I find it very difficult to resist when I see beautiful bunches of bananas in the supermarkets.
There are so many things one can make with bananas and 9 out of 10 times, the results are moist and delicious.
As you know, one of my favorite cakes is the chiffon cake. So today I made a chiffon cake using bananas.
True to form, the cake was moist and soft and yes, delicious too.
Even the LAM, who is not keen on chiffon cakes (“Eating air!!” he claimed) looked at the cake I made with some interest.
Of course it mattered not if no one else wants to eat chiffon cakes in my house since I will happily chomp down every piece.
So on that happy note, here are the instructions on how to make this cake.
In a mixing bowl, beat together egg yolks and sugar.
Once the mixture has turned a lighter shade of yellow, add vegetable oil and continue beating to incorporate.
Add vanilla extract (or banana essence if you wish – I do not use essences of any sort in my kitchen), followed by mashed bananas. Mix to blend.
Fold in the dry ingredients (flour + salt + baking soda).
Scrape the bowl with a spatula and give the batter a final mix. Set this aside.
In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue whisking.
Once soft peaks form, add the sugar gradually and whisk until stiff peaks form.
Transfer 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk batter. Beat it in. This stabilizes the mixture.
Gently fold the remaining meringue into the batter until no white streaks remain.
Pour the batter into an UNGREASED tube pan. Lift the pan about 10 cm off the table top and drop it onto the tabletop to remove any trapped air bubbles. Repeat twice more.
Bake at 160°C for the required time. If the top gets too brown, cover with a piece of aluminium foil. Alternatively, you can lower the temperature of the oven.
Once the done is done, invert it immediately and cool on a wire rack. Do not unmold the cake until it has cooled completely.
Bake this, and try not to go crazy from the smells in your kitchen!
WORKSHOPS
Date: Saturday 18 February 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Chiffon Cakes Workshop
Time: 9.00am – 12.00pm
Venue: The Eureka Cooking Lab
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
Date: Friday 17 February 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Ondeh-Ondeh Cake with Gula Melaka Swiss Meringue Buttercream Workshop
Time: 9.00am – 12.00pm
Venue: The Eureka Cooking Lab
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
Date: Saturday 25 February 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Ondeh-Ondeh Cake with Gula Melaka Swiss Meringue Buttercream Workshop
Time: 9.30am – 12.30pm
Venue: Butter & Bake
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
Date: Friday 3 March 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Valrhona Marble Butter Cake and Lana-Inspired Chocolate Fudge Cake Workshop
Time: 9.00am – 12.00pm
Venue: The Eureka Cooking Lab
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
Date: Saturday 11 March 2017
Workshop: Hands-on Valrhona Marble Butter Cake and Lana-Inspired Chocolate Fudge Cake Workshop
Time: 2.30pm – 5.30pm
Venue: Butter & Bake
Tickets Link > CLICK HERE
*NOTE: Having problems with your chiffon? Chiffon Troubleshooting – See here!
- 3 egg yolks
- 12.5g caster sugar
- 30ml vegetable oil - I used canola oil
- 90g mashed banana
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 55g cake flour, sifted
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 45g caster sugar
- Baking Time: 30 minutes
- 4 egg yolks
- 17g caster sugar
- 40ml vegetable oil - I used canola oil
- 120g mashed banana
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 73g cake flour, sifted
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 4 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 60g caster sugar
- Baking Time: 40 minutes
- 5 egg yolks
- 21g caster sugar
- 50ml vegetable oil - I used canola oil
- 150g mashed banana
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 92g cake flour, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 75g caster sugar
- Baking Time: 50 minutes
- 6 egg yolks
- 25g caster sugar
- 60ml vegetable oil - I used canola oil
- 180g mashed banana
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 110g cake flour, sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 90g caster sugar
- Baking Time: 60 minutes
- In a mixing bowl, beat together egg yolks and sugar.
- Once the mixture has turned a lighter shade of yellow, add vegetable oil and continue beating to incorporate.
- Add vanilla extract (or banana essence if you wish), followed by mashed bananas. Mix to blend.
- Fold in the dry ingredients (flour + salt + baking soda).
- Scrape the bowl with a spatula and give the batter a final mix. Set this aside.
- In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and continue whisking.
- Once soft peaks form, add the sugar gradually and whisk until stiff peaks form.
- Transfer 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk batter. Beat it in. This stabilizes the mixture.
- Gently fold the remaining meringue into the batter until no white streaks remain.
- Pour the batter into an UNGREASED tube pan. Lift the pan about 10 cm off the table top and drop it onto the tabletop to remove any trapped air bubbles. Repeat twice more.
- Bake at 160°C for the required time. If the top gets too brown, cover with a piece of aluminium foil. Alternatively, you can lower the temperature of the oven.
- Once the done is done, invert it immediately and cool on a wire rack. Do not unmold the cake until it has cooled completely.
- Take a bite to check how sweet your bananas are before mashing and adjust the amount of sugar added to the cake as needed.
- Baking times may have to be adjusted - get to know your oven so you can make the necessary adjustments!
Hi, so tempting to try. can I know what size eggs are used ?
Hi pls see here: http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/tell-me-why/
Hi Diana…juz love ur recipes… Whether it’s cooking or baking. U make it sound so easy and simple! I’m also into chiffon cakes…love them…but I’m always baking the.same old same old orange chiffon as everyone loves it.
Did u post any coffee chiffon? I may hve missed it. I would love to do a coffee chiffon. And I love pandan as well…and now banana…Yumm! Pls let me hve the coffee chiffon recipe. Can’t wait to try it out. I look forward to ur recipes daily. Tks a million!
Hi Barbara, thank you so much! I will post a recipe for this very soon – keep an eye out for it 🙂
Hi, I tried this recipe and it was my first successful chiffon cake! I’ve tried other recipes, and have experienced 5 failed attempts. So, I was so happy when your recipe worked!!
I did make a few changes- I used only 160g banana and a 21cm pan, because that’s what I had.
Now, I’m encouraged to try the other chiffon recipes on your blog. Keep it up!
This is so awesome Jo!!! 😀 😀
Love all yr chiffon cakes. Wud like you to update me if u got any new recipes. Thank you very much
Hi Sue, you can subscribe to the mailing list for my blog – the subscription tab is on the right bar. Then you will get all the updates!
Hello! Thank you for sharing this recipe. Unfortunately I do not have a mixer, can I use manual labour to mix the ingredients instead? Also, can you advise if I can replace the tube pan with a usual cake pan (those round/ rectangular kind with no tube in the middle)?
You can make this manually – it requires a lot of effort though. You can use a normal cake pan but results will vary.
I tried this recipe today and fuh it smells great and tastes great too.
It also looks wonderful (I only see tiny holes in the cake). 😀
I am so glad you like it Bennette 🙂 🙂
Can I use brown or raw sugar instead of castor sugar?
Caster sugar is finer so if you are using the other sugars I suggest you use a food processor to grind them until they are superfine before using. Otherwise you will end up with a dense and heavy cake.
Hi , can you tell me when you say cake flour does it mean plain flour or self raising flour .Thank you so much as I love to try .
HI Nancy
Cake flour is neither plain flour nor SRF. Pls see here http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/tell-me-why/
Hi Diana,
Used your recipe for a banana chiffon cake. It dismounted by itself after turning upside down. Similar to my 2 other experiences with the Mango chiffon cake. Is there any special reason, apart from the cake shrinking?
I used a 25 cm tube pan. 6 whites and 5 yolks and it still tasted too eggy. Would reducing further to 4 yolks affect the overall result?
Thanks for all the tips.
kowyewsan
Hi Kow Yen San these could have been the reasons for the cake falling out:
1) If the cake slip off the pan after you overturn it, the sides and the bottom are unlikely to be browned. This means you have underbaked it. Do check the oven temperature or prolong the baking time to a further 10 minutes. If the top is already sufficiently browned, tent the cake.
2) If the cake slips off the pan but the sides are browned. Check the recipe’s hydration ratio. If there are too much liquid in the cake, the cake will be too heavy. When you overturn it, it will be pulled down by its own weight (I have encountered this before!). After slipping off the pan, very soon, the cake will start collapsing and you will have pancake for breakfast, tea or supper.
3) If the cake caved in from the sides, there is a possibility that the egg whites are overbeaten.
Changing the amount of yolks will change the structure of the cake. If you don’t like the taste of yolks, maybe you can make an angel food cake instead. It uses only egg whites but has texture like a chiffon cake.
Diana,
Many thanks for the time and tips. Most helpful.
I tried your mango chiffon cake twice. And ended up with something like mango sponge cake.
No one would eat them. I used a 25 cm tube and so ended having them for, like you said, breakfast, tea, supper and pre and post lunch and dinner.
I suspect the main culprit could be the oven under performing. Have ordered oven thermometers from Amazon, together with a host of other Nordic ware baking stuff.
Hope my baking results improve.
Anyway, thanks again for your guidance in my baby steps in this new world of cooking and baking. I am having lots of fun, with hits and misses.
Have a great weekend.
kowyewsan
Hi Diana
Baked the banana chiffon cake it out well but when I remove from the pan it was damp on the sides..
I also baked the lemon cake my mum and daughter loved it.
Thank you for sharing.
Hi Shanthi bake the cake a bit longer! 🙂
Just want to ask whether we can increase the oil in the cake and by how much tbsp
you can try – i am not sure how much you can add also.
Dear Diana,
I love making chiffon cake but encountered this problem every time I make them – the top part will be dense but the bottom (about 3/4 of the cake) is perfect and fluffy.
I have no idea what is wrong..and every time I make pandan chiffon, other than the problem above, my cake is heavy and not as light as other type of chiffon.
I hope you may help. I’m going to try to make this banana chiffon today 🙂
Hi pls see http://thedomesticgoddesswannabe.com/tell-me-why/
Hi Diana,
I attempted your banana chiffon today after setting eyes on it for a long time & am so encouraged by the results. The cake turned out very soft & fluffy. It’s one of the best chiffon cakes I’ve attempted so far. Even my mom, who’s hardly a cake fan, said it was good. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
You are welcome! I am glad it worked out for you!
Wow. I want to make this chiffon cake as soon as possible. Is there any replacement for cream of tartar?
lemon juice/ vinegar
Hi Diana,
Can I replaced cake flour with Top flour?
Thanks!
not really. Texture will differ.
Hihi,
This recipe turn out beautifully…just wondering whether my chiffon cake rises enough. Would you please advise the height of your chiffon cake?
Thank you.
roughly the height of the pan.
Hi Diana
Can I use this recipe to bake a Mango Chiffon cake please?
Thanks!
sure!
I made Gula Melaka Chiffon cake with your recipe a few days ago for a gathering,my relatives all love it.
Today I made this Banana Chiffon in 18cm tube pan. The cake didn’t rise as high,it didn even rise up to the rim. Probably because this uses only 3 eggs whereas the gula melaka one has 4 eggs?
This is also much lighter and fluffier than the gula melaka one,may because it has less flour,55g vs 93g?
The recipes are different, hence different results.
I made the 5 egg version last night! It was truly fluffy! Entire family loves it. Thanks Diana for your recipe!
Hi Diana
Any idea why the sides of my chiffon cakes don’t brown? The top is nicely browned and cake seemingly well baked and fluffy. Only issue I always have is that the sides and bottom of cake don’t brown after unmount.
Maybe try baking at a higher temperature?
Hi, can I add gula Melaka to this recipe? I have previously tried your gula Melaka chiffon & it was heavenly. So I thinking of marrying the two recipes…is it possible?
Hi Meena you can always try!!