Chiffon Cake

Chiffon Cake is a light and airy sponge cake that is made with cake flour, egg yolks, fluffy egg whites, oil and other household ingredients. This simple chiffon cake is fairly easy to make, follow my simple recipe tips for a fluffy chiffon every time.

Looking for other simple cake recipes? Check out my recipes for White Texas Sheet Cake, Pumpkin Bundt Cake, Cranberry Almond Cake or Oatmeal Cake.

What is a Chiffon Cake?

A chiffon cake is a very airy, light cake that is made with oil instead of butter which makes it easier to beat air into the batter making it a very fluffy, angel food cake like cake. The eggs in a chiffon cake are separated and the eggs whites are beaten until they are stiff and full of air. These are then folded into the cake batter and you can see almost immediately how much air and softness they add to the cake.

Another unique element of making a chiffon cake is that the batter is poured into a pan that is not greased or buttered. This sounds like a big mistake when making a cake because you would think that the cake would stick to the pan and tear as it is released from the pan.

Not greasing the pan allows the cake to stick to the sides of the pan which keeps the cake light and airy instead of falling down into a dense cake. The cake actually releases quite easily from the pan after it has had time to rest and with a little help from a knife or offset spatula.

Tips for How to Make a Chiffon Cake

A Chiffon Cake can sound a bit intimidating, but let me reassure you, if I can do it, you can do it!! This cake is fairly easy to make, follow along with my simple steps for a light and airy cake every time.

First up, let’s talk about the pan that will be used to make this Chiffon Cake. To make this recipe, I used a 10 inch tube pan. The pan that I own does not have the feet on it, but I will show you later how I set up my pan so it works fine without them.

Next up is the batter. To make the batter, I used 3 separate mixing bowls, one for the dry ingredients, one for the egg whites and one for the other wet ingredients.

First, sift together the dry ingredients to make sure they are very fine. Next, whisk together the egg yolks, water, vegetable oil and vanilla until smooth. These can now be combined with the dry ingredients.

In another mixing bowl or stand mixer, whisk the egg whites for about one minute, until they are foamy. Add in the cream of tartar and mix again at medium speed until stiff peaks form in the egg whites. What you are looking for is a peak on the end of your mixer to not fall over easily.

Fold the beaten, fluffy egg whites one half at a time into the remaining batter. Use a spatula to scoop out half of the egg whites and gently fold them over and over into the batter, being careful not to deflate the egg whites.

The batter will be thick and fluffy, you will be able to notice how much air and height the egg whites add to the batter.

Pour the batter into the tube pan and drop on the counter just a few times to settle the cake. Bake in a 350ºF oven for 50-60 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and when touched lightly, springs back.

Now the hard part of baking this cake is allowing it to cool for 2-3 hours. It will smell amazing and you have to wait until it has cooled upside down to make sure that the cake stays nice and fluffy and doesn’t smash down into a dense cake, you know because of gravity!!

To cool the cake, place upside down and allow to rest for at least 2 hours. If your pan has the feet on the top, simply flip your cake over and allow to cool. If you do not have the feet on your pan, either place the pan upside down on a cooling rack or you can do as I did and place a small ramekin on the center of the overturned pan.

After the cake has cooled, run a knife or offset spatula around the outside edges and around the center of the pan to release it from the pan. Carefully turn the cake over onto a plate or cake platter.

To release the bottom of the cake, run a knife along the bottom of the pan to release the cake after it has been turned upside down. At this point, you can leave the cake with the bottom side up for a nice straight top, or flip the cake bake over. I prefer to leave it upside down.

Chiffon cake can be simply decorated with a dusting of powdered sugar and fruit or frost with a vanilla buttercream.

Chiffon Cake Recipe

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Chiffon Cake is a light and airy sponge cake that is made with cake flour, egg yolks, fluffy egg whites, oil and other household ingredients. This simple chiffon cake is fairly easy to make, follow my simple recipe tips for a fluffy chiffon every time.