Pumpkin Chiffon Cake (Light and healthy)

Beautiful pumpkins are available throughout the year here. They are so versatile and incredible for making any dishes. I used a small amount of pumpkin puree to make a chiffon cake, that produced a very attractive, natural orange-red colour. The cake's texture is very light and fluffy. Yes, I'm a big fan of light and fluffy cakes. The recipe is adapted from a Taiwaness cookbook writer 薛妃娟. She really knows how to make good use of natural and healthy ingredients and bakes delicious chiffon cakes. The nutrients of pumpkin and pepitas are well known. Guess that I don’t need to explain.

Pumpkin Chiffon Cake (Printable recipe) Adapted from："美味糕點新主張" by 薛妃娟
By Christine's Recipes
Prep time: 40 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Yield: two 17cm round (I used one 20cm) ungreased tube pan

Ingredients:

• 100 gm pumpkin, peeled, steamed and mashed
• 35 gm milk
• 35 gm vegetable oil
• 8 gm Cointreau
• 100 gm cake flour
• 100 gm egg yolks（I used 6 egg yolks.）
• 200 gm egg whites（I used 6 egg whites.）
• 100 gm caster sugar
• 70 gm pepitas

Preparation:

1. Diced pumpkin. Steam over high heat until cooked through. Press with a spoon or process in a small food processor into paste when it's still hot.
2. Sift the cake flour.
3. Mix milk, oil and Cointreau in a bowl.
4. Bake the pepitas in an oven preheated at 150C/300F for 4 to 5 minutes, until expand.

Method:

• Combine pumpkin puree into milk, oil and Cointreau mixture. Mix in cake flour.
• Add egg yolks in pumpkin mixture. Combine well.
• Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until bubbles form. Mix in 1/3 of sugar at a time, and beat well between additions. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. (Note: please refer to this video “How To Beat Egg Whites”.)
• Spoon out 1/3 of the beaten egg whites and mix into the pumpkin batter.
• Lightly fold in the rest of the beaten egg whites with a spatula, until just combined. (Note: please refer to this video "How To Fold-in Egg Whites.)
• Add the pepitas into the batter. Mix well.
• Pour batter into the cake pan. Level the surface with a spatula.
• Use hands lift up the pan with thumbs pressing the tube in the middle. Lightly tap the pan on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles inside the batter.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/356F for 10 minutes, or until lightly brown. Decrease the oven temperature, 150C/300F upper, 170C/335F lower, continue to bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Remove cake from the oven. invert the pan immediately. Allow it to cool completely.
• Use a long and fine knife to loosen the sides of the cake. Remove from the pan.

The Author’s cooking notes:

• When the pumpkin is cooked, discard excess water. Otherwise, it affects the texture of your cake.
• If your oven don't have separate heaters, use 170C/335F to 180C/356F to bake the cake for about 30 to 35 minutes. In the process of baking, if the surface gets brown too quickly, loosely cover with foil.

My cooking notes:

• My oven doesn't have separate heaters. I baked my cake at 180C/356F for about 10 minutes. Then reduced heat to 150C/300F-160C/320F, continued to bake for another 20 minutes. I didn't cover my cake with foil. It worked well.
• Mind you: the design and power of every oven is very different. Know your own oven.