Lemon curd filled vanilla chiffon cupcakes

Happy 2014! Another year of baking(:

After a miserable attempt at cheesecake brownies over NYE.. I have decided to 

I blame it on the recipe though. Really, there's no rising agentss?

so dense..

 Anyways.

I love my job atm. Grabbed some pre-made lemon curd, and I was overwhelmed with the different ways to bake or incorporate them in my baked goodies. Lemon tart? Lemon cookie? Lemon cream in cream puffs? To boost my confidence back up from recent disaster, I resorted back to something basic and that I am familiar with- chiffon cake. I have made plenty successful flavored chiffon cakes but never a plain vanilla one. Came across this pretty straightforward recipe and gave it a try. 

To make it more share-able, I made 24 mini cupcakes and a mini tube cake with the remaining batter.

Vanilla Chiffon Cake 

- recipe from Kirbie's cravings
- makes one 10'' tube pan

1 3/4 cup AP flour, sifted

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar (*used a bit less)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

6 egg yolks

3/4 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

3/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl and mix.
3. Add oil, yolks, milk and vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
3. Beat whites and cream of tartar in a separate bowl until frothy.
4. Gradually add 3/4 cup of sugar and continue beating till stiff and shiny peaks.
5. Fold egg whites into yolk mixture 1/3 at a time until no white streaks.
6. Pour batter into lined cupcake pans or ungreased tube pan.
7. Bake for 60 minutes (15 mins for mini cupcakes) or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
8. Invert and cool in pan.

The cake turned out decent. I was expecting more of a fluffy and lighter cake since it's titled as a chiffon cake. It wasn't as dense as a sponge cake but definitely not as airy as I have liked. I cut down the sugar a teeny tiny bit and the sweetness was good. The cake base has a subtle egg flavor and pairs pretty well with the acidic lemon curd.

For the mini cupcakes, I hollowed the center out with the back of a piping tip and just piped the lemon curd from a ziploc bag. If I had more time, I would probably add a meringue or a lemon buttercream on top to make it more fancy(:

Taste: 4 stars out of 5
nice sweetness balance with the perfect ratio of curd to cake in the mini cupcakes

Texture: 3 stars out of 5
would prefer more airy and light cake