Moomy and the Orange Chiffon Cake

Hello, hello, you!! Can you believe that it's September already? 

Anyhoo ... Grandparents Day is coming up; it will be celebrated here in the United States on Sunday, 7th of September.

I was one of those lucky people who grew up basking in the love of their grandparents. Till my late teens, I had both sets of grandparents; my father’s parents whom I called Atok & Nenek, and my mother’s parents, Tok Bak & Tok Chu.

My maternal grandparents, whom I lovingly

called Tok Chu & Tok Bak. 

(Tok is short for Atok, which is Malay for grandparent.)

They lived in Muar, Johor, just a short 2-hours'

drive across the causeway from Singapore. 

Growing up, I had spent most of my school & festive holidays

in their traditional Malay timber house with zinc roof.

Tok Bak passed away in October 1997 and Tok Chu in March 2003.

My paternal grandmother, Nenek.

This picture was taken the day she first held

her 1st great-grandson lil Tommy V (my son!!) on July 2010.

She was always concerned for my health and well-being

throughout my pregnancy; she had shared tips

and old wives' tales on what-to-do-and-don't's

that all that info made my head spin! Hehehehe

Sadly, all four of my grandparents have passed on; Nenek was the last one to leave us. She passed away in January 2013, and that was one of my saddest days ever.

I miss my grandparents very much; there were just a lot of things that we had shared together as granddaughter and grandparent. I must say I was very lucky to be able to share most of the important milestones in my life with my beloved grandparents. For that, I am eternally thankful to The Almighty.

Now I am sure you, my dear reader, will agree with me when I say that grandmothers are special (please don't get me wrong; grandfathers are equally special too! Its just that this particular post is specially for grandmothers :D:D:D). You cannot talk about grandmas without mentioning the cakes and treats that they baked, or the special meals that they prepare for the festive season.

And we all know about those special hugs and kisses grandmas have for their grandchildren, right?

I miss that about my grandmas: Tok Chu was the ardent hugger and kisser; Nenek was the shy one who enjoyed being hugged.

When it comes to food, o man … there were just so dishes that reminded me of my grandmothers. Both were wonderful cooks and I was never hungry whenever I left my grandparents’ home.

Now if there’s a dessert that reminded me of my beloved Nenek, that would be her Orange Chiffon Cake. I remember helping her out in the kitchen when she would bake these cakes during the festive season; I helped to lick the spatula clean!

And when the cakes are cooled and ready, I would deliver them to the lucky neighbor. 

So yesterday, I made my first proper chiffon cake in my new pre-loved cake tin (I bought it at a yard sale for only US$1.00!! What a buy, huh!). I loved the smell of the orange zest in the fluffy batter and though I know this wasn’t the same recipe Nenek had used, I’m sure she would have approved of it.

Shall we? The recipe came from http://www.joyofbaking.com/OrangeChiffonCake.html :D

In a big bowl, measure out these ingredients: 2 1/4 cups of sifted cake flour, 1 1/4 cups of super-blitzed white sugar, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, 1/2 a teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of grated orange zest (there's just no substitute for freshly grated orange zest, y'all!). Stir to combine and set this aside.

I used Softasilk cake flour for this chiffon cake.

Fear not if you don't have cake flour in your pantry - 

you can easily make some like this:

Measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Scoop out 2 tablespoons

and put it right back into the flour container. 

Measure out 2 tablespoons of corn starch 

and add that to the bowl. Sift this mixture 5 times. 

Use the sifted flour according to your recipe :D

This alternative worked just fine, I assure you.

In another bowl, carefully measure out 6 egg yolks (I used 2 bowls to carefully separate the whites from the yolks; don't forget to keep the egg whites for later, OK?), 1/2 a cup of vegetable oil, 3/4 cup of OJ (I didn't bother squeezing any so I used OJ straight from a carton) and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence. Stir the mixture carefully.

Now back to the bowl with the flour mixture: make a well in the center and gently pour in the eggy-yolky mixture. Beat the yellow mixture nicely with a whisk until its smooth. Set the mixture aside.

The eggy-yolky mixture - can you see the orange zest

on the side of the bowl?

Remember those egg whites from before? There should be 6 whites in that bowl. Crack open another egg for its white (you can plonk the yolk into a small bowl for tomorrow's scrambled egg) - this recipe called for 7 egg whites. Using an electric hand-held whisk, I beat those whites till its bubbly. 

Egg whites being whisked to a frothy mix!

Then add 1/2 a teaspoon of cream of tartar; continue to beat those whites till soft peaks appear in your bowl. Slowly add 1/4 cup of super-blitzed sugar into the egg whites and beat the mixture till stiff peaks appear. 

Using a spatula, gently fold in, a third of the egg white mixture into the eggy-yolky batter. Don't over-mix it because the batter could easily lose its airiness from all that whisking. Once the whites have nicely blended in with the yolky batter, add more of the whipped egg white mixture. 

Fold in the beaten egg whites

gently into the eggy-yolky mixture.

Once your batter is nicely mixed together, pour the mixture into an ungreased 2-piece tube/angel food cake pan. Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 325degF for 55-60 minutes.

All ready for the oven!

The cake is ready when it springs right back if you press the cake lightly. Or you can poke a skewer into the middle of the cake and it comes out clean.

Almost there …

Turn the cake tin upside down once you have taken it out of the oven. Let the cake cool down this way for about an hour before removing it from the pan. When it's all cooled down, use a sharp knife to cut the cake away from the tin.

… the chiffon cake has to sit upside-down in its tin for

about an hour to cool down before it can be sliced!

Ta-daaa!! :D 

Please pay no attention to lil Aidan's fingers - he couldn't wait

for me to snap this pic because he just wanted

to eat his slice of orange chiffon cake!

But first, the 'smell' test: it smelt pretty good to Aidan hehehe

And then the 'touch' test: 

Ooo, very light to the touch and springy, Mommy!

Can you see some of the orange zest in the cake?

The 'taste' test: All gone, Mommy!! All good!! :D:D:D

The cake keeps well for about 2 days; not in my household though hehehe you can dress it up with a light dusting of icing sugar or a dollop of whipped cream. I love it best just plain and simple :D just the way I used to have it in my beloved Nenek's kitchen.

If only you knew how much I miss you dearly, Nenek. Till we meet again for that slice of orange chiffon cake, OK? :D