Orange Chiffon Cake

I absolutely love LOVE my new oven. It browns impossibly evenly and every cake comes out kinda perfect. Kinda, because perfection doesn't exist in the world of baking (everything can be improved ^^)

So here it is inverted. Pardon the dents, in my attempt to detach it from the mould.

Only thing though, I'm still not very familiar with my oven's contours. And it looks deceivingly cool even when it reaches temperatures of 200 degrees C. But I remember someone who told me that battle scars like these tell a story, my own story.

Days like these I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I bake for people who love me. But most people are loved without limits too. I'm lucky though, not because I'm loved, but because I can see it. If I could, I'd do this everyday. Those smiles are too amazing to be hidden.

This is the story of the ORANGE chiffon cake (:

Orange Chiffon Cake 2

Last night I got a message from my aunt requesting for a low sugar cake for her mum-in-law who is hospitalised on her birthday. The elder is diabetic and hence minimum sugar will be good. So I suggested a chiffon cake and cut the sugar by almost half.

The recipe I got from joyofbaking.com and it was much better than the previous recipe I used. The flavour of orange came out beautifully without any artificial flavourings and the texture of the cake was moist and soft.

Sadly, during the removal of the cake from its mould, I was not careful and the cake looked terrible. :( Sigh. What a waste because it was a delicious cake. But they still enjoyed the cake and I hope it'll make her hospital days a little better.

Shall improve on the appearance next time. I always believe that food, like people, must not only have quality on the inside but also on the outside!

Speaking of which, I have since come to realise that in the face of competition, everyone is superficial. Such is a skill treasured and sought after by many. It can make or break you, and it can redefine you. In the face of all these, I must send a strong reminder to myself:

Remain true, remain strong and remain in the race.

4 Flavoured Chiffon Cake

IM BACK!

Finally, the dreary times are over and the happy times are here! My baking drought ends with an explosive idea that I paid the price with a sleepless night. So here comes my multi-flavoured chiffon cake, with green tea, chocolate, coffee and pandan all in one cake. Like I said, you can never have too much of a good cake!

With 4 different batters, derived from a single recipe, and using secret techniques that I shall not share... ;) I came up with 2 types of chiffon cakes!

My personal favourite was chocolate, cause I used real chocolate instead of only cocoa powder. But I think green tea was not bad too. And it drew great response cause the cake is now gone after only a day!

I hope I really did change his mind about chiffon cake. It's not so much about the cake itself, but more of the experience when eating the cake. Many times, even when the food is not to our taste, we still adore it because it evokes certain memories. Food, like music and places reminds us of certain experiences and feelings. It's a secret storage compartment which we unlock when we crave nostalgia. I hope chiffon cake will create happy thoughts next time.

Fionainthekitchen is back in business!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Remember last week's Sunday Times Lifestyle? It's main cover was on Pandan Chiffon Cake! I got so excited, it was such a nice present to wake up to.

I tried the recipe and hey, lo and behold, it's GREAT. The texture of the cake is springy and there's a lot of bite to it. There is a very alluring fragrance to the cake since real pandan leaves were used. The only improvement I would make to the recipe would be to cut down the sugar. A little too sweet...

The article compared pandan chiffon cakes of all bakeries. But you know what, I think the best pandan chiffon cake is homemade!

Orange chiffon cake

Job well done! Chiffon cake took me so long to learn how to make. Simply because if you can't get the technique of folding right, say goodbye to the beautiful spongelike springy texture. The smell of the orange, especially when it is in the oven, is literally breathtaking...

The story behind the chiffon cake is one of friendship and a hell lot of perseverance. In short, I promised my friend I'll bake her a pandan chiffon cake, because it was one of the few food that she eats, on the rare times that she does eat. So I tried a grand total of 5 times, before finally succeeding into a reasonably acceptable one. All in one sitting.

That is how I can now make a decent tasty chiffon cake 2 years on. As Thomas Edison puts it,

"I've not failed, I've succeeded in finding out 100 different ways in which it will not work."

something very exciting might be happening. i might be given a chance to bake for the old folks at the SWAMI home. if that does happen, i think i finally found a purpose. it would make me veryveryvery happy...