Guava chiffon cake

Method

1. Preheat and ready the pan. Preheat the oven to 165°C. Have ready an ungreased 25 cm tube or angel-food pan, ideally one with a removable bottom and built-in feet, or a tall sturdy bottle to invert it over later. Do not grease, flour, or line any part of the pan; the batter needs bare metal to climb.
2. Separate the eggs. Separate 7 cold eggs into yolks and whites, keeping the white bowl completely free of any trace of fat or yolk. Let both come to room temperature for about 30 minutes; room-temperature whites whip to greater volume.
3. Build the yolk batter. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and 170 g sugar together in a large bowl. Make a well and whisk in the oil, guava nectar or purée, egg yolks, and vanilla until completely smooth and free of lumps. Stir in the food coloring now if using.
4. Whip the whites to stiff, glossy peaks. In the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium speed until foamy. With the mixer running, add the remaining 90 g sugar in a slow stream and beat until the meringue holds a stiff peak that stands straight up when the whisk is lifted.
5. Fold in three additions. Stir about a third of the whipped whites into the yolk batter to lighten it; this addition can be beaten in without much care. Add the second third and fold gently with a wide spatula, cutting down through the center, sweeping along the bottom, and folding up over the top while turning the bowl. Add the final third the same way, folding only until no streaks of white remain. Stop as soon as it is combined; every extra fold loses lift.
6. Bake without opening the door. Pour the batter into the ungreased pan and run a knife through it once to pop large air pockets. Bake at 165°C for 38 to 42 minutes, until the top springs back fully when pressed and a skewer in the thickest part comes out clean. Do not open the oven for the first 30 minutes or the cake can fall.
7. Cool completely upside down; this step is not optional. The instant the pan comes out of the oven, invert it: rest it on its built-in feet, or slide the center tube over the neck of a sturdy bottle so the cake hangs suspended above the counter. Leave it undisturbed for a full 3 to 3½ hours. The cake’s structure is mostly set egg foam and has not finished setting when it leaves the oven; hanging inverted lets gravity stretch it downward instead of letting it compress and collapse under its own weight as it cools.
8. Unmold. Once fully cool, run a thin knife or offset spatula between the cake and the pan wall and around the center tube, pressing against the metal rather than the cake. Lift out the tube insert, run the knife under the base, and invert onto a serving plate.
9. Glaze, if using. Whisk the powdered sugar with the guava nectar or purée, adding it gradually until the glaze is thick but still pourable. Drizzle it over the top of the cooled, unmolded cake, letting it drip down the sides, and let set for 10 minutes before slicing.

Notes

• The pan must stay ungreased. Chiffon batter has no butter or structure to hold itself up on its own; it needs to cling to the bare pan walls and the center tube to climb during baking and to hold its shape while it cools. A greased pan lets the cake slide down the sides and collapse.
• Cooling upside down is what makes chiffon cake chiffon cake. If you set the pan right side up on a rack, the warm, still-setting structure sags under its own weight and the cake shrinks into a dense, rubbery disc. Suspending it inverted, whether on the pan’s feet or over a bottle neck, uses gravity to keep the crumb stretched out and open while it finishes setting.
• The egg-white bowl and beaters must be completely grease-free, or the whites will not whip to full volume; a quick wipe with vinegar or lemon juice before starting helps.
• Store the finished cake loosely covered at room temperature for up to 2 days, or refrigerated for up to 4 days if glazed; bring back to room temperature before serving, since the crumb firms up when cold.

Ingredient substitutions

• Fresh guava purée, pushed through a sieve to remove the seeds, is the traditional flavoring, and where you can get true Hawaiian strawberry guava (waiawī), its juice gives the cake its most authentic tart-sweet color and flavor.
• In Germany and Canada, fresh guava is rare. Bottled guava nectar or guava purée, such as Goya, is the practical and honest substitute; look for it at Latin American or Caribbean grocers, or in the international aisle of a well-stocked supermarket. Most bottled nectar is made from pink-fleshed common guava rather than the tart pink Hawaiian strawberry guava, so the finished cake will read a touch sweeter and less tart than the original; a squeeze of lime juice into the batter narrows that gap.
• If cake or pastry flour is not available, substitute plain flour, removing 2 tablespoons per 240 g and replacing it with cornstarch, then sifting the two together twice.
• If cream of tartar is unavailable, substitute 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar when the whites reach the foamy stage.
• The food coloring is purely cosmetic; the guava purée alone tints the crumb a natural pale coral.

Sources consulted

• What’s Cooking America: Hawaiian Guava Chiffon Cake Recipe and History
• Just One Cookbook: How to Make the Perfect Chiffon Cake
• Not Quite Nigella: Guava Chiffon Cake Recipe
• Cooking Hawaiian Style: Guava Chiffon Cake Recipe