Earl Grey Chiffon Cake

Set out to bake an Earl Grey Chiffon Cake only to find out that we have no sugar at home.. What do I do? I scavenged all source of sweetness- honey, raw sugar, and powdered sugar. Read on to find out how it turned out.

Earl Grey Chiffon Cake
recipe adapted from My Kitchen
makes one 8" round

A
4 egg yolks
20g sugar (10g honey, roughly 1 pack)
50g vegetable cooking oil
40ml strong earl grey tea (used 1 tea bag of earl grey)
30ml milk
¼ tsp salt

B
100g cake flour (or 85g all purpose flour + 15g cornflour)
½ tsp baking powder

C
4 egg whites
100g sugar (5g powdered sugar + 15g raw sugar + 20g honey)
⅛ tsp cream of tartar

D
2 tsp earl grey tea leaves (cut up tea leaves from A)


1. Preheat oven to 338F (170C).
2. In large mixing bowl, whisk together ingredients A until combined.
3. Sift together ingredients B, then add into (2) and mix well. Set aside for later use.
4. In another large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks. Add in sugar and cream of tartar and continue to beat until stiff.
5. Take ¼ of the meringue and mix with (3) until well mixed. Gradually add in remaining meringue, and lastly stir in tea leaves. Stir until just combined.
6. Transfer batter into chiffon pan and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
7. Invert the cake immediately after taking out from oven, and cool on rack completely before turning out from mold.

reminds me of a wrinkly pug!

The cake was done at 33 minutes and smelled delicious. The top was more firm and bouncy than my other chiffon cakes. The texture was soft and fluffy with a very even crumb!

&How about the sweetness you may ask with all the substitutions and reduction.. It was very very very not-sweet. I was only able to detect the sweetness after the first couple of bites when the cake started to concentrate? It worked out fine when I drizzled more honey on the slices.

Taste: 2.5 stars out of 5

lacked sugar and prominent tea flavor

Texture 3 stars out of 5

deducted 2 stars for drying and firming up overnight
(possibly due to absence of moisture from the white sugar)