Chiffon cake is the dish that exposes an oven. A cake this light is entirely dependent on even, gentle heat from below and a stable cavity temperature. If your oven runs hot on one side, a chiffon will tell you within twenty minutes by leaning.
It is also the one bake where I would tell you to turn the fan off. Fan-forced heat dries the crust early, the cake sets before it has finished rising, and you get a dense band near the top. Conventional heat, top and bottom elements, no fan.
What you need
For a 23cm aluminium chiffon tin with a removable base and a centre tube. Do not grease it. The batter needs to climb the sides.
- 5 egg yolks
- 110ml thick coconut milk
- 60ml pandan extract, from about 15 blended and strained pandan leaves
- 60ml neutral oil
- 120g cake flour, sifted
- Quarter tsp salt
- 5 egg whites
- Half tsp cream of tartar
- 110g caster sugar
Method
- Preheat to 160C, conventional heat, no fan. Put the shelf on the second position from the bottom. A chiffon rises a long way and the top of the tin needs to stay clear of the upper element.
- Whisk the yolks with the coconut milk, pandan extract and oil until combined. Fold in the flour and salt. Stop as soon as it is smooth.
- In a spotlessly clean bowl, whip the whites with the cream of tartar to soft peaks, then add the sugar in three additions and whip to firm peaks that just hold their shape. Stiff and dry is too far. The meringue should still look glossy.
- Fold a third of the meringue into the yolk batter to loosen it, then fold in the rest in two goes. Use a spatula and a light hand.
- Pour into the tin from a height to break large bubbles, level the top, then tap the tin once on the counter.
- Bake 50 to 55 minutes. It should spring back and a skewer should come out clean.
- Invert the tin immediately onto its feet or over a bottle neck and leave it upside down until completely cold. At least two hours. This is not optional. A chiffon cooling the right way up collapses under its own weight.
- Release with a thin palette knife around the sides and the tube.
The headroom question
Here is a practical detail worth checking before you buy an oven if you bake chiffon or tall tins. A 23cm chiffon tin is roughly 10cm tall, the cake rises well above the rim, and it needs to sit low in the cavity with clear air above it.
The Teka HLB 840 publishes its interior dimensions, which not every brand does: 364mm inner height, 475mm wide, 402mm deep, giving 70 litres net. That inner height is the number that matters. Knowing it means you can work out rack clearance before the oven is in the wall rather than after.
The Electrolux KOIGE00H2 is 72 litres with SurroundCook circulating hot air and an AquaClean cycle. It also has AirFry, which is beside the point for cake but useful the rest of the week.
Both sit in Built-in Ovens, and the standard-width options are grouped in 60cm Built-in Ovens.
Questions people ask
Should I use fan or conventional for chiffon cake?
Conventional, with top and bottom heat and no fan. Fan-forced air dries and sets the crust before the crumb has finished expanding, which gives you a dense layer under the top and often a cracked, uneven dome.
Why did my chiffon collapse after baking?
Either it was underbaked, or it was not inverted to cool. The structure is meringue and steam, and it needs to hang upside down until fully cold so gravity stretches it rather than compressing it. Two hours minimum.
Can I grease the chiffon tin?
No. The batter climbs the ungreased sides as it rises, and that grip is what holds the cake up. A greased tin gives you a short, dense cake. Use aluminium, not non-stick, for the same reason.
My cake has a large tunnel through it. What happened?
Large air pockets from underfolding, or the batter was not tapped down before baking. Fold until no white streaks remain, pour from a height, and give the tin one firm tap on the counter.
Fresh pandan or bottled paste?
Fresh, blended and strained, tastes better and gives a paler, more natural green. Bottled paste is stronger and more vivid, and there is no shame in it. If you use paste, cut the quantity to about a teaspoon and make up the liquid with coconut milk.
Cook next
The other end of what an oven can do: sio bak with proper crackling. And if you are sizing a cavity for baking rather than roasting, what 66, 71 and 76 litres actually buys you goes through the trade-offs.