Earl Grey Tea Chiffon Cake

I love baking, and I make sure that there are always some baked goods in my home for snacking. Among the many different things I bake, the one thing that everyone loves is a chiffon cake. It doesn’t matter which kind, as long as it’s a chiffon cake, I know it won’t last long in my home.

For tea lovers, this chiffon cake will be a dream come true. Every bite fills with the fragrance of Earl Grey tea, and though I usually have my cake with a cup of coffee, I think pairing this cake with a cup of freshly brewed Earl Grey tea is simply divine.

Ingredients for Earl Grey tea chiffon cake

Earl Grey milk tea

The recipe needs two tea bags of Earl Grey and half a cup of milk. If you prefer to use loose leaves, you will need about 1 tablespoon worth of loose leaves.

Chiffon cake

For the chiffon cake batter, we will need eggs, canola oil (or other neutral-flavored oil), cake flour, baking powder, salt, powdered sugar, and vinegar (or cream of tartar).

If you have all-purpose flour and cornstarch at home, you can make your own cake flour using this formula:

1 cup cake flour = (1 cup - 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour + 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Prepare the chiffon cake batter

1. Earl Grey milk tea

Heat the milk until hot but not boiling, then add the tea bags to steep following the tea packaging instruction.

Squeeze out as much liquid from the tea bags, and cut open one of the tea bags to obtain a bag’s worth of tea leaves.

2. Egg yolk batter

Beat egg yolks and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl until well mixed. Add milk tea, tea leaves, and oil, continue beating until well mixed. Sift in cake flour, baking powder, and salt, and beat until just combined.

3. Egg white batter

In another large mixing bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar (or vinegar), followed with powdered sugar in 3 batches, whisk until stiff peak.

4. Chiffon batter

Fold 1/3 of egg white batter into egg yolk batter with a whisk/spatula until well mixed, then pour this into the remaining egg white batter and fold again until well mixed.

Baking and cooling the cake

Bake the cake

Pour the batter into an ungreased and unlined 7-inch angel food pan. Gently tap the pan to remove air bubbles. Bake in the preheated oven of 180 Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 160 Celsius (320 Fahrenheit). Continue baking for another 30-35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool the cake upside down

Cool the chiffon cake by inverting the pan to prevent the cake from collapsing. It will take about 3-4 hours to cool it to room temperature. Once the cake is completely cool, gently run a thin knife along the edges of the pan to unmold the cake.

Serving and storing the cake

Cut the cake into eight slices, and serve at room temperature with a cup of hot tea or coffee.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container. The cake will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 3 days. Or you can store the cake in the fridge for up to 1 week.

You can reheat the cake by putting it in the microwave for 15 seconds.

Other chiffon cake recipes and troubleshooting a chiffon cake

If you are a chiffon cake lover, you may want to try some of these recipes too:

• orange chiffon cake
• matcha marble chiffon cake
• pandan chiffon cake

Should you encounter any trouble baking the perfect chiffon cake, please read through my troubleshooting a chiffon cake guide at the last section of my post for the pandan chiffon cake.