chiffon cake

A very light cake made with vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and flavoring. It is unique in that it uses vegetable oil rather than traditional fats such as butter or shortening that are solid at room temperature. This makes it difficult to beat air directly into the batter. Therefore, chiffon cakes (as well as angel cakes and other foam cakes) achieve fluffiness by beating the egg whites separately until stiff and then folding them into the cake batter before baking. Its aeration depends on the quality of the meringue and the chemical leavening agent. Chiffon cake combines the methods of sponge cake and traditional cake. It includes baking powder and vegetable oil, but the eggs are separated and the egg whites are beaten and then folded into the batter, creating a rich flavor like an oil cake, but with a lighter texture, more like a sponge cake. It can be baked in a tube pan, or layered with filling and frosting. In the original recipe, the cake tin is not lined or greased, which allows the cake batter to stick to the sides of the pan, allowing the cake to rise better, and also provides support to keep the bubbles stable while the cake cools upside down.