A chiffon cake is a beautiful thing, but I think they have gone rather out of style. They are a little bit of work that is well worth it in my opinion. That makes it a special occasion cake. It has the light airiness of an angel food cake with the whipped egg whites but added richness from the beaten yolks. It lends itself to gentle flavors, like this hint of grapefruit. The crumb of a chiffon cake is really unparalleled, tender and airy but still substantial and delightfully bouncy. It is a little bit of kitchen magic. I think a chiffon cake on the table for any spring celebration is a real show stopper. That flat top and towering sides leave lots of room for decorating creativity, and if you have a cake stand, it looks positively majestic. And don’t miss my Strawberry Basil Chiffon Cake for another spring stunner.
You do need an angel food cake tube pan for this – the tube pan with the little tabs at the edges to set it upside down to cool. Don’t grease an angel food cake pan – the cake needs something to grip so it can climb to impressive heights. So it needs to be non-stick as well. You need a really large mixing bowl for this so there is room to fold in the whites. This cake has a gentle, subtle flavor of grapefruit – it’s the glaze that packs the punch. I usually get everything I need from one large grapefruit, but buy two just in case and to use as decoration.
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Ingredients
- For the Cake
1 large pink grapefruit
6 egg yolks
8 egg whites
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups granulated sugar, divided
2 ¼ cup cake flour, sifted
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- For the Glaze
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup grapefruit juice
Milk or water for thinning
Directions
- For the Cake
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees, with the rack positioned in the middle. Have an angel food cake pan ready, but do not spray it with cooking spray or grease it in anyway.
- Separate the eggs, putting the yolks into an extra large mixing bowl and the whites in the large bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl to use a hand mixer).
- Grate the zest from the grapefruit into the bowl of a small food processor. You need 2 Tablespoons of zest (any extra can be set aside for the glaze). Add 3/4 cup of the sugar and process to grind the zest and sugar making a wonderfully fragrant grapefruit sugar. This step really punches up the flavor. Set aside. Juice the grapefruit – you will need 1 cup total, at least.
- Beat the egg yolks in the mixing bowl. Add ¾ cup grapefruit juice and the oil and whisk until smooth. Add the ¾ cup of the grapefruit sugar and whisk to combine. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, switch to a spatula and stir well until no streaks of dry ingredients are visible.
- Add the cream of tartar to the whites and beat until foamy. With the mixer running, add the remaining ¾ cup sugar 2 Tablespoons at a time until the whites form stiff peaks. Stir ¼ of the whites into the yolk mixture to loosen it up, then gently fold in the rest ¼ at a time, keeping the batter light and airy. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl and get all the grapefruity yolk mixture combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out the top with a spatula. Wipe any batter that sticks to the sides or the tube off with a paper towel. Bake for 25- 30 minutes until a tester inserted in the center comes out celan and the top of the cake spring back when you lightly press it.
- Run a thin knife around the sides and tube of the cake. Turn the pan upside down, resting on the feet of the pan, over a rack. If your pan doesn’t have feet, put the tube over a bottle neck. When completely cool, gently remove the pan and lift out the bottom and tube. Place the cake right side up on the rack set over some wax or parchment paper for easy clean up.
- For the Glaze
- Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl, the whisk in ¼ cup of grapefruit juice, until you have a thick but pourable glaze. Add more grapefruit juice or milk to reach this consistency. If you have any leftover zest, add that. Drizzle the glaze over the cake and leave to set. The cake will keep covered on the counter for 2 days.
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