Guava Chiffon Cake

I love the sweet, floral, tropical flavor of guava and will always order a dessert that is made with guava when I see one. If you’re a guava fan like I am, or simply someone in the mood for a dessert with a tropical twist, add this Guava Chiffon Cake to your “to bake” list! The light and airy cake is very tall and delivers a considerable amount of guava flavor.

This cake uses guava puree and there are a couple of places to find it. First, you could grab some ripe guavas and puree them, but that might be tricky when guavas are out of season (late summer/early fall in my area) or simply aren’t available at your local stores. The second, and easier, option is to pick up frozen guava puree. This is often found in the freezer section at well-stocked grocery stores (it’s a popular smoothie ingredient) and at Mexican/Latin American grocery stores. I used Goya brand, pure frozen guava puree. Guava juice does not have as strong a flavor – even juice that is not supplemented with lots of additional sugar – as the puree and won’t impart the same guava flavor to your cake, so try to find the puree for best results.

Most guavas have a pink flesh. The puree I used was also quite pink, but when it is combined with all the egg yolks in the cake, the batter turns a pinkish-orange color. To make your cake more pink, add in a couple of drops of pink food coloring.

The cake is made by creating a thick batter with the puree, sugar, flour, vegetable oil and egg yolks. The egg whites are beaten into a stiff meringue, then folded into the rest of the batter. While I like to add a little bit of baking powder to my chiffon cakes, the majority of the lift comes from the air trapped in the egg whites. The cake should rise up nice and tall in the pan. Like an angel food cake, the pan should not be greased before adding the batter and the cake should be cooled upside down before removing it from the pan.

Guava Chiffon Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup guava puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 large egg yolks, room temperature
9 large egg whites, room temperature
a few drops pink food coloring, optional

Preheat oven to 325F. Take out a 10-inch ring pan but do not grease it.
In a medium bowl, whisk together cake flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together guava puree, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and egg yolks. Whisk in pink food coloring, if using. Whisk in the flour mixture until a thick, uniform batter forms.
In another large bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually blend in the remaining 3/4 cup sugar with the mixer running at high speed. Beat until egg whites reach stiff peaks and are very glossy, about 3-4 more minutes.
Working in 3-4 additions, fold the egg whites into the guava mixture. Fold batter until no streaks of white meringue remain visible. Pour into tube pan.
Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Invert pan onto the countertop to cool completely before removing the cake from the pan and slicing.

Serves 12.