Banana Split Chiffon Cake

February 1, 2015

Chiffon Cake is all about the base, no treble. It’s all about the texture, no cover. It’s all about the tender, no icing. It’s all about cake—tear-it-with-your-fingers cake. Make no mistake, bananas and cake, together in the same batter is for me, heaven on earth. No fork, no knife, no plate or napkin, just my fingers and the cake. So when Marie Antoinette said: “Let them eat cake,” I don’t understand why the entire population didn’t rise up in celebration.

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Ingredients

Volume Grams Ounces

Instructions

MIX THE BANANA AND LIQUID INGREDIENTS

This is where all the flavour is. It’s best to do it as well as possible because then the cake will be as delicious as possible.

Pouring the liquid ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer.

MAKE THE BATTER

Here I added the extra step of sifting the flour mixture to ensure there weren’t any lumps in the dry ingredients. This will be helpful when folding in the meringue.

Sifting the flour and other dry ingredients.

The batter was quite thick even though this picture makes the batter look runny.

BEAT THE EGG WHITES INTO A STIFF MERINGUE

In some of the egg white recipes in Tartine, the instructions ask you to heat the whites to something like 120F degrees. The whites become rather thin and runny at that temperature, and I always worry that they’ll break down won’t have the structure to support whatever I fold into it. 120F seems so counter intuitive, but the result is an egg white foam that is WOW. I don’t usually take the time to do it, but I do always put the egg whites in my microwave and with the power at about 3/10, I let the egg whites get warmer than body temperature. This I’m comfortable with. So the foam is ample to satisfy me, and keeps it’s structure.
If there is one thing I learned early on is to respect the egg–always. Never take your eyes off of them—ever. Never walk away from them. Handle them gently, never harshly. Start slowly, never at 10/10. I’ll start at 4, then add the creme of tartar, then up the speed to 6, until the foam is soft, then add the sugar, then up the speed to 9, then 10. Does anyone else do it like this? Anyway, this way, I get a sturdy foam that will accept almost anything I fold into it. Too stiff becomes broken and when the foam breaks, it waters out and cannot accept anything. I learned that very early. Too many times actually.

ADD THE MERINGUE INTO THE BATTER

For this I pull out the largest bowl I own (not the bread bowl) and pour in the liquid ingredients. Then I lighten the liquid ingredients with some of the meringue

For this I pull out the largest bowl I own (not the bread bowl) and pour in the liquid ingredients. Then I lighten the liquid ingredients with some of the meringue.

And, fold the meringue in 3 stages, quickly and then finally completely.

BAKE THE CAKE

This baked up normally within the suggested time.

Hanging the cake upside down. Gravity is an essential ingredient for a Chiffon Cake.

How’s that for a straightforward shot. Banana Chiffon Cake!.

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