Coffee or tea? Why does it have to be either? I am on the fence on this one. Some days I love a cup of coffee, on other days I crave tea. You’d never see anyone having both at the same time though. It’s like society’s unspoken law, have both beverage together and you would probably feel the wrath of both factions. The very idea of mixing them would raise angry eyebrows. But now, there is a way for you the enjoy both worlds. Drink coffee, and EAT tea; tea-infused cake that is. You may be raising eyebrows still, but of those in awe. Behold, the humble Earl Grey Chiffon Cake.
Interestingly enough, unlike coffee, I developed my love for Earl Grey tea through eating Earl Grey tea-infused desserts. One bite of this cloud-like fluffy Earl Grey chiffon cake was all it took to change my perspective on earl grey. I am now a convert. The perfect slice to go with your coffee anytime.
Chiffon cakes are light and airy, making them a treat that is easy to eat any time of the day. Unlike most cakes that uses a whole stick of butter, chiffon cake requires only a small amount of oil, making it a relatively less guilty option.
Friends and family have sung praises about my chiffon cakes – in particular this sponge-like fluffy Earl Grey Chiffon Cake. Paired with the aromatic citrusy bergamot notes from the earl grey tea, the cake smelt so, so good fresh out of the oven!
People often tell me they find chiffon cakes intimidating to bake. It is actually quite the opposite if you give it a go. Follow this simple recipe and you will have your very own tall, bouncy and delicious Earl Grey Chiffon Cake too! And… if this recipe has gotten you hooked onto chiffon cakes, you may also want to try this Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe too!
Earl Grey Chiffon Cake
Ingredients
Egg Yolk Batter
- 6 large egg yolks
- 90 g castor sugar
- 80 ml neutral flavoured oil (i.e. vegetable/canola oil)
- 180 ml hot water (we will use only 120ml of infused tea water)
- 3 earl grey tea bags or 1½-2 tbsp loose earl grey tea leaves
- 2-3 tsp crushed earl grey tea leaves optional
- 150 g superfine/cake flour refer to notes for substitutes
- 2 tsp baking powder
Egg White Meringue
- 6 large egg whites
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- 60 g castor sugar
Instructions
- Start by steeping either your Earl Grey tea bags or loose tea leaves in the hot water for a few minutes to brew a strong tea whilst you gather the rest of your ingredients. After it has cooled down, remove tea bags or drain the tea leaves and measure out only 120ml of earl grey tea and set aside.
- This is an optional step, for those who would like to add crushed tea leaves into your batter. I use tea bags and usually just crush them directly. If you wish to have a finer texture, you may also grind it with a food processor, or use the mortar and pestle to crush. You may wish to omit the crushed tea leaves, but they do add to the strength of the earl grey flavour and I'd highly recommend it.
- Preheat oven to 170°C. Sift flour and baking powder, set aside.
- Separate your eggs, placing the whites in one clean and dry large bowl, and the yolks in another clean bowl.
Egg Yolk Batter
- Using either a whisk to beat manually by hand, or flat beater on your stand mixer, combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and beat until mixture becomes light and colour turns pale.
- Add oil, infused earl grey tea water, and crushed tea leaves and whisk until well combined. If using an electronic mixer, use the slowest speed setting.
- Add flour gradually in 4-5 folds, and mix until batter is well incorporated without any lumps. Set aside.
Egg White Meringue
- Using a stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium low speed until foamy then add in cream of tartar.
- When the mixture starts to get bubbly, add half portion of sugar and beat on high speed for 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-high then add remaining sugar gradually and beat until egg whites are glossy, with stiff peaks. When you lift your whisk, your egg white meringue would stand straight up with the tip slightly bent over. Also be sure to check the bottom of the bowl to ensure that there is no liquidy mixture – this is considered under-beating. Note that under-beating or over-beating the meringue mixture would cause the cake to either not rise, or it would rise and collapse.
Fold In
- Using a spatula, add ⅓ of meringue into egg yolk mixture and fold in lightly. You'd want to be as gentle as you can so as to ensure you do not deflate the egg whites too much.
- Add in another ⅓ of the meringue and fold – again, remember to be gentle. This is to ensure you'd achieve a fluffy cake.
- Finally add the remaining meringue and fold to incorporate completely. If your meringue is not completely homogenous with your egg yolk mixture, when the cake is baked, you would find white streaks.
- Pour batter into a 22cm/9" chiffon cake tube pan. The best chiffon cake pan to use is the aluminium pan with removable base. The non-stick ones are not suitable and DO NOT grease your chiffon cake pan.
- Knock the cake pan lightly on the tabletop to remove air pockets. If you skip this step, you may find holes within your cake after baking.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes. When cake is done, remove from oven and invert it on a wire rack, leaving it to cool. Please make sure the cake is left upside down until completely cool or the cake will collapse.
- Once cake has cooled completely, carefully run a palette knife or spatula around the sides of the cake to loosen it before inverting onto a cake board or serving plate. The base of your cake, would be the top.
- Slice cake to your desired serving size, and enjoy.
Notes
Lychee Rose Cream Cheese, Whipped Cream Frosting
If you are looking for a frosting to pair with your Earl Grey Chiffon Cake, I highly suggest you give this Lychee Rose Cream Cheese frosting a go. This frosting is a combination of whipped cream + cream cheese that is nothing like your usual sugary sweet frosting.
I’m not usually a sweet frosting kind of girl. I tend to scrape frosting off my cakes but THIS… oh, it is SO good! See below steps on how to make:
- 3 lychee pieces
- 1 tsp canned lychee syrup
- 125g block cream cheese
- 45g icing/powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp rose water
- 3/4 cups chilled heavy cream (with 30-35% fats)
- First, blitz lychee with the canned lychee syrup, set aside.
- In mixing bowl, using the flat beater, mix cream cheese with sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy.
- Add blitz lychee mixture, and lightly beat using medium speed to combine. If using rose water, add it in now to lightly combine with the cream cheese mixture.
- Change your flat beater to whisk attachment, then slowly drizzle cold, heavy cream down the bowl.
- Whip on high speed until soft peak forms and your frosting is ready!
If not using right away to decorate your cakes, ensure to store in refrigerator. Cakes frosted with this frosting should also be stored in the refrigerator.
This frosting goes really well with this Earl Grey Chiffon Cake, but if you prefer, you can also swap blitz lychee and rose water with either 1 tsp of vanilla extract or 1 tsp of lemon juice for variation.
This frosting recipe is enough for a 9” Chiffon Cake with some leftovers, or 2 x 7” Chiffon Cakes. Here’s a quick video of the making of this frosting.
Have you tried this recipe?
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I tried this recipe today,I did half the amount as my pan is 7″ and added in some orange zest! The cake is fluffy and springy as a chiffon should be :)) ((I was impatient and didn’t let the tea bags soak long enough so my earl grey flavour wasn’t as pronounced either that or teabags are just really old haha))
Hi Renee, glad to hear it turned out well for you! Usually yes I would let it steep until the water reaches room temperature which is long enough for the flavour to come through.
Hiya, I am really glad I’ve found this information. Nowadays bloggers publish only about gossips and internet and this is really annoying. A good site with exciting content, this is what I need. Thank you for keeping this site, I will be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can’t find it.
Sorry I do not do newsletters at the moment.
Any replacement for cream of tartar if i am not using it
You can simply omit the cream of tartar.
Do you have thermomix version of the recipe? Much thanks
Sorry I don’t, I’ve only stuck to this conventional method as it has worked well for me for years
So glad to hv found this recipe, will try it as we love EG desserts, especially cakes!
Michelle, I would like to consult u on a question on baking chiffon.
I baked my usual 5-egg chiffon recipe in a new round removable base chiffon pan there is a portion sunken in at the base. Meringue is almost stiff. May I hear your views please? Hv baked the same 5-egg recipe in a 9” round with no issues.
Thank u so much ☺️
9” chiffon pan is usually more suited for 6-egg recipe, but no issues if using 5-egg recipe – probably just shorter. But if there’s portion of meringue on the base that’s stiffen, then both egg and yolk mixture were not folded in well?
I’m a novice at baking but I’m so glad that your recipe turned out perfect the first time I tried! Thank you!
I doubled the quantities (except for sugar which I used 200g (to suit my taste) in total for both egg yolk and egg white batter) to bake two 9″ chiffon cakes and I replaced cream of tartar with white vinegar. The smell was so fragrant and the cake detached from the mold beautifully.
Love your concise, printable and easy-to-understand recipes. Definitely going to try out your other recipes!
Thank you for your lovely feedback – I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed the recipe! And for sharing the substitutions you make so others could also benefit from it. ☺️
I try it,and its lovely,but i didnt do the frosting,still nice and fluffy,drizze with lotus spread also a nice combination..👍🏽
Lotus spread drizzle does sound yummy and makes a good combination! Thank you for sharing your lovely feedback. 💕
Tried this for the first time earlier this week and made it again today! This is so soft and delicious, it is fast becoming a highly requested bake for family and friends! Have converted this recipe to TM and saved it in my created recipes – definitely will be making more again real soon! Thank you! ❤
“Mmmm…. WOW!” That’s the comment received from everyone I’ve ever baked this for. I must have repeated baking this cake at least 5 times and the requests keep coming. Thank you for sharing the recipe! I adapted it for TM6 and still works great. Just as flavourful and fluffy. Seems like I will be baking this again for CNY gathering next week!
Wow 5 times at least!! Guess it’s going to be your staple chiffon recipe from now on. Hehe
Made this twice now and they turned out great! super soft and fluffy. i am very happy to find this recipe! i paired it with some homemade lemon curd and earl grey infused whipped cream <3 can't wait to experiment with other flavours Thank you!