Thanks to everyone who joined in the fun of guessing the flavour of the chiffon cake that I have made. I'm amazed to see how creative all of you are and these are the 16 flavours that you all have guessed. I think I can open a chiffon cake shop if I can successfully make all these flavours. :)
1. Aloe vera
2. Avocado
3. Cucumber
4. Green apple
5. Green pea
6. Green tea
7. Honeydew
8. Kiwi
9. Mint
10. Pandan
11. Pistachio
12. Spinach
13. Spirulina
14. Wasabi
15. Wheat grass
16. Zucchini
Congrats to Hanushi, you guess it correctly and the answer is SPINACH!!!
I did not invent this new flavour. This recipe can be found in "Fruity Cakes" by Alex Goh (鲜果蛋糕香). If you own this book, you can quickly take a look at it.
Spinach is very rich in vitamins and minerals, esp iron. But for the elderly, they probably have a hard time eating cos sometimes the spinach is tough and hard to chew. Although you can make it softer by boiling for a longer time, the nutrition is lost, so I encourage my mum to puree the spinach.
I took some of the juice and used it to make this chiffon cake. The colour of the chiffon cake turned out very light green. I should have added more spinach juice and reduced the water. There is no taste of spinach in this cake, all that the spinach gives is the natural colouring. I like that it is soft and cottony. I even omitted the cream of tartar cos I just realized that it was expired. I'm glad that the chiffon cake stands tall and no shrinking and dropping out of the tin - my greatest fear! :)
Here is the original recipe from the book. I made mine in a 6 inch chiffon tin and my adaptation is written in brackets.
Oregano Spinach Chiffon Cake 奥勒岗菠菜戚风蛋糕 (I omitted the oregano)
Ingredients (makes 22cm chiffon tin)
(A)
4 egg yolks (2)
20g sugar (10g)
1/4 tsp salt (small pinch)
50g vegetable oil (25g)
30g spinach juice (15g)*
40g water (20g)**
*To get the spinach juice, I blanch spinach in boiling water for a few minutes, blend the spinach with some water, and then press the mixture through a metal sieve to get spinach juice.
** Since the book did not mention about how to make the spinach juice, I just do without any exact measurements. As a result, the colour of the cake turns out very light. I suggest using less water and more spinach juice to make the green colour darker and more obvious.
(B)
100g cake flour (50g)
1/2 tsp baking powder (1/4 tsp)
(C)
4 egg whites (2)
100g sugar (50g)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (omitted)
(D)
2 tsp dried oregano or finely chopped fresh oregano (omitted)
Method
1. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and salt until the sugar dissolves.
2. Add in vegetable oil, spinach juice and water and stir until well-mixed.
3. Fold in sifted cake flour and baking powder until well-mixed. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Add in cream of tartar, and then sugar gradually and continue whisking until stiff peak form.
5. Gently fold in the egg white into the egg yolk batter (in step 3) in 3 batches.
6. Add in oregano and lightly fold until well-mixed. (I omitted this.)
7. Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 40 minutes. (I bake at 180 deg C for the first 10 minutes, then reduce to 170 deg C for the next 20 minutes, for my 6 inch tin.)
8. Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack.
9. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.
Recipe from: Fruity Cakes by Alex Goh 鲜果蛋糕香
Note: Written above is the original recipe from the book. Any adaptation is written in brackets ().