Light As a Feather Cake

Submitted by Chilicat

"My mom cut this recipe out from the Honolulu Star Bulletin in the early 70's. It was our family's absolute favorite cake - a moist, lemony chiffon that always came out perfect. Then she misplaced the recipe sometime in the 90's and I thought it was lost forever. In a bit of serendipity, my best friend from elementary school got my address a couple of months ago and we started corresponding. I mentioned the recipe to her (even she remembered the cake after all these years!) and lamented that I doubted I'd ever find it again. Well, guess what? My mom had given her mom the recipe when we were kids, and she still had it! I was so happy I could have hugged my friend - if she didn't live 2000 miles away! I'm posting this here so I'll never, ever lose it again. Note: Thanks to **Tinkerbell** for reminding me that the cake needs to cool upside down so it stays tall and fluffy!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 5mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Yields: 1 cake
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 cups cake flour
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar, divided
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 9 eggs (separated)
• 1⁄2 cup water
• 1⁄2 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 tablespoon baking powder

directions

1. Separate eggs, placing whites in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle cream of tartar on egg whites and beat on high until soft peaks form.
2. Slowly add in 1/2 cup of the sugar until whites are stiff but not dry.
3. In a medium sized bowl, sift flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together.
4. Make a well in the sifted ingredients and add oil, egg yolks, water, and extract. Beat until smooth.
5. Fold egg yolk mixture gradually into beaten egg whites. Pour batter into ungreased angel food cake pan.
6. Bake at 350F for 45 min or until cake is golden and springs back when touched.with a finger. Cool upside down by balancing the inside ring of the pan on a bottle or funnel (if your pan doesn't have cooling legs).

Reviews

[Tinkerbell]

I was looking for a chiffon cake & knew I had to make this one after reading the recipe intro. What a wonderful story & thanks for sharing it! We loved the prominent lemon flavor. Quite often it's only just a hint of lemon in something like this, but not here! I frosted it with a basic chocolate frosting & a sprinkle of coconut but next time I'll make a lemon cream cheese frosting instead to compliment the lemon cake. What a winner this is! It baked up perfectly in the 45 minutes stated. The instructions don't suggest hanging the cake upside down but when it started to sink I turned it over & hung it on a bottle of Worcesterschire sauce & it cooled without sinking further. We really enjoyed this cake. Thanks for sharing, Chilicat! Made for New Kids on the Block tag game.