Alpha Bakers: Banana Split Chiffon Cake

I seem to be on a losing strike lately. When I saw this recipe I thought ah, banana, chiffon, bundt cake = yum. I love bananas and have ripe bananas and this cake seems easy and I have all the ingredients on hand.

Since I made 1/2 a recipe, I used 1 ripe banana and substituted canola oil instead of walnut oil. The rest of the ingredients I stayed with the recipe.

As expected, the cake came together quick and easy, so much so that I wondered why this didn't make it to the Q&E list? Perhaps because it requires separating the egg yolks and whites, whipping the whites to stiff peaks, and folding the batter together? All in all it took me 55 minutes to put this together (I timed it). The batter was beautiful, it almost filled my 1/2 bundt pan and then it baked for an hour. The cake rose an inch over the top of the pan, as Rose said it should.

HCB: Orange Glow Chiffon Layer Cake

This is going to be a short post. I got a nasty cold over the weekend, and am still pretty run down from it. But I managed to force roll myself out of bed long enough to make this cake. I made 1/2 recipe baked in 7 x 3 inch pan.

The cake is pretty easy to make, and especially so since I've made it for the Bostini last year.

First, mix the egg yolks, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla in a bowl. Then mix all the dry ingredients in the stand mixer. This cake calls for unbleached AP instead of cake flour/bleached AP for the Bostini. Once all the dry ingredients are mixed, add in the egg yolks mixture. Then whip the egg whites until foamy, add in cream of tartar, whip until soft peaks, then add the 1 Tbsp of sugar and whip until stiff peaks. I usually use my hand mixer for this one. Once the egg whites reached stiff peak, fold them into the egg yolks flour mixture.

Pour into the pan and bake.

I had already taken out my flower nail before starting the cake, but had somehow forgotten about it (it was hidden behind the the book). And only after the cake's been in the oven for 10 minutes I remembered the flower nail. What to do? I quickly open the oven door, grab the pan and stuck the flower nail in the middle of the cake anyway. I wasn't sure whether I should do this but the middle of the cake is still liquid so I thought why not. The cake baked for 35 minutes, and though it did rose in the middle, it sunk upon cooling. So maybe the sunken middle is due to my forgetting the flower nail.

You can see in the picture below how the middle is a lot shorter than the edges of the cake.

I wanted to make the whipped cream but just didn't have the energy to do, so I skipped it. 

Tasting impressions:

This cold has killed my taste bud, I can't smell a hint of orange in the cake but can't taste it at all. It is spongy, that's all I can tell you. Hubby said that the cake is good. A bit dense he said but he liked the flavor. I'm sure it'd be much better with the orange marmalade whipped cream. I will have to make this again when I feel better.