Baking #141: Cha Yen Chiffon Cake

I am now drafting this blog entry as I wait for my Cha Yen Chiffon Cake to cool down. If you are familiar with Thai’s beverages, I am pretty sure you would know what Cha Yen is. Cha Yen is also known as Thai Milk Tea. It is well known for the rich, milky and yet smooth tea texture.

To be honest, I am not at all a huge fan of Cha Yen as it is always too sweet for my liking. However, I quite like the Cha Yen from Chill Chill as they managed to lower down the sweetness level and it suited my preference. Cha Yen is quite a hit nowadays as most of the restaurants in Brunei serves Thai Milk Tea ever since ChaTraMue started business in the Brunei’s market.

Prior to baking Cha Yen Chiffon Cake, I intended to buy a cup of Cha Yen from ChaTraMue as I don’t feel like going through the hassle to brew the tea. After thinking twice, it didn’t sound apt as the price for a cup of Cha Yen is B$2.90 and it would only costs me B$5.40 to buy a tin containing 50 individual tea bags.

This brand of Thai Tea Mix comes in three types – red, green or gold. I’m not exactly sure what are the main differences but I read online that the tea leaves from the gold packaging has a stronger flavor than the ones in red or green.

Anyways, I managed to dislodge the chiffon in less than two hours after the cake had been left inverted. Due to the small size, the cake was able to cool down faster. Without further ado, let’s get started with how to make this Cha Yen Chiffon Cake!

Cha Yen Chiffon Cake (adapted from Cuisine Paradise)

Ingredients:

• 3 egg yolks
• 15g fine granulated white sugar *5g*
• 20ml grapeseed oil / corn oil *sunflower oil*
• 60ml Cha Yen (Thai Milk Tea)
• 50g cake flour
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp Thai tea leaves
• 4 egg whites *3 egg whites*
• 50g fine granulated white sugar *30g*
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 150ml full cream milk
• 3 Thai tea mix tea bags
• 1 tbsp condensed milk

Directions:

1. To make Cha Yen, bring 150ml of milk to an almost simmer over low heat on the stove, add in tea bags and condensed milk. Let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes or more. Cool the mixture before usage.
2. Mix dry ingredients – cake flour, baking powder and tea leaves together. Set aside for later use.
3. Beat egg yolks with 5g of white sugar until thick and creamy.
4. Stir in sunflower oil and Cha Yen until well incorporated.
5. Sift in the flour mixture and mix well until no flour lump could be seen. Set aside.
6. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until frothy.
7. Gradually add in 30g of white sugar in three batches until it reaches stiff peaks.
8. Gently fold in one third of the meringue and repeat the same with the remaining two thirds of the meringue until no white streak could be seen.
9. Give the bowl a few taps on the counter worktop to break the bubbles trapped inside the batter.
10. Pour batter from a height into an ungreased 18cm chiffon pan and bake in a preheated oven of 160 degree Celsius for about 35 minutes or until an inserted cake tester comes out clean.
11. Invert the cake immediately when baked and let it cool down for about an hour or until cool enough to be handled.

I managed to dislodge the cake nicely with the bare hand method. I find using the bare hand method is easier than using a knife as I tend to cut into the cake by accident resulting in an awful torn looking chiffon cake. The bare hand method can be intimidating at first but once you get the hang of it, it’s actually a lot easier.

The cake tasted rather sweet in my opinion and I would suggest further reducing the condensed milk in making the Cha Yen. The chiffon cake didn’t smell distinctive of Cha Yen but the taste was distinctive enough when you took a bite. A colleague of mine commented that the tea leaves somehow made the cake tasted slightly bitter?

I told Jennifer that if this recipe was good, I would bake one for her to try. I’m not sure if I would be doing so now that I don’t think that this flavor is as good as the other flavors which I had previously attempted? I’m not saying that this recipe ain’t good but I guess Cha Yen Chiffon Cake is not my cup of tea?

If you’re a big fan of Cha Yen, do give this recipe a try and let me know what you think of it?