It was a Christmas gift, a box containing 36 different spices, to make me think this cake, this Chiffon cake with Chocolate Icing. It was not hard for me to think about it … ..
– First … Chiffon cake is now my favourite cake, so high, light, soft and elegant;
– Secondly … .. this is Apple season and are suitable to be flavoured with various spices. I had not used in this cake yet and I did it by reducing them in fine puree, to give moisture and make Chiffon softer;
– Finally … .. Cardamom: the “spice of the East”, with its strong aroma and a slightly spicy flavour, halfway between the lemon and eucalyptus ones. It’s great to flavour rice, hot drinks or creams.
Ingredients for a 24 cm in diameter Chiffon Cake
280 grams of flour (I used Kamut flour)
100 grams of potato starch
260 ml of carbonated water
150 ml of vegetable oil (I used peanut oil)
6 eggs
80 grams of apple (weight of the pulp)
20 cardamom pods
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 packets of natural yeast based on cream of tartar
2 pinches of salt.
Ingredients for the topping icing :
200 grams of dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
about 7 tablespoons of milk
10 cardamom pods
Open the cardamom pods and take off the small seeds. Use seeds from 10 pods to flavour the milk to be used for the glaze (in this case leave the whole seeds) and seeds from 20 pods to flavour the cake (in this case make into a powder by placing them between two sheets of non-stick cooking and crush them with a meat mallet).
Peel the apple, remove the core and cut the flesh into cubes; place it into the glass of an immersion blender with the lemon juice, powdered cardamom and part of the water (about 100 ml of the 260 used for the cake). Whisk until the apple pulp is reduced in fine puree.
Break the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites: whip them until stiff together with a packet of yeast.
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, starch, one packet of yeast and salt. In a second bowl to gather the liquid ingredients: carbonated water (160 ml), seed oil, apple puree, egg yolks. Pour the liquid ingredients into the bowl of dry ones and mix until dough is smooth. Gently add the egg whites: use a wooden spoon and stir in the egg white with movements from top to bottom so that you do not disassemble them during the incorporation to the dough. You must get a final dough very soft and swollen.
Pour the mixture into the Chiffon cake mold (not buttered or greased and floured) that will be about 2/3 full.
Place the chiffon in the lower part of the preheated oven at 160 degrees for about 45 minutes.
After cooking, remove the cake from the oven and immediately invert the mold: remove the cake from the mold only after a few hours, when it will be completely cooled. For this operation pass a spatula along the edges of the mold to remove the cake.
Half an hour before removing the cake from the mold begin to prepare the glaze.
In a saucepan place the milk (almost one glass) with whole seeds of cardamom, heat until boiling, turn off the heat and cover with a lid. Leave flavoured milk with cardamom for about half an hour. After this time, remove the cardamom seeds filtering milk through a sieve.
Break up the chocolate and melt it in a double boiler: when will be very fluid add milk, a tablespoon at a time, stirring with a spoon or small whisk.
I added 7 tablespoons of milk to get a fairly thick but well spreadable frosting.
Cover the top Chiffon’s surface with glaze: setting it on the cake with a spoon and spread with a spatula brushed with milk.
