Marbled Glutinous Rice Chiffon (Matcha Chiffon)
Mini 4-inch palm-sized chiffon, incredibly cute and petite, like a souvenir brought back from the land of little people. The sakura base is purely for aesthetics with no significant flavor. However, the addition of glutinous rice flour adds an indescribable layer to the traditional chiffon texture. I can taste it but can't describe it—perhaps I'll leave that to you. And why is it called Marbled Chiffon? Don't ask, don't worry. It's simply a cool chiffon. This recipe makes 4 mini 4-inch chiffon cakes using auntie's mini molds. Or, you can make two 4-inch cakes and one 6-inch tube pan cake or one entire 17cm tall tube pan cake, depending on your preference.
Ingredients
Steps
Salted sakura flowers are very salty, so soak them for more than 6 hours, changing the water about 3 times. (There seems to be sugared sakura flowers available now, which might not require soaking if you use them.) Use kitchen paper towels to completely absorb excess water from the soaked flowers. You'll probably need around 5 sheets of kitchen paper.
Lay the sakura flowers evenly at the bottom of a tube pan mold, then insert the tube pan base back into the mold.
Separate egg whites and yolks into two clean, dry mixing bowls. Keep the egg whites refrigerated. Beat the egg yolks, then add corn oil and milk. Mix thoroughly until completely combined.
Sift in low-gluten flour and glutinous rice flour. Mix until there are no dry flour or lumps.
Mix the matcha powder with water until it forms a smooth paste with no lumps. Preheat the oven to 190°C at this stage.
Take out the refrigerated egg whites. Add granulated sugar in three batches while whipping the whites until stiff peaks form—the peaks should be firm, glossy, and slightly curved at the tip. This is often referred to as 9-point stiffness.
Take one-third of the whipped egg whites and fold it into the egg yolk mixture using a spatula.
Pour the mixture from the previous step back into the remaining egg whites and fold until evenly incorporated.
Mix about a quarter of the cake batter with the matcha paste prepared earlier.
Now for the crucial step to create the marbled texture. Pour the quarter of matcha batter back into the center of the main batter from the previous step. The magic happens here!
Using a large spatula, gently fold the batter twice. Then, use a skewer to make large cross-pattern swirls 2–3 times, ensuring not to overmix. Gently rotate the skewer in a circular motion a maximum of 3 times.
Pour the batter into the prepared molds.
Hold the middle tube, lightly rotate the pan to level the cake batter, and give it two gentle taps to remove air bubbles. Avoid using a skewer to poke the batter further.
Bake at180°C in the lower-middle rack of the oven for 18 minutes. Once baked, invert the pan to cool completely before unmolding. Tip from Wang: This time is based on mini 4-inch molds. A 6-inch mold requires about 25 minutes. So don't wander far while baking—stay nearby, wash dishes, clean the kitchen, or even dance, but always keep an eye on the oven. Take it out once it's baked.