Chiffon cakes are extremely popular in Japan, probably more so than in the U.S. You can find all kinds of chiffon cake flavors in coffee shops, pastry shops, and sweets stores. From Green Tea Chiffon Cake to Black Sesame Chiffon Cake, unique Japanese flavors are all the rage and they are the ones you want to try when you’re in Japan. Today we’re going classic. Because we can never have enough chocolate in our life, here is the much anticipated Chocolate Chiffon Cake!
Why You Should Make This Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Easy (compared to Japanese Souffle Cheesecake or Japanese Strawberry Shortcake) Just 8 ingredients No butter, just 4 tablespoons of oil Extra moist Light and soft with a velvety crumb Rich and deeply flavorful
This is, without a doubt, the best chocolate chiffon cake my family loves!
How to Make Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Ingredients You’ll Need
Each ingredient serves an important role in this cake. For the best results, I do not recommend making substitutions unless stated otherwise.
Overview: Cooking Steps
You can make this chocolate chiffon cake with a simple whisk and bowl, but I highly recommend using an electric mixer or a stand mixer for beating egg whites to save your arm from falling off.
2 Tips to Make Perfect Meringue (Egg Whites)
Tip #1: Chill egg whites
I know, it’s the total opposite of what you learned from American recipes. I’ve seen most of the American recipes use room-temperature egg whites to make the meringue. However, almost all (99%) Japanese chiffon cake recipes require cold, well-refrigerated, or sometimes half-frozen egg whites, to make meringue without cream of tartar. Chilled egg whites will make very fine and smooth meringue with small and strong air bubbles inside. They remain strong even in the oven and help the batter rise higher and fluffier. If you are not from the US, which method do you use?
Tip #2: Whisk until stiff peak with a tip that folds over
There is always discussion on how much you should beat the egg whites. From my experience, it’s best to stop the mixer when you’re close to finishing to check the condition of the peaks. When you lift the whisk, the egg whites in the bowl or on the whisk should be firm enough to go straight up and hold a stiff peak, but just the very tip may fold over a little, like taking a bow. The meringue should have a slightly glossy texture, too. Then, switch from the hand-held electric mixer (or stand mixer) to a balloon whisk, and thoroughly mix the sides and center of egg whites a few times to get to the same consistency throughout.
How to Make Perfect Chiffon Cake
Chiffon cakes are one of the easiest cakes you can make at home. However, it took me some trial and error until I could make a really good one. Mostly because I had a hard time beating the egg whites and folding the batter correctly. So I put together my tips in this post, including ingredient measurements for all the different chiffon cake pan sizes. Enjoy this light, fluffy, yet rich chocolate chiffon cake with a cup of earl grey tea or coffee! It is a keeper, especially if you like chocolate and light spongy cakes.
How can I convert this recipe to a different chiffon cake pan size?
You can figure out ingredients (eggs, sugar, etc) for your pan that is 7 inches (17 cm), 8.5 inches (22 cm), 9 inches (23 cm), or 10 inches (25 cm) in this post. Important! You have to take away some cake flour to replace it with cocoa powder for the chocolate chiffon cake, here’s the measurement.
7 inches (17 cm): 25 g cocoa powder + 50 g cake flour 8 inches (20 cm): 40 g cocoa powder + 80 g cake flour 8.5 inches (22 cm): 50 g cocoa powder + 100 g cake flour 9 inches (23 cm): 60 g cocoa powder + 110 g cake flour 10 inches (25 cm): 70 g cocoa powder + 140 g cake flour
How about Double Chocolate Chiffon Cake?
I knew you would ask this question, so I did try making a Double Chocolate Chiffon Cake recipe several times. What do I mean by “double”? Chocolate is used two times: cocoa powder and melted chocolate. I tried adjusting the ratio of the cocoa powder and melted chocolate to make the cake as light as possible, but the richer the chocolate cake is, the denser it gets. It loses the bouncy, airy, light “chiffon cake” texture. The cake resembles more like a pound cake, instead of a chiffon cake. Another issue I had with double chocolate was that the cake does not rise as tall as the chiffon cake with only cocoa powder. For example, I would have to use a 7″ (17 cm) chiffon cake pan for the ingredients for 8″ (20 cm) chiffon cake to get a decent “chiffon cake” height. In the end, I was not quite satisfied with the result (and can’t call that “chiffon cake”), so I increased the cocoa powder in the batter to get more chocolate flavor. My chocolate to cake flour ratio is 1 to 2 (40 g cocoa powder: 80 g cake flour). If you decrease the cocoa powder to 20 g (1 to 6 ratio), the cake will become taller, but have less “chocolate-ty” taste.
Other Delicious Chiffon Cake Recipes
Green Tea Chiffon Cake Orange Chiffon Cake Earl Grey Chiffon Cake Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 5, 2020. It’s been republished with more helpful tips on November 23, 2022.
