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I have made rose tea cake once and I was really surprised how the tea flavor really comes out, even during baking my kitchen just smelled like rose tea! As a farewell gift to a friend moving to NYC, I made the rose & lychee chiffon cake. Has been 1.5 years since I made a cake and it turns out super soft and light! (pat pat on my shoulder ha!)

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QUICK TAKEAWAYS

• milk will be absorbed by tea leaves when making milk tea, so need more milk! Not using 30ml milk because we need 30ml milk tea!
• mixing oil well with egg, sugar and milk tea mix well is important for the climbing of cake! Whisk till foamy, full of bubbles on the surface
• different cake molds will need different degree of egg white whisking!
  • hollow cake mold: wetter egg white, small hook when lifting mixer
  • round cake mold: dryer egg white, straight up egg white without hook
• cake is done when it reaches highest point and drops back down a little
• ways to tell when a chiffon cake is done:
  • golden surface
  • clean toothpick/chopstick when pierce through
  • not much bubbling in the cake
• 2 eggs might be too little for a 6-inch round cake mold

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RECIPE

6-inch cake mold (without hollow center piece)

• 30ml rose milk tea from:
  • 50-60ml milk
  • 2 tea bags/ 10-15g rose tea leaves
• 2 eggs
• 5g sugar (cake mix)
• 25g oil
• 35g cake flour
• 35g sugar (egg white)
• lemon juice (can substitute with vinegar or cream of tartar)

Step 1: heat up milk in a pot till there are small bubbles forming; remove from heat

Step 2: either put 2 rose tea bags, or pour hot water over 10-15g loose tea leaves to get rid of dust, then transfer tea leaves in a tea bag, and put in the hot milk; leave tea bag(s) rest in warm milk for 4-5mins, then remove tea bag from milk and squeeze out excessive milk tea

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Step 3: mince some tea leaves from tea bag, will put in cake to intensify the flavor

Step 4: divide 2 eggs into two containers for egg white and egg yolk. Store the container with egg white in fridge till ready to whisk

Step 5: in the container with egg yolk, add 5g sugar, use whisk to mix well till sugar dissolve

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Step 6: add 30ml rose milk tea and the minced tea leaves in, whisk in circular motion to mix well

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Step 7: add 25g oil, whisk in circular motion for 2-3mins till small bubbles form; mixing oil and the rest of cake mix well, blending in with milk is important for the “climbing” of chiffon cake, according to Lisa’s Kitchen (video attached below)

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Step 8: sieve through 35g cake flour, now draw “Z” shape with whisk to mix cake flour in; do NOT whisk in circular motion like before; do NOT over-mix, we do NOT want gluten to form

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Step 9: when cake mix has reach consistent texture without cake flour visible, store in fridge till after done whisking egg white. Preheat oven to 285F/140C.

Step 10: bring out container with egg white from the fridge, add a few drops of lemon juice or vinegar; whisk at high speed:

• when big bubbles form, add 1/3 of 35g sugar
• when egg white volume expands and mild patterns form, add 1/3 of sugar, change from high to mid speed
• when more firm patterns form, add the final 1/3 sugar in
• change to low speed when large hook forms as you lift the electric mixer
• for cake mold with hollow center: whisk till small hook forms, more moist egg white so the cake will not be too dry when the hollow piece heating up cake center, evaporating more moist in oven
• for round cake mold like mine: whisk till no hook forms and egg white stands straight up when lifting mixer; dryer egg white texture so the center of cake will not be too wet

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Step 11: bring out the container with cake mix in the fridge. Transfer 1/3 egg white to the cake mix, use a spatula to gently flip and mix egg white with cake mix

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Step 12: transfer cake mix into the rest 2/3 of egg white; same flipping and mixing method to mix egg white and cake mix till no trace of egg white, check the bottom of container!

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Step 13: **SLOWLY* pour cake mix into cake mold; slow motion help get rid of air bubbles at the edge of container as they fall into the cake mold

Step 14: drop cake mold a few times to get rid of more bubbles, transfer to 285F/140C oven

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Step 15: bake at 285F/140C for 40-50mins (or more), monitor cake height around 35mins; the cake is NOT done cooking when it’s at highest point, it should fall down a little bit. Poke with toothpick/chopstick to see if anything stick to it; look at color if golden. If still not sure, listen to the cake and if it is still bubbling inside!

• My round cake mold actually bake for 68mins at 285F in my oven

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Step 16: when you decided the cake is done, take it out of oven, drop from 15cm height a few times to get rid of large air bubbles, turn it upside down, rest of cooling rack for at least 1-2 hours before de-mold! Taking it out of mold too early can make it has a slim “waist”, not flipping it upside down when cooling can make a short cake.

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READY TO SERVE OR DECORATE then serve!!

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RESOURCES

Lisa’s Kitchen recipe for 6-inch earl grey/black tea chiffon cake with hollow cake mold. She has many other cute, awesome recipes for both sweets and savory dishes! (for this video, her cooking temperature of 140C/285F is lower than many other recipes around 170C/330F, 30mins)

Earl Grey tea chiffon cake, 9-inch hollow cake mold

Another my go-to YouTuber for desserts