Archive for: chiffon
This cheerful Pink Lemonade Cake would be the perfect centerpiece for a springtime party. It’s bright pink color is eye-catching and the cake pops with lemon flavor – just like the drink it is named after. This is a chiffon cake, which is a fluffy, moist cake that is primarily leavened with meringue, much like angel food cake. The cake uses both fresh lemon juice and zest to give it a strong lemonade flavor, and it is topped with a drizzle of lemon glaze that makes the flavor stand out even more.
The main flavor in this cake is lemon, as is the main flavor in a glass of pink lemonade. Pink lemonade is regular lemonade that has been dyed pink using either food coloring or a small splash of a reddish fruit juice, such as strawberry, cherry or cranberry. The origins of pink lemonade are unclear, but almost every origin story claims that the color was added to regular lemonade by accident, and that the perky pink kept customers coming back for more. This cake also just has a splash of red added just to give it a pink color, not necessarily to add flavor. You can use a few drops of red food coloring, an “all natural red food coloring” or even a few teaspoons of all natural grenadine (a bar syrup made from pomegranates, although there are many versions that are little more than food coloring and corn syrup). Use restraint with the food coloring, since you want this cake to be pink and not red.
The inspiration for this cake came from a Pink Lemonade Cake printed in a recent issue of Cook’s Country. It looked beautiful and, since I love lemon, I tried it soon after getting the magazine. Unfortunately, it had very little lemon flavor and the cream cheese frosting nearly overwhelmed the tender cake, although it looked very pretty. I still loved the color, but used some of my favorite citrus chiffon cake recipes (Lime and Strawberry Lemonade) to boost the flavor considerably to make this cake a whole lot more lemony.
Chiffon cakes typically keep very well and this cake is no exception. It will stay moist and fresh for many days when stored in an airtight container, so it can easily be made a day or two in advance of when you want to serve it.
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Madeleines are small sponge cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape. They’re baked in a specially shaped pan and there is something special about them that seems to put a smile on peoples’ faces when they see them. Traditionally, madeleines are made with a genoise batter, which is a type of cake where melted butter is folded in to a sponge cake batter just before baking in order to tenderize it and no leavening agents apart from beaten eggs are added. These very classic cakes are tasty, but I find that adding a small amount of baking powder lightens the cookies up a bit and makes them a little bit more consistent.
My Vanilla Madeleines are light, tender and golden, with a soft and slightly spongy texture to them. I flavored them with a generous splash of vanilla extract, and will sometimes use vanilla sugar (when I have some on hand) to further boost the vanilla flavor. The vanilla blends well with the buttery sponge cake, and also helps the madeleines go well with coffee and tea. I recommend using metal pans, as opposed to silicone, for the best results.
Madeleines keep very well when stored in an airtight container, as their flavor only seems to improve over the course of a few days following baking. They are best when served with coffee or tea, and their spongey texture makes them perfect for soaking up a bit of the liquid when dipped. You can also dip a corner of each cookie in chocolate to dress them up a bit, though you can’t go wrong when serving them plain, either.
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Chiffon pies are light, airy pies that have fillings with a mousse-like consistency. They are, in fact, made much like a mousse and get most of their volume from beaten egg whites or whipped cream. They also usually have a small amount of gelatin in them that helps them keep their shape and slice easily. A chiffon pie can be a great option for a dessert that packs a lot of flavor, without feeling heavy, and this Chocolate Chiffon Pie is great example of exactly that.
The pie starts with a chocolate crumb crust and is filled with a mousselike chocolate chiffon filling. Some chiffon pies use egg whites to give them their lift, but this one uses whipped cream both for volume and for mouthfeel. The pie has a wonderful chocolate flavor to it, thanks to a generous amount of chocolate in the filling. Both dark chocolate and semisweet chocolate will work in the filling – even chocolate chips, so long as they’re good quality. It is best to choose a chocolate that you really enjoy because that will be the main flavoring of this pie. I used Guittard Bittersweet (61% cacao) chocolate in the pie pictured. Opt for a darker chocolate if you prefer a more bittersweet flavor in your pie, and semisweet if you prefer your pie to be a touch lighter.
I like a chocolate crumb crust for this pie, as the chocolate flavor goes well with the pie and it adds a nice crunchy element to the dessert. A regular graham cracker crust will also work well, and you can use a traditional pastry crust that has been prebaked and cooled, if you prefer. The pie keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for several days after assembly. It is best when served with a little bit of lightly sweetened whipped cream and a few chocolate shavings for garnish.
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Strawberry lemonade is one of my favorite summertime drinks and this is that drink in cake form – or at least, as close as you’re going to come to the lemony drink and still be able to eat it with a fork! The base of this cake is a lemon chiffon cake, with a bright and zesty lemon flavor that goes well with layers of strawberry filling. The cake is light and moist, making it a good choice for the summertime when you don’t want a very dense or heavy cake to weigh you down. The fact that it is so moist also means that it actually leaves you feeling a little bit refreshed after eating a slice – just like you would after sipping a glass of cold lemonade!
The cake is a typical chiffon cake, a foam cake that gets most of its leavening from beaten egg whites, much like an angel food cake. It gets some extra moisture from the inclusion of egg whites and a small amount of vegetable oil, and ends up being much less cottony than an angel food cake and much lighter than your average butter cake. Chiffon cakes are usually baked in tube pans, as are angel food cakes, but this recipe is baked in 9-inch round cake pans. The light foam cakes may sink slightly as they cool, but that just serves to even out the cake layers and makes them easier to slice when you’re ready to stack them up. Most of the lemon flavor in this cake comes from freshly squeezed lemon juice, so don’t be tempted to use bottled juice if you want the best finished product.
The strawberry portion of this cake comes in the form of strawberry jam, which is spread between the layers of the cake. The jam is sweet enough that even just a thin layer will give the cake a nice strawberry flavor and a very pretty finished look. Choose a good quality strawberry preserve for making this cake, as that will give you the best finished product. I garnished the top of my cake with lots of fresh, sliced strawberries. If you would rather use raspberry jam or some other berry preserve, garnish your cake with berries to match.
yum! very moist, tender and very light.
I frosted this cake with a light cream cheese frosting, which adds some sweetness and a nice creamy finish to the cake. I only flavored mine with vanilla extract, though you can easily beat in a little extra lemon zest to add another lemon element to the cake.
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I have always been a big angel food cake fan. I love the high rise and soft texture of the light and fluffy cake, as well as how versatile the finished cake can be. It needs no frosting, although you can always add a simple glaze or dessert sauce, and it goes well with all kinds of fruits and ice creams. Angel food cakes are actually fat free, too, so I especially like them as light snacks or when served after a heavy meal.
My favorite angel food cake is plain vanilla, and I have been using the same Perfect Angel Food Cake recipe as my standard for some time now. As with so many other desserts, however, I like to have variations ready to go when I’m looking for something different. This is a Chocolate Angel Food Cake.
This cake is made the exact same way as a traditional angel food cake, namely with lots of beaten egg whites, but it has cocoa powder included along with the cake flour. The cocoa adds a not-too-rich chocolate flavor to the finished product and is a nice change from plain vanilla. The cake is sweet, even more moist than regular angel food cake, and keeps well for several days. You will need a tube pan for the best results, as well as a little bit of whipped cream and maybe some fresh berries – or at least a big cup of coffee – when you go to serve it!
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