Green Tea (Matcha) Chiffon Cake

I'm kind of going through a transition phase of my life. Did you know that?!

It's a good place to be at to wrestle with the unknown and the uncertain. At the same time it brings to the surface a lot of my deeper desires and dreams, and has challenged me in my faith to believe what God can do with this ordinary life of mine!

I find that one of the challenging task these days is answering questions about how it feels to be in this position and about what I have planned for the next phase, not because I didn't know what I want or want to share, but because it is almost too frightening to express them for the fear of not being fully understood or supported.

(Pssst, Spring's here by the way!)

Actually, that's not completely true. I think I am still trying to fully believe in the voices in my mind and heart myself. And I am trying to resist living in the confines of what I can control or accomplish on my own, letting my own fear/inadequacies take over, and questioning what I know is real and true. I can't get anywhere being in those states!

So far, it has been a humbling, restful yet purposeful experience. And I'm thankful that I have a bit of time to pursue my hobbies, contemplate whether to re-learn driving (I may be the only fully-licensed person who can't drive), spending time catching up with people, meeting new people, and trying a lot of new recipes (resulting in the stacks of cakes in my fridge at the moment - feel free to claim them :P)

None of what I said so far has anything to do with this chiffon cake recipe I know. I just felt like sharing and filtering a bit of my thoughts of late on this little space here that I've been neglecting over the week! :)

For some reasons, I had always thought chiffon cake is an Asian inspired dessert but found out recently that it was actually invented in the US back in the 20's! A good chiffon is incredibly light (due to absence of butter like angel food cakes) and is rather foamy and has a fluffy texture which is achieved by beating egg whites until stiff and folding them into the cake batter!

Apart from being light, a chiffon cake should be springy too. And has the ability to make you have one slice after another and before you know it you've eaten half the cake!

Sometimes the simplest treats are the best on a day filled with cherry blossoms.

Green Tea Chiffon Cake 

Adapted from Simply Hanushi

Makes an 18-cm tube cake

Ingredients

• 3 egg yolks 
• 40 g castor sugar 
• 100 g cake flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• Pinch of salt 
• 2 tbsp good quality Green Tea powder
•  50 ml vegetable oil 
• 75 ml water 
• 3 egg whites 
• 40 g castor sugar 

1. Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside. 

2. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add sugar in 3 separate additions and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and turns pale. 

3. Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time till the mixture is well combined. Repeat the same with the water. 

4. Add in the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. 

5. Add in the tea powder and mix well. 

6. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Gradually beat in the sugar and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. 

7. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended. 

 8. Pour batter into an ungreased 18-cm tube pan. Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter. 

 9. Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C for 45 – 50 minutes or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

10. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let it cool completely before unmold. 

 Notes - I sifted the Green Tea powder together with the flour mixture.

Thanks for visiting this little space of my heart today! :)