne! I'll try your suggestion with regards to adding 1T cocoa. I'll let let you know the result sooner or later. Thanks!

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  9. Hi corrine.i just want to ask about the all purpose flour is it 7 to 8 cups of all purpose flour?and 1/8cup of constarch is equevalent to how many tablespoon?please.thank you for sharing some of your ideas :)

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  10. It's not 7 to 8 cups but seven-eighths of a cup (7/8). 1/8 cup is equivalent to 2 tablespoons.

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  11. hi corinne!,thanks for posting this recipe..can i use plain milk?or whats the substitute of buttermilk?thanks!

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  12. To make a cup of buttermilk substitute, mix one tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice with enough whole milk to make one cup. Let stand for about 15 minutes before using. Mixture will thicken and curdle.

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  13. Hi Corinne,
    It's me again. We were invited to a swimming get together at friends' house this Aussie day and decided to make red velvet cupcakes. I first discovered your site when I was looking for the chiffon version of this red cake but fell in love with your caramel cake. Chiffon is also now our fave cake, any day! Will give your red velvet version a try (and your ube too, in a few weeks for Lola's bday). Loved Stephanie Jaworski's (joy of baking) cream cheese frosting too but intrigued to try raspberry buttercream (I just hate tons of powdered sugar in the icing though). I saw a recipe using butter, powdered sugar, milk & raspberry conserve topped with fresh raspberries online and it looked stunning. In your opinion, will the cream cheese recipe minus the cream cheese replacing it with raspberry conserve work? Hope to hear from you soon (before OZ day hehe). Thanks again! thesa, sydney

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  14. Hello:

    I just stumbled on your site after making the red velvet chiffon recipe from Cooks Illustrated for the fourth time and for the third time it was a disaster. This has happened with the lemon chiffon recipe also two out of the three times I made it. The eggs seem to settle on the bottom so half of the cake is light and fluffy and the bottom half is a thick eggy mess. I am going to try your recipe and see how it works. Thanks.

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  15. Hi all,

    I just thought I would share a piece with everyone regarding cake flour in Australia. There IS cake flour sold here. Here is the image:

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/seadragon88/2008/cakeflour_anchor.jpg

    It is available at most Coles Supermarkets.

    Happy baking!! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the information. I have in fact shared this in this post:

      http://pinoyinoz.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/ube-purple-yam-macapuno-cakerevisited.html

      Delete
  16. Yes, I just thought to post it here in case others miss it on your other post as it took me a while to figure out where I could get it from :)

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  17. hello ms corrine! i tried your ube, pandan, green tea and last week for my sisters birthday i made this red velvet cake and added more cocoa like you said . taste like brownie. Have you tried making sansrival , sylvannas and tiramisu cake if you have a recipe can you post it here coz i dont trust other websites. your chiffon cake recipe was the only recipe that works for me. THANKYOU. i feel like a pro baker everytime i make chiffon cake. how long do i bake it if i want cupcakes? thanks so much.


    -isabel

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    Replies
    1. Hi Isabel,

      I will post new recipes here when I am ready to share them. In the meantime, I am sure there are very reliable sources out there for the recipes you are looking for.

      Personally, I do not like using chiffon cake recipes for cupcakes because they tend to sink.

      Delete
  18. Thank you miss corrine, next week im going to try your swiss meringue buttercream i hope i can follow the recipe accordingly.

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  19. Hi Corinne, I'm a newbie baker for my family.I've tried your red velvet chiffon and chocolate chiffon but for the chocolate chiffon, I've used a different frosting. I've also tried your chocolate cream cheese cupcakes! They all turned out great! I want to thank you for sharing your recipes and making a "newbie" like me feel like a "pro" in my kitchen! God bless you!

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  20. hi ms. corrine, i tried your ube cake and this one also and both of them came out fantabulous... actually, when i first tried your ube cake i was so nervous since it was my first time to bake chiffon cake but to my surprise, it came out perfect(moist and very yummy) and I must give the credit to you... thank you... I would just like to ask, do u have any formula on how to compute for the needed recipe mixture for each pan? let's say for example, I want to make 8x8 square cake or 8x2.5 round cake or if I feel making a 10", 12", etc. cake, how would I know how much recipe should I prepare for it, should I double or 3x or 4x, etc? Hope you could answer my query.. hehe.. thank you in advance and more power to your blog.. =)

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    1. I use mathematical formulas for volume to compare the capacity of my pans. For instance, the recipe given here is suitable for a 10x3 round. If I want to use an 8x3 pan, I would compare its volume relative to the 10". It is about half so I would half the recipe. If I want to use this same recipe but want it square, a 9x9x3 is quite suitable because its volume is comparable to the 10" round.

      You would have to know how to compute for the volume of your pans to make adjustments to your recipes.

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  21. Thanks for this wonderful recipe. Me and my groupmates used it for our baking 101 class and ours turned out great! We added 2 more tablespoons of cocoa powder and it tasted good. So fluffy, just the it should be. Love it! Ü

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  22. hi corrine,

    it's me, sheryl, the one who emailed you a while ago.. im so glad i found your blog.. i also look and make cakes from joyofbaking. more power!

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  23. can you make this recipe in cupcakes?

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    Replies
    1. I wouldn't really recommend it. Try a real red velvet cupcake recipe.

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  24. Hi, Corinne. So I did something a bit "deviant." I wanted to make this red velvet cake, but I instead followed your chocolate chiffon recipe and tweaked it a bit by adding soured milk. I chose the chocolate version because I wanted the red velvet cake really chocolatey. I didn't realize until later that I didn't have enough red food color in my pantry so my red velvet ended up looking a simple chocolate cake. For the frosting, I decided to use a recipe I found for cream cheese-swiss meringue buttercream. I dusted the top with a bit of cocoa powder just like what you did with your tiramisu. It was a Frankenstein cake, but everyone loved it. :D

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  25. hi mam, jave you tried ateaming the cake?

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  26. Hi. Ive been wanting to make ur recipies. I just wan to ask. Are u using a powdered form buttermil or the liquid form? Thanks po

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  27. Hi Corrine, my I so glad to have found this blog. Red velvet is this one type of cupcake/cake that is challenging to me. Buy now I'm so eager to try ur recipe without a doubt. I have question though, I already bought the eggs, it's a large size and ur recipe says it should be extra large. Can I use large eggs? How many will it be?
    Thanks a lot Corrine for ur effort and for sharing the talent u have. Have a great day! :)

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    Replies
    1. I use extra large eggs because eggs here in Australa are quite small. You can use the one you bought, no worries.

      Just take note that this recipe is not of a traditional red velvet. I just wanted to experiment on a chiffon type.

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  28. Hi Good afternoon Ms. Corinne, I want to try your recipe but I can't find buttermilk here. I bought buttermilk powder. How can I substitute it with the buttermilk in your recipe?

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    1. I've never used buttermilk powder before but I suppose you have to
      reconstitute it to make it liquid. Please find the instructions in the
      packet or if there is none, I'm sure you will find it on the internet. Use
      2/3 cup of the reconstituted buttermilk as per recipe.

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  29. Okay Ms. Corinne.. Thanks a lot.. =)

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  30. Hi Corinne! I am so thankful I found your blog! I tried your Ube Cake, and it was soooo good. Definitely a keeper! Thumbs up! ❤ ❤
    I have one question though. How can I make my cake airy and light? I always use a cake flour substitute, which is the AP + cornstarch mixture, and my cake always turn out a little dense. Other than that, I use/follow all of your ingredients. What do you think I'm doing wrong?

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    1. For the cake flour substitute, sift the mixture many times before using so as to make sure the cornstarch is well distributed and the flour aerated.

      There could be a number of reasons for a dense chiffon - over or underbeating the eggwhites, deflated eggwhites due to wrong folding method, underbaked cake, cold ingredients, wrong oven temperature, etc.

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    2. Thank you for your quick response. And thank you for the tip on the cake flour substitute.
      About my dense cake chiffon, I guess I need to practice more on how to fold the egg whites into the batter. I am kinda nervous when I'm doing it. I don't want to over or undermix it. 😓 T
      Thank you again Corrine! Can't wait to try your other recipes. God bless you! ☺

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  31. Thanx Corrine for the recipe. I am also a big fan of chiffon cakes and was struggling to find a red velvet chiffon cake recipe .I am glad i bumped into this one , will be trying it our in a few days time. My question though is on viniger and baking soda . i read somewhere that baking soda and viniger helps the cake to rise etc and helps with flavour. Now that this chiffon cake does not have soda and viniger is the taste any different from other chiffon cakes ? What have we used in this chiffon cake to substitute for that ? Please help

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    1. The raising agent here is baking powder. For regular red velvet cakes, the vinegar is used to activate the baking soda. You do not need it here. The buttermilk and the cocoa powder give the cake flavour.

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  32. Thanx Corrine , will try it out soon and let u know the results

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