Pumpkin Chiffon Cake - Another Wholesome Variation To The Chiffon Recipe

The closest I have ever worked with pumpkin was a couple of years back when I was hosting a Christmas party. I had seen Jamie Oliver's program during my flight to the US. He was using butternut squash to make a soup. Worried that I would not be able to find butternut squash in Singapore, I had actually lugged 2 butternut squash all the way back from US.

I am seriously considering to work with pumpkin for the Taste Of Yellow Livestrong Event hosted by Winosandfoodies. There are a couple of recipes which I can work with and I decided to expriment with the Chiffon.

I am pretty adept at baking the chiffon cake but I have only started to get fancy lately. By fancy I mean adding solid 'particles' like fruit and vegetable bits into the cake. I failed a couple of times when I was working with peaches. From those failures, I learnt that the moisture in the succulent fruits such as peaches and blueberries can play havoc with the meringue rich batter when not careful. I took extra care to cut the pumpkin into tiny cubes and dust the diced pumpkin with flour.

The cake turned out pretty decent. I try not to be too fixated with the uniformity of the cell structures in the cake but inspecting the cross-section of the cake, I think pre-steaming the pumpkin to soften it would probably produce a more uniform cell structure.



For those who enjoys a moist and silky softness in their cake. This recipe will not disappoint.

I am not sure if I would submit this for the Taste of Yellow event. I have a couple other recipes I want to experiment with before I decide. Dateline's a week away, so I will have to work fast...



Recipe :
Meringue
Egg White 110g
Sugar 55g
Corn Startch 5g

Egg Yolk Base
Egg Yolk 40g
Milk 24g
Canola Oil 36g
Mashed Pumpkin* 24g
Flour 55g
Sugar 10g
Diced Pumpkin 80g
Pumpkin Seeds 1Tbsp

* Cut pumpkin into course chunks and steam for 15mins to soften. Mash with a fork. I would also suggest steaming the diced pumpkin in the same way. I was lazy and used the pumpkin raw. I believe steaming the diced pumpkin will result in a finer cell structure - similar to my murasaki imo chiffon.

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 160C.

2.In a mixing bowl, beat egg yolk with sugar(10g). Add milk, oil and mashed pumpkin and continue to mix with handmixer until well combined. Sift in flour and combine the flour thoroughly using the handmixer.

3. In a seperate mixing bowl, whip egg white until foamy. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture in 3 additions. Whip egg white until firm but not stiff. I generally whip the egg white until the tip of the foam would still droop a little. The foam should be able to support the weight of your bubble whip.

4. Add roughly same amount of Meringue to the egg yolk base. Mix well with spatula.

5. Add in diced pumpkin and pumpkin seeds to (4). Stir in lightly.

6. Add half of remaining Meringue into (5). Fold in lightly with spatula.

7. Add all remaining Meringue into (6). Fold in lightly until well mixed.

8. Pour batter into 17cm chiffon pan. Bake at 160C for 30mins.

9. Remove cake from oven and immediately invert pan to cool.