Orange Chiffon Cake (no butter, reduced sugar)

This orange chiffon cake recipe produces a cake with a super light and fluffy chiffon like texture and a citrusy tangy orange taste. It is light, flavoursome and moist. There is no butter or coconut milk used and number of eggs used is relatively low. To make this a "healthy" cake, reduce the sugar content by substituting half the sugar with a sugar substitute.

VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/ajmeCVcCAhQ

Ingredients

(for a 8 inch chiffon cake tin)

• 4 egg yolks

• 50 gm  sugar (use sugar substitute)

• 50 ml rice bran oil

• 100 ml orange juice

• 1 tablespoon orange zest

• 1 tsp vanilla essence

• 90 gm flour

• 1 tbsp cornflour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• Pinch of salt

• 5 egg whites

• 50 gm sugar

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 170°C. Place an oven tray on the top oven rack. This will help to prevent the top of the cake from over browning
2. Separate egg whites from the egg yolks.
3. Whisk egg whites till frothy.
4. Add sugar and continue to whisk till stiff peak. Set this meringue aside.
5. In a separate bowl. whisk egg yolks with sugar.
6. Add salt, oil, orange juice and continue whisking till well combined.
7. Add orange zest and vanilla essence. Stir to mix well.
8. Sift flour, cornflour and baking powder into the egg mixture and whisk to combine.
9. Mix 1/3 of the meringue into the batter. Stir to combine well.
10. Pour the batter into the remaining meringue and fold in gently.
11. Now pour the batter into the chiffon cake tin from one side. Keep pouring from the same side; do not turn the bowl as that will introduce air bubbles into the batter.
12. Tap the bowl to release big bubbles.
13. Use a bamboo skewer to stir the batter in one direction to release any trapped bubbles.
14. Place the cake tin on the lowest oven rack.
15. Bake at 170°C until the top of the cake starts to crack (around 20-25 mins).
16. Lower the oven temperature to 160°C. Continue to bake for another 25 mins. Total baking time: 45 mins. During baking, do not open the oven door or the cake will collapse.
17. Cool the cake by turning the cake tin over over a bowl. This will help prevent the cake from collapsing. The bowl will lift the cake over the table top, preventing condensation.
18. Cut the cake only when cooled - this may take an hour. Drape a wet towel over the bottom of the tin to hasten cooling.
19. Once cooled, use a skewer to separate the sides and bottom of the cake from the tin.