Amy's Food Adventures

I have a soft spot for all things milk tea. My favourite milk tea is by the Japanese brand, Kirin. It differs from the HK-style because it’s not as rich and creamy. But thanks to both Kirin and Kochakaden, I was able to taste milk tea flavoured Kit-Kat, cookies, and swirl (blended ice) =9

Since I love incorporating my favourite ingredients into baking (such as matcha ;D), I decided to use milk tea in a frozen mousse cake. I’ve received several requests for my HK-style Milk Tea Frozen Mousse Cake recipe, but I still haven’t had the chance to remake it yet. Since it’s not common, there are no recipes online. I kind of improvised as I was making it, adding more of different ingredients until I reached the right amount of flavour and consistency. For that reason, the recipe is still not up yet ;) Meanwhile, I hope this HK-style Milk Tea Chiffon Cake recipe will suffice for now :)

The type of milk tea I used for this recipe is just an instant version which I got from the Chinese supermarket. I highly suggest that you buy the real thing from a Chinese restaurant instead since it’s a lot stronger that the instant kind. I could only taste a hint of milk tea by using the powdered version. Despite the weak milk tea flavour, my family really enjoyed this chiffon cake as it was extremely light, moist, and not sweet at all. I can honestly eat the entire cake by myself in one day. It’s very airy due to the numerous air pockets created when beating the egg whites to a soft peak. I made adjustments to the base recipe I found on the internet to accommodate the addition of milk tea.

Step-by-step directions

1. Prepare the milk tea by adding a pack of instant milk tea with 3 tbspn of hot water.

2. Fold the egg yolk mixture (egg yolk + sugar + oil + water) in with the sifted dry ingredients.

3. It’ll become thick like this, but don’t worry, because after the next step, it’ll all be lookin’ good again.

4. Beat the egg whites with sugar until a soft peak.

5. After adding the egg whites to the batter and blending everything together, pour in the milk tea.

6. By giving it several strokes, the batter should become much more liquid-y. Ensure that everything is well-blended together. Don’t you just want to drink this? Haha.

7. Pour the batter in a cake pan or a silicon mold. I like using silicon because it’s much easier to unmold the cake afterwards.

8. Fresh out of the oven. Let cool on wire rack.

9. Enjoy! :)

Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup + 3tbsp cake flour
1 1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
4 eggs (separated)
6 tbspn caster sugar
3 tbpsn + 1 tspn vegetable oil
2 tbspn water
1 pack of milk tea powder + 3 tbsp of hot water

Method

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites.
3. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add in 3 tbpsn of sugar, in 3 separate additions and with a manual whisk, whisk till the mixture becomes sticky and pale.
4. Drizzle in the oil, whisking at the same time untill the mixture is well combined.
5. Repeat the same with the water.
6. Sift over the flour mixture and whisk until flour mixture is fully incorporated into the batter. Don’t worry if it becomes really thick, because after adding in the egg whites, it’ll become a thin batter.
7. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Gradually beat in the 3 tbspn of sugar and beat on high speed until just before stiff peaks form.
8. Add the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
9. Pour in the milk tea mixture and fold with a spatula until well-combined.
10. Pour batter into a 18cm (7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.
11. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350F for 45-50mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
12. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the center core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.

*partly adapted from Happy Home Baking