Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Lemon Chiffon Cake with Strawberry Frosting

 Strawberry Lemon Chiffon Cake: Karri Perry




This sweet lemon cake was a blue ribbon winner at our 2021 county fair, and went on to win the Best of Show!


It gets it’s lovely lemon flavor from lemon zest, juice and lemon emulsion.  The lemon emulsion is available online.  In the body of the recipe I share the brand I used.


Be sure to use a 10” Angel food pan, to hold all of the light and airy batter.  Many of us might have a hand-me-down Angel food pan from our grandmothers.  If you’re shopping for one, I find vintage Angel food pans when I’m thrifting…new pans are also available online.



Use an UNGREASED 10” Angel food cake pan— an UNGREASED pan allows the batter to rise high, climbing the walls of the cake pan.


Bake at 325 degrees… a slightly lower oven temperature than many cakes— at the end of the bake time, for this cake-turn the oven to 350 and bake an additional 5 minutes.


This cake cools upside down. Be sure to have a wine bottle or a suitable long neck bottle the cake pan will be able to  rest on when cooling.


Ingredients:

8 eggs-yolks and whites separated-room temperature 


2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt


1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water-room temperature 

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons LorAnn Bakery Lemon Emulsion (a substitute would be to replace with regular lemon extract-lemon flavor will be less)

(Purchased at Cincinnati Cake and Candy or online) 

1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter



Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.


In a large mixing bowl, add the egg whites and cream of tarter.  Beat until stiff peaks form.  Set aside.


In a second large mixing bowl.  Sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.  Do not skip the sifting step—this helps cake to rise and have a light texture.


To the sifted flour mixture, add the egg yolks, oil, water, lemon juice, zest and lemon emulsion.  In a stand mixer or with an electric mixer, mix on low, then medium for 1 minute, gently scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.


Add one heaping cup of the prepared egg whites to the batter and gently fold in with a spatula. This helps to lighten the batter before it’s combined to the rest of the egg whites.


Next, add the batter back to into the egg whites one cup at a time, folding gently until a uniform batter is created. Batter will be light and foamy.


Pour the light-airy batter evenly into the UNGREASED Angel food cake pan.


Bake on the middle rack of a preheated 325 degree oven for 55 minutes.  Turn oven up to 350 and bake 5 minutes more.

Remove cake from oven to check for done-ness with a wooden skewer.  Skewer should come our cleanly, with no wet batter.


Invert cake pan, onto a long neck bottle.  Cool completely while cake rests upside down.


Use a thin bladed knife to loosen edges.  Remove from pan and place on a cake plate or cake round.


Strawberry Frosting:


2 sticks of unsalted butter softened to room temperature

1-2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1 tsp salt

16 ounces (1 pound) confectioner’s sugar

1 cup of dehydrated strawberries-pulverized to a powder or dust (I picked mine up at Target near the dried fruits and nuts)

Directions: Beat butter on medium until light and fluffy for 3 minutes.  Add the vanilla, salt, and half of the confectioner's sugar.  Beat on low until combined (2 minutes)  Add the second half of the confectioner's sugar and add the whipping cream. Whip until light and spreadable.  Thin with more cream if needed.  Add a few tablespoons more of confectioner's sugar is you prefer a thicker frosting for piping.  


In a food processor, measure 1 cup of dehydrated strawberries.  Pulverize 1 cup of the dehydrated strawberries--to a fine dust. (or...use a zip top bag and a rolling pin or a small smoothie blender to accomplish the crushing of the dehydrated strawberries) Add the pulverized dehydrated strawberries to the prepared frosting and stir well. 


Frost cake with the strawberry buttercream frosting.  Garnish with fresh strawberries or make marshmallow fondant strawberries.




Marshmallow Fondant (for added design work)

(Yes, you can make a smaller batch, just cut recipe in half)

 1 Bag good quality mini marshmallows 16 ounces

2 lbs- confectioner’s sugar

¼ cup water

Gel food coloring

Non-stick spray


In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the marshmallow with the water, stirring until smooth with no lumps.  (If you want all one color- add gel food coloring now)  (If you want white fondant, or want multiple colors you can knead in gel coloring later, before rolling.)


When smooth and silky, transfer melted marshmallow to a mixing bowl of a stand mixer, lightly spray bowl with non stick spray before adding melted marshmallow.


Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar on low.  Mix on low until most of the sugar is incorporated.  Remove from bowl and knead with hands …adding a small amount of water if too dry, or a small amount of confectioner’s sugar if a little sticky.


Place kneaded fondant onto plastic wrap, lightly spray wrap with non-stick spray before wrapping fondant.  Double wrap the fondant with plastic wrap to make sure the fondant is safe from air while it rests.  Fondant may be a little sticky, but looking very much like Play-Doh, smooth and uniform.  Let fondant rest for 24 hours before rolling.  Fondant may be kept in refrigerator, wrapped for up to 2 weeks.  Let come to room temperature before using.


Create desired shares or use cookie cutters to create designs.


**The fondant can be made by hand without using a mixer, simply stir in confectioner’s sugar and knead the fondant by hand on a large work surface. (This method takes a lot of elbow grease.)


***Can be made on the stove-top, without a microwave, simply melt marshmallows and water in a nonstick pan on low until smooth.