Mia Bakes: Calico Butter Chiffon Cake

Yes, when I said "Calico", I meant this cat. 

You know, I've been wanting to bake this cake ever since I watched kafemaru's video recipe of her calico cat inspired chiffon cake. And finally after finding a packet of extra dark (black) cocoa powder at Phoon Huat, I decided that it's time to do it!

Do note that I'm not following Kafemaru's recipe, but using the Roux Method Marbled Butter Sponge Cake recipe to re-create this recipe. So to get a small 5"4 chiffon cake, you'll need:

60g unsalted butter

40g all purpose flour

5g black cocoa powder

5g cocoa powder

50g castor sugar

30ml cold milk

3 eggs (whites & yolks separated)

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

1/4 tsp butter oil extract (optional)

First up, melt the butter in a pot over the hob and stir in 35g of all purpose flour until well combined. Then, take the pot off the heat and stir in cold milk (to bring down the temperature) until well combined before mixing in the egg yolks, salt and extracts. Divide the yolk mixture into 3 equal portions and set them aside.

In a clean bowl, add the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat on high until the mixture turns frothy. Then, add the sugar in 3 additions while beating on high until stiff peaks form. Likewise, divide the meringue into 3 equal portions. 

Combine each divided portion of the yolk mixture and meringue with 5g of all purpose flour, black cocoa powder and cocoa powder respectively. First, add the dry ingredient into the yolk mixture and mix well, before adding a small portion of the meringue in to loosen the yolk mixture up before folding in the rest of the meringue until just combined. The addition of cream of tartar should help to stabilise the meringue greatly, but still you should take note to not deflate your meringue while you fold the mixture. 

Then, it's time to assemble! Spoon each colour of the mixture randomly into your prepared chiffon tin (ungreased and unlined) until all the 3 colours of the mixture are used up and give the tin a few knocks against the counter to ease out any air pockets before baking in an oven that's pre-heated to 160 degree Celsius for about 25 minutes (but do start checking at the 20th minute) or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Then, invert your chiffon tin over a bottle (or anything else that can help to balance your tin at the centre tip) and let it cool down completely to minimise shrinkage before de-molding it. 

Tadaa~ Isn't it cute and really resembles a calico cat? 

Till then,

Mia Foo