Japanese Dark Pearl Chocolate Chiffon Cake 日式黑珍珠戚风

This was a birthday cake that i baked for my son Lucas's 15 years old birthday the other day. It was a last minutes decision to bake this cake, and i just spent 3hrs to complete this birthday cake on his birthday. I chosen this Japanese dark pearl chocolate chiffon as the cake base because this cake is very popular among many blogger friends and the first time i tasted this cake in a bloggers gathering party, i was impressed.

Since it was last minutes decision, so i just can made a simple decoration, and luckily i got these big and sweet fresh blueberries to decorate this cake.  

Whenever i was travelling oversea, sure i dropped by their supermarket to get some good quality and cheap chocolate back home. This time i used Valrhona dark chocolate which i gotten during New York trip last year.

The original recipe is using a chiffon tube pan, since i wanted to make into a Birthday cake, so i used normal round cake pan to bake this cake. I didn't invert the cake as i don't have the proper tool to hold and invert this cake pan..If you are using tube pan, then it is easy to invert.

simple decoration, sliced cake into 3 layers, frost with fresh cream (non dairy) and layer with blueberries filling (store-bought but tasted very artificial , will not buy this again!!).

Japanese Dark Pearl Chocolate Chiffon Cake 日式黑珍珠戚风

*6 and ½” cake pan

3 egg yolk (large or A size)

35g corn oil

50g fresh milk (you may also replaced with dairy whipping cream)

70g dark chocolate ( I used Valrhona 70% dark chocolate)

35g cake flour

15g sugar-free cocoa powder ( I used Valrhona cocoa powder)

1/4 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

3 egg whites (large or A size)

45g caster sugar

1/2tsp lemon juices or 1/4tsp cream of tartar

Method:

1. Melt dark chocolate in a double boiler, stir until smooth and set aside to cool.
2. Mix dry ingredients cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder together.
3. Lightly whisk egg yolks with a hand balloon whisk, then add in corn oil, stir to mix well.  Add in milk and chocolate paste, combine well. Sift in dry ingredients, stir to mix well ( at this stage the batter is quite thick ).
4. Beat egg whites and lemon juices till foamy , gradually add in sugar in there batches and continue beat until close to stiff peak formed (takes about 4-5mins using speed 3 at an electric hand mixer)
5. Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand balloon whisk to mix well and lighten the egg yolk batter (Do not worry you will deflate the batter at this stage ).
6. Now change hand whisk to a silicone spatula, fold in 1/3 of meringue, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.
7. Pour batter in a prepared baking pan (bottom lined paper) or a chiffon tube pan, gently knock on counter top to release trapped bubbles.
8. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170C for about 35-40mins at middle rack.
9. Remove cake from the oven, invert the cake pan to cool.

Recipe source: Butter, Flour and Me, original recipe by Aunty Yochana’s Cake Delight, modified by Sonia a.k.a. Nasi Lemak Lover