Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

chiffon sheet cake starter

Recipe by
Andy Anderson !
Wichita, KS

Is this a traditional chiffon cake… Well… Kinda… Chiffon cake is a very light cake that combines batter and egg-white foam. However, rather than make a traditional chiffon cake, I thought that I would make more of a sheet cake, and then play around with some variations. This is what I call a base, or starter, recipe. Something that you make and then get creative with. So, you ready… Let’s get into the kitchen.

yield 5 serving(s)
prep time 20 Min
cook time 20 Min
method Bake

Ingredients For chiffon sheet cake starter

  • DRY INGREDIENTS
  • 1 1/3 c
    cake flour
  • 3/4 c
    sugar, granulated variety
  • 1/2 tsp
    baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp
    salt, kosher variety
  • WET INGREDIENTS
  • 1/3 c
    vegetable oil
  • 1/4 c
    filtered water
  • 1 md
    egg
  • 1 tsp
    vanilla
  • 2 tsp
    fresh lemon zest, finely chopped
  • EGG WHITE FOAM
  • 5 md
    eggs, just the whites (reserve the yolks for another recipe)
  • 1/2 tsp
    cream of tartar

How To Make chiffon sheet cake starter

  • 1
    Gather your ingredients.
  • 2
    Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.
  • 3
    In another (larger) bowl, combine the wet ingredients and then whisk together.
  • 4
    Chef’s Note: The bowl for the wet ingredients should be large enough to contain all the dry ingredients, plus the egg-white foam.
  • 5
    Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and gently mix until thoroughly combined, and you have a smooth batter. Set aside.
  • 6
    Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, or using a handheld mixer, add the egg whites, and the cream of tartar to a bowl.
  • 7
    Beat until firm peaks form.
  • 8
    Chef’s Note: Why cream of tartar? The addition of an acid will fluff up your whipped egg whites. It stabilizes the whites and adds volume.
  • 9
    Chef’s Tip: You will get more volume out of the egg whites if you first bring them to room temperature.
  • 10
    Chef’s Note: When your egg whites get fluffy… STOP. If you overbeat them, they will liquefy again.
  • 11
    Add a quarter of the fluffed egg whites to the batter and gently mix together.
  • 12
    Add the rest of the egg whites and gently fold together.
  • 13
    Chef’s Note: The process of “folding” ingredients together is typically used in this type of recipe where you have a fluffy ingredient mixed in with other ingredients. The goal of folding is to incorporate the two, without losing much of the fluffy structure of the egg whites.
  • 14
    Place a rack in the middle position, and preheat the oven to 350f (176c).
  • 15
    Grease a baking sheet and add a piece of parchment paper.
  • 16
    Pour the batter into the baking sheet.
  • 17
    Spread evenly over the sheet pan.
  • 18
    Chef’s Note: This is not a self-leveling cake batter, and it’s important that you make the batter the same thickness top to bottom, left to right.
  • 19
    Bake in a preheated oven on the middle rack for 15 to 20 minutes.
  • 20
    Chef’s Tip: The batter is cooked when you can press a finger lightly in the center of the cake, and it springs back.
  • 21
    Chef's Tip: Let cool for 5 minutes and then remove from pan, by inverting it onto a baking sheet.
  • 22
    Remove the parchment paper.
  • 23
    Now it’s time to get creative.
  • 24
    What I did was make small 2.5-inch cakes by cutting circles in the cake using a salad stacker.
  • 25
    What I was left with was about 15 nice circles.
  • 26
    I whipped up a basic cream cheese frosting (any good frosting will do), and made these nice individual party cakes, using three rounds per cake.
  • 27
    Keep the faith, and keep cooking.
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