{Recipe} Green Tea Strawberry Chiffon Cake with Words & Shapes

Green Tea Chiffon Cake with Hidden Shapes & Words made from Strawberry Sponge Cake

A birthday cake for Anne, one of the sweetest girl I know :) Bubbly, hyper and adorable, she never fails to bring joy to everyone around her with her infectious laughter. She makes school so much more bearable and I love how we are always talking about food, cafes, baking and shopping rather than paying attention in lectures hehe. 

Thank you for being so supportive and encouraging the past year my dear! (I know you will be reading this hehe) Looking forward to more cafe hopping, baking, shopping, travelling and sleepovers with you :-)

SO SORRY the words came out in the opposite direction :'( It's supposed to spell "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNE" <3 

Really hope you liked the cake though :)

Making this cake was really fun!! 

Baked a strawberry sponge cake first before pressing letters/shapes out using cookie cutters. Feel like a kid all over again and it reminded me of the good old days where I was this fat blob baking cookies with my mom :') 

Strawberry Sponge Cake

adapted from here

Ingredients:

(A)
3 egg yolks
20g sugar
30g vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp strawberry paste
50ml water

(B)
60g cake flour 
1 tbsp milk powder

(C)
3 egg whites
20g sugar 


Method:

1. Pour egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Stir till well combine.

2. Add the remaining ingredients in (A) into the bowl. Stir well.

3. Fold in sifted flour and milk powder. Mix till smooth.

4. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites till frothy. Add sugar gradually and beat till stiff. Fold in 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture till well incorporate. Pour in the remaining egg whites and fold gently till well combined.

5. Pour batter into baking pan (33cm x 30cm) lined with non-stick baking paper. Smooth the surface with a scrapper. 

6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160C for 20-22 minutes.

7. Immediately invert it on a cooling rack after removal from oven. Cool for about 10 minutes before peeling the baking paper and leave to cool completely.

I would use a smaller sheet pan next time so as to cut out thicker alphabets and shapes, which will be less fragile and they would be able to stand more stably :) 

Green Tea Chiffon Cake

adapted from Okashi's Sweet Treats Made with Love

Ingredients:

80g Plain flour

10g Green tea powder

5 Egg yolks

20g Caster sugar

65g Water

60g Canola oil or corn oil

90g Caster sugar

10g Corn flour (I used 1/4 tsp Cream of Tar Tar)

5 Egg whites

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170C

2. Sift flour and green tea powder together twice. Combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk well till pale. 

3. Add water & corn oil to the yolk mixture and blend well. 

4. Add dry ingredients and mix until batter becomes sticky. Set aside.

5. Make meringue: Combine sugar and corn flour. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add half the sugar and flour mixture and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining sugar and flour mixture and beat until egg whites are glossy, with stiff peaks.

6. Add one third of meringue to egg yolk mixture and fold in lightly, then add remaining meringue and fold to incorporate completely. 

*Refer to the notes below if you want to add letters and shapes to your cake! If not, proceed as usual for a regular green tea chiffon cake :)

7. Pour batter into an ungreased 20cm chiffon cake pan. Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes before switching oven to lower grill for 5 minutes. (timing depends on your oven)

8. When cake is done, remove from oven and turn the pan over. Leave cake to cool in pan.

9. Once cake has cooled completely, carefully run a knife or spatula around the sides of the cake to loosen and release the cake. 

*To add letters & shapes to the cake: 

Before pouring the batter in,

- Place the cut shapes on the base of the tin then pour 1/3 of the Green Tea Chiffon batter in. 

- Align the cut alphabets along the rim of the chiffon tin 

- Scoop the rest of the Green Tea Chiffon batter in, be gentle and careful not to topple the alphabets!

- Run a chopstick around to get rid of air bubbles 

I use a 23cm chiffon tin so the cake turned out short. Should get a smaller tin soon? 

Please plan ahead and place the alphabets in the right direction & orientation as you will be overturning the cake! Do not repeat the same mistake as I did SIGH I remembered to insert the alphabets the other way round but forgot to place them in the right direction pffft 

Was like "oh crap." when i flipped the cake out of the pan hahahaha

Showed my family, the boy and a few of my friends and they were not the least bit surprised at my stupidity tsk hahaha. Need to stop being such a scatterbrain

Nonetheless I enjoyed myself while making this cake! Was holding my breath as I place the alphabets around the tin and pouring the batter in :P

A simple card and decorations for the cake box! 

I remember us watching sesame street videos to cheer us up while studying for our final exams hahahaha

Happy 20th birthday Mrs Kwang Soo hehe <3