Chocolate Chip Chiffon Cake is light, airy, moist, and addictive. This is truly one special cake. I love a chiffon cake. It is like an angel food cake, and a sponge cake had a baby that has the best of both parents. The cake is light and spongy like angel food but rich and moist like a sponge. I have posted before about Chiffon Cake and its history. But this is one I have never seen. This version is studded with rich Belgian chocolate and is incredible.
I had been toying with this idea and played with the recipe before coming up with this version. The last one was a complete disaster. I flipped the cake upside down to cool it and left for an errand. When I got back, the cake was sitting on the counter with the sides still stuck to the insides of the pan. A friend stopped by and wanted to taste it anyway. She couldn’t stop eating it, and I knew I had something going on. But it clearly needed fixing. So, I returned to the drawing board and converted a chiffon cake from King Author’s Baking Companion that I knew worked. I added in the chopped chocolate at the end, carefully folding it just to mix. This time it worked perfectly! I will say this is one of those cakes where you don’t want to open the oven early or do jumping jacks next to the oven. Chiffon Cakes are delicate.
One of the keys is using good chocolate. Plain old chocolate chips will not cut it in this cake. It has to be good-flavored, delicious chocolate to carry its load in the cake. The other key is to chop the chocolate into tiny bits very finely. Larger pieces will all sink to the bottom and weigh the cake down. I used one of the best chocolates for baking I know that is easily found on Amazon or finer grocery stores, Callebaut from Belgium. (Unfortunately, Whole Foods has stopped carrying it.) It is a bit pricey, but you can get a whole bar and use it up as needed, like in a chocolate cheesecake, storing it in a cool dark place.
Ok, that is all for this week; I hope you are all staying safe and healthy out there in this crazy world. Please think of others in your choices; what you do affects more than yourself. Until next time!
- 5 oz dark or bittersweet chocolate preferably Belgian
- 7 large eggs carefully separated with no yolk in whites
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 ½ cups sugar divided
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup milk whole or skim
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or substitute with vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder 2 ½ teaspoons for low altitude
- Powdered sugar for garnishing if desired.
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Preheat your oven to 325°F.
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Finely chop the chocolate until you have tiny pieces but not ground. (Smaller than even mini chocolate chips.)
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Have a 10-inch angel food cake pan ready. It also works as a layer cake in 2 9-inch layer cake pans. The bottoms lined with parchment paper. Have an empty bottle, like a wine bottle, ready to invert the cake to cool.
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In a large mixer bowl, beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add ½ cup of the sugar as you beat on high. Continue to beat until stiff glossy peaks form.
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In a separate bowl, add the egg yolks, vegetable oil, milk, vanilla, salt, and the remaining half of the sugar. Whisk well to combine.
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Sift the flour and baking powder into the egg yolk mixture in three batches. Fold after each time until well combined. Avoid over-mixing.
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Add half the beaten egg whites to the egg yolk mixture. Fold gently to combine, then add the remaining half. Fold gently again to avoid deflating the batter. The batter should be light, airy, and fluffy.
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Quickly, but carefully, fold in the chopped chocolate, trying not to mix very much to keep the air bubbles in the batter.
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Pour the batter into the pan.
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Bake for 60 minutes. The cake should have risen to the top and be golden brown but may still not entirely spring back when pressed. A cake tester should come out clean such as a toothpick. If you are using 2 nine-inch cake pans, bake for 45-50 minutes.
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If using an angel food cake pan, immediately invert the pan onto the neck of a bottle to cool upside down and cool completely (about 1-2 hours). Let the nine-inch cake pans cool for 30 minutes before inverting them onto a cooling rack and running a knife around the edge to release them.
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Once the cake in the angel food cake pan has cooled, flip over the pan and carefully run a knife or long flat metal spatula along the sides of the pan to help remove it. Then run a knife or spatula along the bottom of the pan to remove it from the base.
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Invert the cake again so the flat side faces up, and dust on powdered sugar if desired. Slice and serve.
