My Ultimate Coconut Chiffon Cake

I love chiffon cakes so much! They are good with condiments, whipped cream frosting or simply served alone. My hubby and I love coconut desserts, but they always give me the impression of dense and filling. I searched on the internet for "coconut chiffon cake recipes", looking for something all natural, light and un-frosted, with really intense coconut flavor, but I cannot find anything like that, so I have to work on my own.

I had already baked over ten coconut chiffon cakes in the past few weeks, altering the proportions of ingredients and baking temperatures. I finally come up with the recipe below. It has been mutiple-tested and everyone likes it!

I named this "My Ultimate Coconut Chiffon Cake" because it's baked with the very best ingredients I can get and with very intense coconut aroma yet light, moist, fluffy with fine crumbs and melts in the mouth. 

These are the coconut products I always have in my cupboard and are used in the recipe below.

Kara Coconut Cream, Niulife Organic Coconut Flour, La Tourangelle Organic Virgin Coconut Oil

Cake Pan

• Japanese chiffon mold 17cm in diameter（淺井）

Electric Appliances

• Kenwood stand mixer KM020 with balloon whisk attachment
• Toshiba Combi-oven ER-400HK

Ingredients

(A) Yolk Mixture

• 4 egg yolks (~80g), must be in room temperature
• 50g virgin cold-pressed coconut oil 
• 30g Hokkaido milk
• 60g Kara coconut cream

(B) Dry Ingredients

• 60g Japanese cake flour
• 15g coconut flour (NOT coconut milk powder NOR desiccated coconut)

(C) Meringue

• 4 cold egg whites (~150g)
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (can be omitted but not recommended)
• 20g trehalose (海藻糖, can be replace with same amount of caster sugar)
• 40g caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160℃ in convection mode.
2. Combine the milk and coconut milk, warm in a water bath to about 40℃. 
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks with coconut oil with a hand whisk. 
   
4. Add the warm coconut cream mixture and mix well.
   
5. Combine and sift the flours. Add to the yolk mixture, mix until smooth.
6. Pour the cold egg whites into the mixing bowl of the stand mixer, whisk on low until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat on medium low until dissolved, then turn the speed on medium high until egg whites are very soft. 

   

   Add cream of tartar when the egg whites are frothy.

7. Mix the two different sugars. Add 1/2 of the sugar mixture and mix on medium until soft peak. Add the remaining sugar in 2 batches and beat until stiff-peak form.
   
8. Add 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk mixture. Fold lightly and swiftly with a hand whisk until there are no lumps of whites, then add the remaining meringue and fold until no lumps. Use a spatula to fold the mixture until homogeneous. DO NOT OVER-MIX.
   
   
   
   
9. Pour the batter into the cake pan. Give a firm tap to remove any air pockets and bake at 140℃ for 45 minutes.
   
10. Take out the cake pan and tap onto the table. Allow the pan to cool thoroughly upside down. 
11. Unmold and serve.

Please note:

• I use Japanese eggs (L) which are between 64g to 70g (with shell) each .
• The density of coconut oil is much higher than other vegetable oils we use in baking. The temperatures of egg yolks and coconut milk mixture are crucial in emulsification of the batter.
• Cream of tartar is a natural by product from making grape wine, helps to stabilise the meringue.
• I prefer to bake chiffon cakes ahead and unmold the next day. Allowing the baked cake to sit in the cake pan for longer hours stabilizes the internal structure and enables the moisture to distribute evenly inside out.