Chiffon Cupcakes

(above) Chiffon Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

My obsession with cupcakes continues as I venture into a new type of cake - the chiffon cake. Up to this point I have never made chiffon cake. In fact, I'm not quite sure if I had ever even tried it. Anyway, chiffon cake is unique in the sense that it uses beaten egg whites for leavening and oil instead of the traditional butter. This results in a fragrant vanilla-scented cake that is spongy and light in texture. It is very similar (if not the same!) to the cakes seen in many Asian bakeries. I chose to top these chiffon cupcakes with my favorite chocolate frosting. I wanted to try a new chocolate butter cream recipe, but I felt that the heaviness of a sugary chocolate butter cream just wouldn't pair up with the light cake. I can't wait to use this cake recipe (which I highly recommend!) with different combinations of flavors and frostings. I can imagine that a lemon-scented chiffon cake (with lemon zest mixed into the cake batter!) and a cream cheese frosting would go together brilliantly. Or perhaps sliced strawberries and some fresh whipped cream? Yum.

(above) The beaten egg yolks at the "ribbon" stage.

(above) 1/3 of the beaten egg white ready to be folded in.

(above) The folding in of the egg whites.

(above) You can see how much the egg white lightens up the batter!

(above) The batter is divided into paper cups. [Not shown: I smoothed the tops of the cupcakes before putting it in the oven. I don't know if this made a difference in the outcome]


(above) I recently bought these mini cupcake baking cups and I wanted to test them out! Aren't they cute?

(above) The chiffon cupcakes baked! They took around 11 minutes. The cakes rise in the oven and fall a bit during the cooling process. Just thought you should know.

(above) I guess I was a little skimpy with the batter with the first tray of cupcakes. This is the shortest cupcake. Look at the texture! It is light and spongy.

(above) The cupcakes baked up and cooled.

(above) The mini cupcakes, frosted.

(above) Cupcakes - frosted and sprinkled.

(above) More cupcakes.

Side note: Last week I received a lovely award from the very sweet Adriana from Bittersweet Baker. Thank you for thinking of me!

I'm sharing the love with 10 other food bloggers:

Just Eat It

The Novice Chef

La Mia Vita Dolce

Ai Bake Cake

Zoom Yummy

It's the Cookie Monster

Buttercream Barbie

Blue Ridge Baker

Jane's Sweets

Teen Cooking Queens

10 things that make me happy:

1. Running
2. Chick flicks
3. Accomplishing new things
4. Pad Thai
5. Frosting cupcakes
6. Listening to Owl City or Taylor Swift
7. Hot chocolate
8. Toothpaste that makes your teeth feel all clean and polished
9. Kind words
10. Long, rambley chats with friends during sleepovers

The rules are: Copy and paste the award on your blog. List who gave the award to you and use a link to their blog. List 10 things that make you happy. Pass the award on to 10 other bloggers and visit their blog to let them know!

Chiffon Cupcakes

Recipe from Alton Brown on the Food Network, with slight adaptations

Makes 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
5 1/4 ounces cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large eggs, separated
6 ounces sugar, divided
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place paper liners into 2 (12-cup) muffin tins and set aside.
2. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
   Place the egg yolks and 5 ounces of the sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk on high for 2 minutes or until the mixture becomes pale yellow and 'ribbons' when lifted. Add the water, vegetable oil and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients and whisk just to combine. Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl while you whisk the egg whites.
3. Place the egg whites and cream of tartar into a clean bowl and whisk on high using the whisk attachment, until it becomes foamy. Decrease the speed to low and gradually add the remaining ounce of sugar. Increase speed to high and continue whisking until stiff peaks form, approximately 2 minutes.
4. Transfer 1/3 of the egg whites to the batter and whisk until well combined. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in gently. Transfer batter into prepared muffin tins, evenly dividing the batter between the cups. Place both muffin tins on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean or the cupcakes reach an internal temperature of 205 to 210 degrees F. Remove from the oven to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.