Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

Soft, pillow-y pumpkin chiffon cake with just a hint of pumpkin spice. I made this pumpkin chiffon cake for my dad on his birthday. And it earned me another, “that’s the best cake I’ve ever had.” It has the classic elegance of a chiffon cake and not too sweet, which fits the taste buds of my family.

Yeah, I went with the trend and made pumpkin spice, but everyone enjoyed it. Mom requested a chiffon cake for her birthday too! That says a lot because my parents are not big cake people.

My notes for the recipes are below, but I have made a few chiffon cakes, including the mango chiffon and pandan chiffon cakes. So please refer to those recipes for notes on chiffon cakes. I’ll cover them quickly but won’t go in depth as to not beat a dead horse.

• Make sure your ingredients are room temperature. And they don’t have to sit out all day. Just 15-20 minutes is good.
• Don’t grease your pan and do use nonstick pans. The cake partially rises by “climbing” up the side of the pan. Grease and slippery pans will not allow the cake stick to the pan and climb up. But don’t forget the wax or parchment paper at the bottom, otherwise your cake my stick to the pan.
• The pumpkin spice is option, but the amount used is subtle. You can also add spice to the frosting if you really love pumpkin spice. About ½ teaspoon should do it. Less is more in the frosting. Speaking of frosting the frosting that I used for my recipe is whipped cream frosting. I think the whipped cream-cream cheese version would be good for this cake and the season as well.
• If you want to decorate your cake the way I did, for the ganache – refer to my No Bake Neapolitan Cheesecake recipe. A ganache recipe lives there. 😊

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

Serves: 8-10
Time: 1 hour

Batter:
8 large egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
2/3 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin spice**
½ teaspoon salt

Meringue:
8 large egg whites
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Preheat oven to 325F and position rack to lower third of the oven. Line three 9-inch cake pans with wax or parchment paper. DO NOT grease.

Separate your large eggs and getting your egg whites directly into the bowl of your mixer and your yolks into a large bowl. This will be your batter bowl so make sure it is large.

In a medium bowl sift your cake flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice and salt. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer start beating your egg whites until they get frothy. Add the ½ cup of sugar and cream of tartar. Continue to beat until you get a stiff peak. This could take several minutes. If using a stand mixer, you can let this beat while you mix the batter.

For the batter. In the bowl with the egg yolks, add ¾ cup of sugar, pumpkin puree, milk and vanilla extract. Whisk until ingredients are combined. Then slowly add in the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

Then fold in a little of the meringue. Before folding in the rest of your meringue. Make sure the meringue in incorporated well into your batter, but try not to over mix.

Pour batter evenly into the prepared pans. Bake for 22-25 minutes. A tester should come out clean and the top of the cake should be springy. Allow the cake to cool in pan for 5-10 minutes before turn onto a cooling rack and letting it cool completely.

Whipped cream
My recipe of whipped cream frosting
½ teaspoon pumpkin spice (optional)

Using my whipped cream frosting recipe and add pumpkin spice (if using) at the end.