Soy Milk Chiffon Cake (Re-Post)

A reader experienced some problem with this recipe I posted so I wanted to do some experiment with it. I have been rather busy with work so thanks for bearing with me. It is quite difficult to explain without pictures so I decided not to reply via comments.

The original recipe which I posted earlier is as below.

Soy Milk Chiffon Cake (Yolk Free)
Ingredients
(A)
180g Unsweetened Soy Milk (I used Sobe)
30g Fine Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
50g Corn Oil
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Essence

(B)
110g Cake flour
40g Soy Flour
1/2 tbsp Baking powder

*Sift

(C)
5 Egg Whites
50g Fine Sugar
1/2 Ttsp Cream of Tartar

Method
1) In a bowl, using hand whisk, whisk (A) till incorporated.

2) Add (B) and mix well.

3) In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat till the whites are frothy. Add in Cream of Tartar and beat till soft peaks. Add in sugar gradually and beat till stiff peaks.

4) Fold in 1/3 of the whites into the mixture using a rubber spatula till incorporated. Pour the mixture to the remaining egg whites and fold in gently till incorporated.

5)Pour into a 21 cm chiffon tube pan. Level the batter with a spatula. Bang the pan on the table to get rid of bubbles.

6) Oil a piece of aluminium foil and cover the pan loosely. Bake at 170 deg.C for 10mins.

7) Turn down the temperature to 160 deg.C and bake for 20mins.

8) Reduce the temperature to 150 deg.C and bake for 10mins. Insert a skewer to check if the cake is done. Remove the foil and bake for another 5 to 10mins to brown the surface.

9) Remove from the oven and invert the pan. Remove the cake from pan when it's completely cooled.

*Note : Mixture (A) will be heavier than your regular egg yolk batter. This is normal due to the extra soy flour used.

**Note : Perhaps I should just replace some of the cake flour with soy flour (toying with idea of 90g cake flour and 30g soy flour) to get a lighter cake. Disregard the yolks entirely and stick to 140g of soy milk.

Below are the correspondence between Hwee Choon and me.

*Quote*
Anonymous said...
Hi Rei

I tried to follow your recipe today but unfortunately the cake turned out to be too dry.

It was already too dry when i tried to mix Group A and Group B ingredients together, even when I have added 200g of Soy Milk instead of 180g. I tried adding another 30g of soy milk but the cake turned out to be too dry. The only difference from your recipe is that I used 150g of cake flour instead of 110g of cake flour and 40g of soy flour.

Also I noticed there is also a harden layer at the top of the cake which I have nvr come across when i bake other favour chiffon cake.

Appreciate if you can advise.

Thanks
Hwee Choon

April 7, 2010 12:04 AM

Rei said...
Hi Hwee Choon, first I need to determine if you are the recipe without egg yolk or with egg yolks. Next, when I tweaked the recipe, I have taken soy flour's water absorption into consideration. Thus, amount of soy flour should not be substituted directly with cake flour. Should you use 150g of cake flour, you would need an additional egg to support the cake structure. Substituting egg yolk can be quite tricky as it contains water and fats.

I would like to know if you have added corn oil on top of the 230g of soy milk. Assuming you added these 2 liquids, your hydration ratio is about 53.6%, which will result in a very moist cake. It shouldn't be dry.

The top layer you were refering to is after being inverted?

April 7, 2010 9:29 AM

Anonymous said...
HI Rei

Thanks for the quick response.

Initially For group A, I used 200g soy milk, 30g castor sugar, 50g corn oil and 1/2 tsp vanilla essence. For group B, I used 150g Cake flour and 1/2tbsp baking powder. No yolk was used. When I added the flour into group A, the consistency of the patter was very "solid" as in it's not as liquid as the patter I always have when baking chiffon cake. And I dont think it's possible to fold in the egg white to the mixture. So I added in another 30g of soy milk.

230g of soy milk is excluding the 50g of corn oil.

The top layer is before the cake is being inverted as in the side that is direct contact with the heat and not the cake pan.

April 8, 2010 2:03 AM

Anonymous said...
Hi Rei

By the way, I did not say that 230gm of soy milk is too dry. What I meant was, your recipe of 180gm of soy milk is too dry after adding the flour. And if I read correctly, your recipe did not include any egg yolks and I did not mention that I added any egg yolks.

Hope this is clear for you.

Thanks and regard
Hwee Choon
*Unquote*

Experiment 1
As mentioned in my comments, I do not encourage direct subsitution of soy flour with cake flour. The water absorption between the 2 flours is different. Below is how the batter would look like based on Hwee Choon's direct substitution. 150g cake flour + 180g soy milk + 50g oil.


















It is slightly thicker than the normal chiffon cake yolk batter, which was mentioned in my earlier post. But it doesn't look solid to me. Hydration ratio is 65.22%

Experiment 2
Soy milk was increased to 200g. Oil remains at 50g. Batter looks smoother, presents ribbon stage when whisk is lfted. Hydration ratio is 60%



















Experiment 3
Soy milk was incresed to 230g and oil remains at 50g. Batter falls easily from whisk. Hydration ratio is 53.57%


















I would suggest that the hydration ratio stays within the 60 to 68 percentage. Too much liquid might hinder the cake from rising as the cake cannot support its own structure.

ATM Media Mention

I was nicknamed 'ATM' by Katherine from Chocolate Medley. I didn't realised the title of my blog could be abbreviated so when I chose it. Hopefully, I am my own 'ATM', not others. Ahah. I was approached by a Malaysian magazine a couple of months back. They asked for permission to use one of my blogposts for publishing. So here it is, only thing is; it was published in March. I am far behind my posts, this shows definitely.


















My post was published along with some other food bloggers. It kinda feel strange to see my stuffs in prints.



















The publishers were so kind to send me some copies of the magazine although I told them I reside in Singapore. They actually couriered them out. Heartfelt thanks.



















Recently, I received some nasty comments and emails. I do not understand their hate but to curse my kids are way off limits and uncalled for. Leave my family out of this. I mostly keep to myself and do not think I have offended or attacked anyone online. I don't think I am cocky in any ways. Apart from being busy and reply comments late, I think I am in line with blogger's etiquette. I hope the hostility will stop and please, whoever you are, channel your energy to do something useful. I do not know you and because of that, your words can't hurt me. Go bake or cook something, it will help make you feel better.

Mahjong Cupcakes Encore

Back logs, back logs are haunting me. Been rather busy at work and had no time to post. New clients to attend to, new staff to train. During this downturn, I guess being busy is welcomed. I must say there are alot of mahjong fans around. I made these mahjong tiles once again for a lady. She left the tile selection entirely to me. I hope her mommy liked them. I had to use these plastic boxes as the machine broke down when I needed it most.


















As suggested by Jane, I put the real tiles and edible tiles side by side.





































To the person who sends me rude emails persistently about these mahjong tiles; I don't have to prove anything to you but for the sake of argument, I will. The above tiles are the proof that I do not use moulds to mould my tiles. Those moulds can only give you 十三么, not these flower cards. I do not use edible print outs either. Each and every one of them is handcrafted.

Having said my piece, it's back to work. Later.

Gumpaste Recipe

For those who have written to me about the recipe I used for the gumpaste flowers and butterflies, here it is. The original recipe can be found here. The reason I chose this recipe instead of those using Gum Tragacanth is because it is a cheaper alternative. I read that it also holds better in humidity. Making your own gumpaste is definitely cheaper than buying commercial ones.

For those who are using regular mixer, like my Philips Cucina, the below recipe will not fry your machine as I have already quartered it from the original recipe. You will need to make this at least 24 hours beforehand to allow the paste to mature. The flowers and butterflies I made, dried fairly well after 24 hours.

Nicholas Lodge's Tylose Gumpaste
Ingredient
1 Egg White
8 Oz. Icing Sugar
4 level Tsp Tylose Powder

Some Crisco Shortening

Method
1) In a mixing bowl, beat egg white with dough hook on high speed.

2) Set aside 1/4* cup of icing sugar. Using low speed, add remaining icing sugar to the egg white. Turn to highest speed and beat till soft peak.

3) Turn the speed back to low and sprinkle tylose powder over five seconds. Turn the speed up to the high setting for a few seconds. The mixture will became quite thick.

4) Sprinkle the work surface with the reserved icing sugar. Remove the mixture from the bowl onto a work surface. Rub your hands with shortening and knead the paste, adding icing sugar gradually till you get a soft but not sticky dough. Wrap the paste tightly with a plastic bag and keep it in a ziplock bag.

5) Refrigerate for 24 hours.

6) Bring paste to room temperature before use.

For storage instructions, kindly follow the link provided.

Happy decorating!

*Edited.