Banana and coconut chiffon cake

I had few very ripe bananas sitting in the fruit bowl. The only way I can think of to use them up is cake. I want something light and less calorie rich. I had banana chiffon before, it's a bit bland IMO. Then I thought why not add coconut with banana for a change. Can't use coconut milk on top of the pureed banana or the cake will be too wet. Then I thought why not add coconut cream powder then I can have the coconut flavour without compromising the wetness of the cake. So this recipe was what I concocted and it worked. The cake was light and much more flavourful than banana alone.

Chiffon cake is a South East Asian Cake similar to American Angel Cake. Difference between angel cake and chiffon cake is angel cake use all egg whites and chiffon cake use whole eggs. Chiffon cake has two parts one is the whipped egg whites and the other is a batter mixture.
Both Angel and Chiffon are baked using a tube tin/pan.

There are few do and don't when making chiffon cakes.

• Always use a tube tin/pan with a loosen tube and the tin/pan must not have any non stick coating.
• Do not grease the tin/pan.
  
• Do not open the oven door during baking. No peeping at all or the cake will collapse.
  
• Do set the timer to remind you when to take the cake out.
• Soon as you take the cake out you have to invert it, so the cake is hang upside down.
  
• Do let the cake cool completely before you take it out of the tin/pan.
• Scrape the cake out using a long thin knife.
  

For more details how to make this type of cakes see previous posts, orange chiffon and pandan chiffon.


Banana and Coconut Chiffon Cake

Tin/pan : 23cm tube

Ingredients:

Meringue mixture:
5 large egg whites
150g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (if yo don't have this it is ok to omit)

Batter mixture:
300g ripe banana
5 egg yolks
100g coconut cream powder (available in most oriental grocery store)
50g any flavourless cooking oil (like sunflower or corn oil)
200g self raising flour (if using plain flour or all purpose, sieve the flour with 1/2 tsp of baking powder).


Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 165 - 170 deg C fan oven or 175 - 180 deg C non fan oven.
   
2. Pureed or mashed the banana, mix this with the rest of the batter ingredients till smooth.
   
3. In a clean large bowl, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar till frothy and light then slowly add in the sugar a little at a time while continue whisking. Whisk till egg white is stiff. Test is to invert the bowl and egg white will not drop out.
   
4. Add about 1/4 of the whipped egg white into the batter mixture, fold and mix. Then add the remaining egg white into the batter mixture, fold till well mixed.
5. Pour batter into the tube tin/pan.
   
6. Bake for 50 minutes.
   
7. Take the cake out and invert it up side down, cooling on a rack so air can circulate and cool the cake at the same time.
   
8. When the cake is completely cooled. Use a long thin knife, glide gently along the tin/pan inside ring and outside rim. Then push the cake out from the bottom of the pan/tin. Using the knife and glide gently along the base the of the cake. Now the cake is completely loosen. Put a plate on top of the cake, invert it and the cake will drop out and fall on the plate.
   

I had this cake on its own because I don't want to pile up the calories. If you like a bit of frosting or icing, make a cream cheese frosting with added coconut cream powder will be nice with toasted coconut and few slices of banana as deco.

If you don't have the same 23cm tin as mine, can use one slightly larger or smaller. For a smaller cake tin/pan, fill with the cake mixture and leave about 1" room for the cake to rise, discard any left over or make pancakes with the leftover.