I love chiffon cakes. I like the light, airy and soft texture. However, I don’t like how chiffon cakes always need to be baked in a plain pan with a hole in the middle.
I understand the purpose of using such a pan (allowing the cake to rise properly, being able to let it cool upside down so the cake doesn’t collapse, etc), but I’ve been curious as to the exact results if you don’t use an angel food pan.
As you can see, my cake completely collapsed. I actually don’t think this much of a collapse is normal when you use a square pan, but my batter ended up being too wet and I think I should have baked it slightly longer, so that is why it collapsed so much. When it came out of the oven it was twice the height..
Regardless, the cake was still delicious. I used fresh mangoes and you could taste the mango puree in every bite. It still tasted light and airy. It didn’t taste like the cake had collapsed. I think I’ll stick to a chiffon pan though for next time.
Btw, I always see people cut mangoes like the one I have pictured, and I always thought it looked cool but I never did it until now. I think this is a great way to eat mangoes. Previously I always just sliced off the four sides and then removed the entire flesh and ate it as big slices. Not nearly as visually appealing.
I adapted a recipe from Table for 2 … or more. Hers was for a peach chiffon cake and it came out much fluffier, so I’m pretty sure I added too much mango or underbaked mine. You can view the recipe here or check out some other chiffon cakes I’ve made and love:
Purple Sweet Potato Chiffon Cake
Oops, i am sorry about the collapse, but i think it still possible to bake a chiffon without the tube ( although some collapse is still unavoidable). Nevertheless, your cake still sounds wonderful and mango-ey. And cutting mangoes that way is the only way for me, its so much easier to stretch the mango out and let the cubes fall out instead of having to skin them! YUM!
I agree. I think my recipe was just a little too wet causing it to collapse. I’ll probably try the square pan again at some point.
Even though this mango chiffon isn’t as fluffy as you hoped for, it still looks good. I once wondered why my mom always cut mangoes like the one pictured above…I tried cutting it another way and it was more difficult to get the fruit off the skin. Peeling it whole was not an easy task especially if it was very ripe. It seemed like the mango turned into a slippery bar of soap!
Yeah, cutting it this way (cubes while still on the skin) and then folding it back, makes it pretty easy to take the cubes off. Growing up, we always just cut off the four sides, then someone always ate the parts that was still stuck on the middle/pit. It always seemed like such a messy and ugly way to eat such a pretty fruit.