I mentioned earlier that I love lychees. I’ve never really done anything other than eat them and so this weekend I thought I’d try my hand at baking with them.
My first thought was a lychee chiffon cake. I’ve bookmarked several different chiffon cake recipes and for this cake, I tried one of these recipes.
I think I slightly overbaked my cake and should have taken it out earlier than what is called for in the recipe. My cake didn’t rise nearly as high as my previous chiffon cakes and I also had great difficulty getting the cake out of the pan.
The inside of the cake was quite lovely though. Soft and sweet with a sponge-like texture. Unfortunately, the fresh lychee juice was completely lost in the cake. I’ll have to play around more with how to incorporate the lychee flavor into the cake better.
I adapted a recipe found on Sea Salt with Food who adapted it from Okashi Treats: Sweet Treats Made With Love by Keiko Ishida.
| Lychee chiffon cake |
- 6 Large Egg Yolks
- 25 g Sugar
- 70 g fresh lychee juice
- 70g oil
- 100 g Pastry Flour, sifted (per Joy of Baking, 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (175 grams) plus 2/3 cup (80 grams) cake flour equals 2 cups pastry flour. Of course you will have to scale this down to 100g)
- For the Meringue
- 120 g Sugar
- 12 g Corn Flour/Starch
- 6 Large Egg Whites
- Position the rack on lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325F/160C.
- Place the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl, and beat well. Add lychee juice, oil, and stir to incorporate with a whisk. Add flour and mix well, until the batter becomes sticky.
- Make the meringue: (don’t forget to use a clean bowl or else the meringue won’t come together) Combine sugar and corn flour. Beat the egg whites until foamy. Add half the sugar and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining sugar and beat until egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form (and if you turn the bowl upside down, your whipped egg whites will not fall or slide).
- Add one-third of meringue into the egg yolk mixture and fold in lightly, then add remaining meringue and fold to incorporate completely (Use a spatula to fold).
- Pour batter into an ungreased 22 cm angel cake tube pan. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes (Next time I’m going to take mine out at 45 minutes).
- When cake is done, remove from the oven and turn it over (since the cake pan is ungreased, the cake should not fall out, but it is important to turn it over so that the cake can expand rather than collapse while cooling), leaving it to cool for about an hour.
- Once the cake is cool completely, carefully run a knife or spatula around the sides of the cake to loosen it before inverting onto a wire rack.
Lychee Chiffon Cake
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs yolks and whites separated
- 145 g sugar divided
- 70 g fresh lychee juice
- 70 g oil
- 100 g pastry flour sifted (see note)
- 12 g corn flour/starch
Instructions
- Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat heat oven to 325°F (160°C).
- In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and 25 grams of sugar until combined. Add the lychee juice, oil, and whisk them together with the eggs and sugar. Add the flour and mix until the batter is sticky. Set the bowl aside while you make the meringue.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine 120 grams of sugar with the corn flour. In a large bowl (make sure it is very clean), beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Add half of the sugar mixture to the egg whites and beat them for a few minutes before adding the rest of the sugar mixture. Beat the mixture until the egg whites are glossy and they hold stiff peaks. You know they are ready if you can turn the bowl and the mixture does not slide or fall out of the bowl.
- Fold one-third of the meringue to the flour and egg yolk mixture. Once it's incorporated, fold the rest of the flour mixture in.
- Pour the batter into an ungreased 8.5-inch (22-cm) angel food cake tube pan. Bake for about 45 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the oven and turn it over. The cake should stay in the pan so that it can expand while it cools. Cool the cake for about one hour. Once the cake is cooled, run a knife around the sides of the cake to loosen it before inverting it onto a wire rack.
Notes
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Or you can try using a little spray bottle and spray the cake so the flavor of lychee can be added?
thanks for the suggestions! I haven’t seen lychee essence before! I will have to look for it
You can get lychee flavour from Phoon Huat and u can also add around 30-40 g of minced canned lychee to add for more flavour
thank you!
Have you tried using lychee essence?
Your cake looks amazing! Just a question about the recipe, it says “Add lychee juice, oil, and stir to incorporate with a whisk” But I don’t know how much oil to add in. It doesn’t say at all
Sorry about that. It is 70g oil. I have now changed the recipe to reflect that.
Cool! FH sure is lucky getting to eat all this great stuff you make!
Thanks. I like to remind him of that often. 😉
This sounds great! Can I buy one from you when you perfect the recipe?
I’d be happy to share some after I get the recipe perfected.
A good looking cake still Kirbie, don’t be too hard on yourself on the first try! I’ve eaten an insane amount of fresh lychees this season.
I would attempt two things – try to ‘reduce’ a larger amount of juice by cooking it down with just a bit of sugar (don’t know how this will taste), or like Connie, blitz the juice with some flesh to the utmost puree you can get, then strain it before using – add a bit of juice if the puree is too heavy.
Thanks for the suggestions. Lychee season is so short! That is how I justify eating bags of them.
Hi! The cake looks perfect, fluffy middle, browned edges. What if you used some pureed lychee fruit instead of the juice? But maybe that would make the batter too heavy and won’t rise properly.
I was worried about it making the batter too heavy. Though I have seen chiffon recipes with a fruit puree so next time I might try one of those recipes.
Hi Kirbie! I wonder if a lychee simple syrup would work to add more of the lychee flavor. Poke little holes on top of the cake with a skewer or fork, then drizzle the lychee simple syrup onto the cake and let it soak in.
Oh that’s a great idea! I bet that would help. Thanks!
hi kirbie (and carol)
too bad the lychee flavor was not as pronounced. i was thinking of suggesting a simple syrup as well (since it’s more concentrated). if you make this again, let us know how it turned out. i’m so scared to make chiffon cakes! by scared, i mean lazy. ha ha.
Hehee, chiffon cakes are actually pretty easy to make once you get the hang of it. It’s always one of those cakes that I feel like my efforts really paid off. Yes, I’ll definitely post again if I come up with or try a better recipe.
I usually use cream of tartar with the egg whites rather than corn flour/starch – could that be the reason your cake didn’t rise as high? Nevertheless, the cake slice with the fruit looks great!
I think it’s tricky to use lychee in baked goods. I’ve made a lychee panna cotta from ‘use real butter’ (https://jenyu.net/blog/).
I’ve always used cream of tartar as well, but this recipe specifically called for corn starch so I thought I’d try it out. I’m not quite sure why it didn’t rise enough. Perhaps it was my modifications with the lychee. Oh I’ll have to try the lychee panna cotta next time. Thanks!