Light, spongy and airy with nice fragrance from earl grey tea, this delightful Earl Grey Chiffon Cake is a perfect dessert for your afternoon tea!
Have you tried Earl Grey flavored baked goods before? How about baking with tea leaves? If you haven’t, you must try this Earl Grey chiffon cake. Earl Grey is a tea blend with delightful and calming citrus flavor. The citrus flavor comes from oil extracted from the rind of a bergamot orange.
As Earl Grey is my all-time favorite tea, all kinds of baked goods infused with Earl Grey tea are my top choices in bakeries. Given my love for sweet, I would even rank any Earl Grey flavored baked goods higher than chocolate. I am not kidding! From Earl Grey cookies, Earl Grey pound cake to this Earl Grey chiffon, I can never resist any of them.
Watch How To Make Earl Grey Chiffon Cake
Spongy and airy Earl Grey Chiffon Cake, made with Earl Grey tea and perfect for a snack or dessert.
Tea-Infused Baked Goods
After living in the U.S., I realized tea-infused baked goods are not as popular compared to Japan. This actually motivated me to learn how to bake so that I can enjoy my favorite Earl Grey baked goods at home.
If you haven’t tried making a chiffon cake before, you will have to trust me when I say it’s one of the easiest cakes to bake. Not an experienced baker? Not to worry. I used to think it would be intimidating to bake chiffon cake as well, but it turned out to be less challenging than I had presumed. Once you understand the simple techniques, it will be one of your favorite cake recipes to bake at home.
MY LATEST RECIPESChiffon Cake Batter – Meringue and Folding In
The most crucial part to make a successful chiffon cake is to make perfect meringue and fold it into batter correctly.
Meringue
In Japan, majority of recipes call for cold egg whites to make meringue (and we don’t use cream of tartar). If you already know how to make meringue with room temperature egg whites and cream of tartar, please use your own method. Otherwise you can follow my detailed instructions in the recipe.
Fold In
When you finish making meringue, make sure to fold in egg whites gently so the tiny bubbles don’t deflate. If you deflate the egg whites too much, the cake will not be fluffy.
Chiffon Cake – Family’s Favorite
Chiffon cakes are my daughter’s favorite cake because she can help me make them and we enjoy making different types together. What I like best about chiffon cakes is they are so fluffy and bouncy, and not too sweet. The sponge-like texture is exceptionally light and airy that I feel like I can gobble up half of the cake myself.
It is also slightly healthier than other types of baked goods that use plenty of butter. This earl grey chiffon cake recipe uses just 3 Tbsp. of oil. With a faint citrus aroma, it makes the perfect cake to enjoy in the idyllic afternoon when you have some good friends over.
If you don’t like Earl Grey, try my Green Tea Chiffon Cake or Meyer Lemon Chiffon Cake.
How to Make the Perfect Chiffon Cake
Any question on Chiffon Cake making? Read this post.
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- 2 tsp Earl Grey loose tea leaves (2 tsp = 3 g) (For step 2)
- 1 Tbsp Earl Grey loose tea leaves (1 Tbsp = 5 g) (For step 3)
- 6 Tbsp hot water (6 Tbsp = 90 ml)
- 3 large eggs
- 85 g granulated sugar (85 g =3 oz, or ½ cup and take away 1 Tbsp) (separated)
- 3 Tbsp neutral flavor oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (3 Tbsp = 40 ml)
- 75 g cake flour (75 g = 2.6 oz or 2/3 cup) (See Note for homemade cake flour recipe)
- 1 tsp baking powder (1 tsp = 3 g)
Gather all the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 340F (170C).
- Put 2 tsp Earl Grey loose tea leaves in a food processor (I used a Nutribullet here) and grind them to fine powder. Alternatively, you can use a mortar and pestle to grind tea leaves, or put tea leaves in a bag and crush them.
- Put 1 Tbsp. Earl Grey loose tea leaves in a fine sieve over a bowl and pour 6 Tbsp (90 ml) of hot water to seep a strong tea. After cooling down, remove the tea leaves and use ONLY 4 Tbsp (60 ml) Earl Grey tea and set aside.
- Separate 3 eggs to whites and yolks.
- In a large bowl, whisk 3 egg yolks and roughly 1/3 of 85 g (3 oz) sugar.
- Add 3 Tbsp vegetable oil, 4 Tbsp tea, and whisk all together until combined.
- Add the powdered Earl Grey tea in the egg mixture and mix well.
- Sift 75 g (2.6 oz) cake flour and 1 tsp baking powder into the egg mixture in 3 increments. Whisk until totally incorporated and make sure there are no lumps.
- Using a stand mixer (make sure there is no trace of water or oil), whip the egg whites on medium low sped (speed 4) till opaque, foamy and bubbly. Add 1/3 of the remaining sugar and continue whipping. After 30 seconds or so, increase the stand mixer speed to high (speed 10) and add the remaining sugar slowly in small increments. It takes about 2-3 minutes until stiff peaks form (from the moment you switched to speed 10, but this is just a rough guidance and it will vary based on stand mixers.). To check on stiff peaks, pull up your whisk and see if you can make strong “peak” that stays still without bending down.
- Using a spatula, fold in 1/3 of the egg whites in the batter until the mixture is homogeneous.
- Fold in the rest of egg whites in 2-3 increments and mix gently until the mixture is homogeneous.
- Pour the batter into the ungreased 17 cm (7”) chiffon cake pan in same location to prevent from foaming more bubbles. To remove or prevent air pockets before baking, run a skewer (chopstick, knife or spatula) through the batter and then drop gently a few times.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and the top of the cake springs back when gently pressed. If the top gets burn too quickly, cover the top loosely with aluminum foil.
- The cake must be cooled upside down in its pan so that it stretch down instead of collapsing. Stick the cake pan on a tall heavy bottle or invert the cake pan onto a cooling rack (if you use angel food cake pan). Let it cool completely. To extract the cake, run a thin sharp knife or thin offset spatula around both the outer and inner edge of the cake and then tap the cake out onto a serving plate.
- Dust powder sugar on top, if you like.
All-Purpose Flour vs. Cake Flour:
All-purpose flour and cake flour do not perform the same. Cake flour is more delicate, and if you use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, the texture will be dense and tough. If you can't find cake flour, use this substitution:
Take one level cup of all-purpose flour, remove 2 Tbsp, and then add 2 Tbsp of corn starch back in. (1 cup AP flour - 2 Tbsp AP flour + 2 Tbsp corn starch = 1 cup cake flour). Be sure to sift the flour 3-4 times to distribute the corn starch well.
Tips for beating egg whites:
-- Make sure your beaters and mixing bowl are clean and dry. A speck of oil or egg yolk on either one can minimize the volume of the beaten egg whites.
-- Avoid plastic bowls -- even clean ones may hold oily residue that can affect the beating quality of the egg whites.
-- Use a bowl that's wide enough to keep the beaters from being buried in the egg whites.
-- Do not overbeat or underbeat egg whites -- your cake may fall. Egg whites should be stiff but not dry.
Equipment you will need:
- 17 cm (7") chiffon cake pan (Do not grease the pan. Chiffon cakes cling to the sides to rise. If you grease the pan, they will not rise as high)
Purchase Chiffon Cake Pan:
Make sure you use the correct chiffon cake pan. The best types are the aluminum ones with a removable base (Do not use non-stick bakeware for chiffon cake – it will not work). Do not grease the mold because the cake needs to cling on the sides and center of the pan for support as it rises or it will collapse.
For a 17 cm aluminum chiffon cake pan, you can buy from Nihon Ichiban or Amazon.
For a 7 inch round angel cake pan with removable base, you can buy from Amazon.
Recipe adapted from Chiffon Cake Book by Junko Fukuda.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 7, 2015. The blog content has been updated with more information.
If you make this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #justonecookbook — We love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter!
Jean Soo
Hi Nami! Thanks for the tips on homemade cake flour! It is so useful! Love yr chiffon, looking soft & pretty! 🙂
Nami
Hi Jean! Yeah, it’s great to know substitute when we don’t have cake flour on hand. 🙂 Thank you for your kind words!
Medeja
Oh it looks so nice.. The color and the softness!
Rosa
Heavenly! Great texture and fabulous flavour. I love Earl Grey tea.
Cheers,
Rosa
TacticalFreak
This is freakin awesome! Also, I’m so down to try this with some Russian Earl Grey instead. I love that stuff.
Nami
Russian Earl Grey! That sounds great! Hope you enjoy! 🙂
[email protected] Peas and Peonies
We don’t use cream of tartar for he meringue either, I love your recipe, and I love how the cake looks, so elegant and scrumptious, the earl grey flavor is very interesting as well.
Nami
Thanks so much, Katalina! I didn’t know about cream of tartar until I see non-Japanese recipes. 🙂 I’m happy to hear you don’t use it to make meringue too.
Monica
I am so excited to see this! Chiffon cakes are one of my very favorites for all the same reasons you mentioned. This came out so perfectly bouncy and light. Love the earl grey flavor. What a perfect midday treat with a cup of tea or coffee. And I really want a smaller, 7″, tube pan! : )
Alana
Hello Nami – May I ask what brand of earl grey tea leaves do you use?
Nami
Hi Alana! I use Republic of Tea brand but can be any other brand, but use good tea! 🙂
http://amzn.to/1QmF8Qf
Maram
Thanks for sharing this, seems a brillant falvor for tea lovers! I just learnt to bake chiffon cakes 2 months ago and I’ve already baked it (with different falvors!) ~6 times, and as you said, with few simple techniques, it will turn amazing each time!
Any idea if we can use any other tea flavors (e.g., Twinings fruit teas)?
Nami
Hi Maram! I’m so happy to hear you enjoy making chiffon cakes too! The other types that I like is Matcha Chiffon Cake (recipe here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/green-tea-chiffon-cake/) and Hojicha (a type of Japanese tea). The fruity flavor sounds fabulous!
Maram
Thanks dear, will try it for sure 🙂
Ella-HomeCookingAdventure
This must be delicious.. never had an earl-grey cake so far. Would love a slice:)
Shirley
Can anyone pls advise what is the difference between an angel cake pan and a chiffon cake pan? Thank you.
Nami
Hi Shirley! I thought this explains well:
http://www.cupcakeproject.com/2008/04/chiffon-cake-vs-angel-food-cake.html
Hope that helps! 🙂
A_Boleyn
I’ve never had a tea infused cake but I wonder whether that’s because in the west we’re more likely to prefer more heavily flavoured/spiced desserts. It sounds like a lovely idea. I’ve never made a chiffon cake either. So many new thing to try … one day. 🙂
PS: Recently the links in the notification email have not been live so I have to go to my bookmarked link to the blog to see the new post. Is this a common issue?
Nami
I always wonder too, because I don’t think Japanese bakery invented tea-infused baked goods. We have more European (British) influence in baked goods, so that could be it. For example, cupcakes are not sold here (yet!). 🙂
I haven’t heard of this feedback from other readers. I double check again from my newsletter I receive in my Inbox, and the links (one from the chiffon cake picture and the other one from “Read More”) work and window pop up to the blog post.
So you’re saying that there is no link even you click on the photo or “read more” button?
Tuty
Sayonara, Nami. Have a safe trip. Can’t wait to see your post from Japan.
Nami
Thank you! I’m here now, and will be posting recipes and travel posts (mostly from previous trips) from here.
I’ll be sharing more images from my Instagram account, and will write Japan travel posts when I return to the US from Japan.
John/Kitchen Riffs
Love Earl Grey tea! Often drink it for breakfast, actually. 😉 Rarely bake with it though — really should, because you’re so right that its flavor is nice in baked goods. This cake looks wonderful! Great as a dessert. Or for breakfast! With tea, of course. 😉
Eha
Hope you and the family will have a happy, healthy ever-so-interesting summer journey to Japan . . . . lots of photos of your lovely growing brood 🙂 !
Nami
Thank you Eha! We’re spending our first day here in Japan. 🙂
thuyanh tran
Hello Nami,
I just tried making your chiffon cake, and oh my it is so delicious. I just have a quick question regarding the tea. I noticed you have another chiffon cake recipe that used green tea powder, i was wondering if i can use the method for this cake but with green tea leaves instead? The reason why is because i have plenty of green tea leaves, but hardly any green tea powder where i live.
thank you very much
Nami
Hi Thuyanh! Thank you so much for trying my recipe! Yes the other recipe is Matcha Chiffon Cake (https://www.justonecookbook.com/green-tea-chiffon-cake/). Green tea powder (matcha) and green tea leaves (even though you make it to powder) are different, so you can’t substitute with ground green tea leaves. Green tea is too subtle and doesn’t have too much flavor unlike green tea powder… so it won’t work. 🙁
Farha - faskitchen
You make this delicious look so easy, Nami.. Looks yummy and must try and yes, like other I love earl grey too
Hotly Spiced
Hi Nami, as busy as you are I’m so touched that you made mention of the tour on your newsletter and all other social media platforms. You have been so kind and it’s greatly appreciated. I’m really pleased with the response I’ve had to the tour. Your chiffon cake has so much height and looks really light and fluffy – perfect! I hope things are going well now you’re back in Japan xx
Nami
Hi Charlie! It’s my pleasure. I was more than happy to spread the word, and really wish I could join you (and meet you for the first time!!). xo 🙂
Sissi
I’ve been drinking Earl Grey since I was a child and only a couple of years ago I tasted chocolates flavoured with it (at my favourite chocolate maker in Switzerland). It was the only Earl Grey sweet product I know until I saw your cake. It looks gorgeous and I am almost tempted to reproduce it just to taste the Earl Grey flavours in a cake, but I’m sure I’d fail to make anything similar to this perfectly shaped chiffon cake.
Chako
As soon as I saw this recipe I made it immediately!! This was my favorite cake when I lived in Japan and I’ve really missed the delicate flavors. I would stop by the local bakery every day after work and get a fresh slice. Now I can enjoy it again! I added lemon zest to the batter and it really complimented the Earl Grey flavors nicely!
Nami
Hi Chako! Right? I really miss Earl Grey baked goods I used to eat too. Now I’m back in Japan for the summer I get to eat while I’m here… 🙂 I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it and lemon zest sounds wonderful!
Elaine|ChinaSichuanFood
Looks so great! Chiffon is always one of my favorite cake, but never tried to add tea. And this grey loose tea really gives it a unique color. Love the version so much. I will try to make this for our weekly Chinese tea ceremony.
donna mikasa
Gasp! You love Earl Grey more than matcha? This looks so good, Nami, and I’m inspired to try baking a chiffon cake now. Will share on IG if I do! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Nami
Hi Donna! Matcha and earl grey is close call… but I like them more than chocolate for sure (and I love chocolate!). 🙂 Hope you like this recipe. We love this cake!
Marguerite
Hi Nami!
Nice looking cake! I hope I can make it as beautiful as you do in your recipe. Wishing you an enjoyable and safe trip in Japan with your family this Summer!
Nami
Thanks so much Marguerite! I’m sure yours will come out well! Good luck! 🙂
Megumi
Hi Nami-san!
My mother once found this recipe for earl grey tea muffins and they tasted delicious! It was too bad that she lost the sheet though. Thanks to you, I can make something similar to it! 🙂 I was just wondering whether we can turn these into muffins, or just put it in a regular cake pan. Also whether we can use different tea brands because I have a collection of earl grey tea and I’m not sure whether it would change the overall flavour of the product. I’m looking forward to making this! Thanks, Nami-san!
Megumi
Nami
Hi Megumi-san!
1) Some readers told me that they tried with Russian Earl Grey and lavender earl grey and it was very good! 🙂
2) If you really want a chiffon cake, you need a chiffon cake pan…. or Angel food cake pan… The cake has to climb up so you can’t use non-stick material and you also need to invert the cake pan after baking the cake. With muffin pan, I feel it’s not optimal. However I have some readers told me to use muffin pans to make my other chiffon cake (matcha) and they loved it. So… it’s up to you. 😀
Hope you enjoy!
Megumi
Thanks a lot! I made it today and it tasted delicious! I made three of them they were so good!
Megumi
Nami
I’m so happy to hear you liked the recipe! Thank you so much for your kind feedback, Megumi-san!
[email protected] Chef
Awesome, never had any tea baked dessert instead of green tea before, this is really tempting to try!!!
good inventive cake Nami,,,,
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
This is such a pretty and light chiffon cake, Nami! Love the earl grey infusion!
Mi Vida en un Dulce
I never baked a chiffon, and it’s one of my daughter favorite, but I don’t have the pan, can you believe it?
Sandra
Very Nice Nami this is one I would love to try!
Lokness @ The Missing Lokness
Chiffon cakes are really the best. So light and fluffy! The earl grey sounds amazing in it! I wish I could have a slice for now.
Heather
Very disappointed to find that I can’t sign up for your email newsletter. .co.uk email addresses are invalid apparently…
Nami
Hi Heather! I am not sure why my subscribing system didn’t add your email address but I just added your email address manually. However, you are required to “confirm” the subscription. Please check your inbox (or spam if you can’t find any email). Thank you so much for subscribing to my blog! 🙂
Frances
Hi, I’ve just made this cake for tea and it’s the best chiffon cake my husband & I’ve ever eaten 😀 Thank you for the recipe ; )
Nami
Hi Frances! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. I’m happy to hear you and your husband enjoyed this recipe! Isn’t it so delicious? Wish I have a slice right now… 🙂
mjskitchen
Being a huge fan of Earn Grey Tea, I find this cake amazing! What a great cake for tea time. 🙂
Michelle
Thanks for the recipe, it was delicious! I ended up doubling the recipe because I only had a 10 inch angel food cake tin, but it worked out just fine.
Nami
Hi Michelle! I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe and doubling the recipe worked! Thanks so much for letting me know angel cake pan worker too! 🙂
molly
I am making this tomorrow! I’ve never made a chiffon cake, but I love baking with tea so I’m excited to give this recipe a go.
Nami
Hi Molly! I hope you enjoy this recipe! The meringue is the key to this recipe. Hope yours will come out well. 🙂
molly
Everything came out perfectly! I used mini bundt and mini loaf pans. They are adorable and absolutely delicious, even according to someone who doesn’t like earl grey tea! A+ recipe.
Nami
Hi Molly! Thank you so much for your kind feedback! I’m really happy to hear you liked the recipe. And thanks for letting us know about mini bundt cake and mini loaf pans so that other readers will be able to use them. 🙂 Thank you!!
Nelly
Hi Nami, I am new to your website. Your recipes are lovely! I want to make this earl grey chiffon cake today. Anyway, what is the song that is playing in your youtube video for this earl grey chiffon cake?
Nami
Hi Nelly! Welcome to my blog! So glad you found my site! The song is called “Crazy Like Me”:
http://www.audionetwork.com/browse/m/track/crazy-like-me_56382
I put the name of music in every video under description box on YouTube, in case you are interested in other music. 🙂
Thank you for your comment!
Tamu
Thank you Nami for this yummy recipe! I tried it yesterday, and although it tasted wonderful, my cake did not rise well. Then I noticed on the “Green Tea Chiffon” recipe that you mention that non-stick pans will not work, so that was my mistake! I really appreciate the amount of detail that you include in your directions.
Nami
Hi Tamu! Thank you for trying this recipe! Yes, if it’s non-stick pan, it’s hard to “climb up”. Some people use paper mold, which might work better than non-stick. 🙂 I’m glad to hear my recipe was helpful. 🙂
Nelly
Hi Nami, I made this cake last week and really love it so much! Even though it was not as perfect as yours. I notice you mention large eggs in your recipe. How many grams is the egg? I used the 700gr eggs and I think the yolk looks smaller than yours and I am wondering whether this what caused my batter looks dryer than yours. Thank you so much for your reply and I am looking fwd to make this cake again! 🙂
Nami
Hi Nelly! Yay! I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe!
According to this site (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_egg_sizes), American large egg is 54.4 grams (mass) and 46 mL (3.25 tbsp) (cooking yield). You will need 3 eggs for this recipe. Did you put 700 grams, or was it typo…?
Vivian
Hi Nammi,
I love your website and the recipes. Its so generous of you sharing all your secret recipes with us all. Just wondering if I’m using a 8 inch cake tin, how should i adjust the ingredients? plus do you hv more flavor of chiffon recipe to share?
Thankssss
Vivian
Nami
Hi Vivian! Thank you for your kind words! As this is 7 inch chiffon cake and you will use 8″ pan, the cake will become flatter for sure. Are you using the chiffon cake, or regular round pan? If it’s round, I think it’s even flatter… You will need to figure out the volume and calculate how many % more.
I also have green tea chiffon cake recipe: https://www.justonecookbook.com/green-tea-chiffon-cake/
Hope this helps! 🙂
Megan
Hello Nami,
I made this cake with a bundt cake pan because I didn’t have an angel food cake pan, and the cake stuck completely to the pan! I was able to scoop it out in pieces and it was delicious, but I was wondering… is the reason it stuck because I used the wrong pan? Or maybe I did something else wrong? Egg whites not airy enough? Thank you! Megan.
Nami
Hi Megan! I’ve heard from some readers that they used a bundt cake, so you’re not the first. But I’m not too sure if they greased the pan. For a chiffon cake pan, we do NOT grease the pan. If you follow my recipe, you probably didn’t? I wonder that’s why the batter stuck to the pan… The cake is supposed to cling to the pan, so oil is not good (slippery) for chiffon cake pan. Was the cake texture fluffy? I wonder if it could rise as it should be. If you think egg white (meringue) was successful, I think the only part was the cake pan. I wish I could help, but it’s hard to know what went wrong without being in the kitchen with you… 🙂
Tim
Hi, can tea leaves from the tea bags be use for this?
If I am using from the tea bags, some much tea leaves from the tea bags is required to replace the quantity in the recipe?
Nami
Hi Tim! I apologize for my late response. I somehow didn’t see your comment in my Inbox till now (It has become “read” so I didn’t realize.. So sorry!).
Yes, you can use tea leaves from tea bags. I specified the amount in Tbsp. and gram, so please open the bag and measure. The tea leaves won’t be as good as loose tea (usually), but adding more doesn’t mean better flavors. I strongly recommend loose tea leaves for better taste. 🙂
Ridha
Hi, Nami! I made this yesterday after searching for recipes for the earl grey chiffon cake. I decided to make yours as it looked very simple and I had most of the ingredients at home. It turned out perfect; the texture and taste is amazing! I’ve shared this with my family and colleagues, they all absolutely love it! One of them suggested I use a thin layer of lemon curd to help with the bitter aftertaste from the earl grey leaves. I will be baking it again for my friend’s birthday this weekend. Thank you for this amazing recipe. Definitely saving this one and baking it many more times again! 🙂
Cheers from Singapore!
Ridha
Nami
Hi Ridha! I’m so happy to hear yours came out well! Thank you for writing your kind feedback here. 🙂
I love lemon curd. Let me know how it goes with the lemon curd. I’d just spread on top to eat it… yum! 😀
Thanks again, and Happy Birthday to your friend!
Cindy
Hi Nami,
Hope this email finds you well.
I will like to inquire where to buy the egg separator that you use in your video. I tried looking for it on Amazon but did not find it.
Thank you.
Nami
Hi Cindy! I had oxo egg separator before but it breaks egg yolk all the time, this one is from Daiso (Japanese dollar store) and it works GREAT! I love it so much. It’s too bad I can’t find similar to this anywhere else… Do you live near one of daiso locations? Hope you can find it!
Moon
I’m a newbie at baking… This is the first cake I tried and turns out amazing!! Thanks a lot for the detailed recipe and YouTube instructions!!! My cake didn’t rise fully and evenly like yours though.. Any idea why? Regardless, it taste good and fluffy.. I’m gonna try it again soon and hopefully master it one day!
Nami
Hi Moon! Awesome! I’m happy to hear that. Did you use an aluminum chiffon cake mold? This helps. Do not use non-stick because it won’t rise taller. Also you might under-beat the meringue (more air you put, the taller your chiffon cake is). However, over beating will end up with collapsing the cake due to air bubbles not sustaining the batter. So… it’s all about meringue. 🙂 Good luck!
Pam
Hi Nami,
I have followed your early grey recipe and it turned out really nice (so fluffy and moist) but the smell of the cake was really disturbing. Quite fishy smell which I think that comes from the egg yolks. How to solve that? Do I have to pour vanilla essence (but I think it won’t beat the fishy smell)? or may be 3 egg yolks are too much for that portion? Please advise 🙂
Thanks before ^^
Nami
HI Pam! Fishy? I don’t think it’s from the eggs? Are you sure? Do you think it could be your oil or tea or maybe bake pan coating? I just don’t think it can be from the egg yolk? You can definitely try reducing the egg yolk and see if that helps. 🙂
Sheri Mehew
This looks fantastic!! I think I am going to try this with Lapsang souchong. It’s my favorite tea, and the only flavor I have of quality loose tea. I think I shall get some good Earl Grey for the next cake. chiffon is also my favorite type of cake, so versatile and delicious.
Nami
Hi Sheri! I don’t think I’ve tasted Lapsang Souchong before. I love tea, and I’d love to taste it one day. It’s actually quite easy to make (than it looks), so I hope you enjoy making this! 🙂
CharC
Hi Nami,
This cake looks amazing, I can’t wait to make it,
However I was wondering if this could be made with other teas, like Piccadilly tea or English Rose?
Would that work?
Nami
Hi CharC! I think it’ll work as long as you like that tea flavor. Earl Grey works great for baked goods (and known for that). I hope those tea choices are strong enough for the baked goods. 🙂
Wendy Lin
Thanks so much for your well throughout posts. I’ve tried your chiffon cake recipes and they work really well. I was wondering if you have tried them without using baking powders?
Also can you tell me which NutriBullet food processor you used to grind the tea leaves? I have a NutriBullet Pro but not sure if I can use it for dry ingredients.
Thanks so much again Nami for the wonderful posts.
Wendy
Nami
Hi Wendy! The recipe works well as it is so I haven’t experimented without BP yet. But there are so many recipes without it, so it should work. Let us know if you try it! 🙂
My NutriBrullet is not Pro one (I think). I got it in Costco… should be basic one. The blade I use is the one with flat blade. Should work for spice etc. Hope this helps!
Wendy Lin
Thanks Nami! I did try baking it without BP and it worked just as well. Thanks again for the amazing recipe. I have been tweaking your recipe for different flavors and they all turned out great 🙂
Nami
Hi Wendy! Thanks so much for coming back to give us feedback. Great to hear we can bake without BP. I’m happy that you’ve been making different versions! Yay!
Fen
Hi Nami,
Can I use canola / olive oil instead? Will the quantity still be the same?
Nami
Hi Fen! I recommend canola oil as it’s neutral flavored oil, but NOT olive oil. 🙂 Yes, quality same. Hope you enjoy!
Lisa
This looks like it’d be really fun to make! One question, though: would the content of tea bags be a suitable substitute for the loose tea leaves (since they’re going to be blitzed to powder anyways)?
Nami
Hi Lisa! Sure, it’ll be good enough for baked goods. Hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Kati
Thanks for this perfect recipe it is so fluffy and aromatic!!
Nami
Hi Kati! You’re very welcome! Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
Lauren
Hi Nami! I tried making this cake twice and both times as soon as I took the cake out of the oven, it shrank quite a lot, which made the texture of the cake dense instead of fluffy. Is there anything I can do to prevent the shrinking? I’m not sure what I am doing wrong.
Nami
Hi Lauren! Usually when I hear shrinking, it’s related to the egg white. Meringue is supposed to make it fluffy and the air should keep it up. But if you don’t have the air in the batter, it will collapse as soon as the cake comes out (temperature drops). I’m pretty sure it’s due to over or under beating of egg whites.
Quinta
Hi Nami,
Thank you for sharing your recipe! I tried it and it turned out great. However, the texture turned out a bit dry, even after I increased the amount of tea to 50ml instead of 40ml as mentioned in your recipe. Was wondering if I overbeat my meringue that caused the dryness or did I put in too much flour (it was actually less than the 75g mentioned in recipe) ?
Thank you so much. I hope to hear from you soon.
Nami
Hi Quinta! Hmmm it’s hard for me to say… Often when it’d dry, it’s due to baking too long or due to meringue. Make sure to whip stiff peak keeping air bubble inside the batter. Hope it will come out nicely next time!
Ann
I made your cake for a baby shower the past weekend and paired it with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream, and it was a HUGE HIT! Everyone was mesmerized by how fragrant and how tasty it was! Thank you so much for the recipe! I made 4 individual pans and all of them turned out perfect!
Nami
Hi Ann! Thank you so much for your kind feedback! I just saw your blog post too (http://pastrymusings.blogspot.com/2016/08/baby-shower-olliepeacewithyou.html)! BEAUTIFUL!!!! Very very impressive work! I’m so happy yours came out well. Thank you for trying this recipe! xo
Rhian @ Rhian's Recipes
I hope you don’t mind I loved this recipe so much I adapted it for a recipe for my blog: http://www.rhiansrecipes.com/2016/09/10/earl-grey-blackberry-chiffon-cake/
Thank you so much for the inspiration!
Nami
Hi Rhian! Thank you so much for letting me know. I just saw the post. So happy you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
Ezra
I’m living in USA. Can I use betty crocker cake mix instead of cake flour?
Thank u
Nami
Hi Ezra! If you want to make chiffon cake, you have to use cake flour. This is my favorite cake flour brand:
http://amzn.to/2dt2xSG
KaChun
Hello Nami! I love tea-infused desserts! Thanks for your recipe and I’ve got one thing to ask: if using convection oven, how should I adjust the temperature/baking time for this recipe? Thank you!
Nami
Hello KaChun! Reduce 25F. So if it’s 350F, change to 325F. 🙂 Hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
Stephen
This recipe is awesome! It nails the subtle sweetness that’s in Japanese sweets, not over powering. Really great! I’ve made this 3 times (an earl grey, a banana and a huckleberry tea) and the basic proportions are spot on. I also am making this cake with gluten free flours (my own whole grain mix) and never a problem. It’s easy to make, light, airy, sweet, spongy! Everything you need in a chiffon cake:) it’s hard to order this at a cafe now, lol! I just wanted to give you a shout out, and let you know how good your recipe is. Thank you.
Nami
Hi Stephen! Thank you so much for your kind words. This is my favorite too! I love your chiffon cake with different flavors… huckleberry tea! YUM! This recipe works with so many different flavors and you’re already making different versions, which made me happy!
And thanks for letting me know about the GF flour info! So glad to know it works! I’m sure other JOC readers will appreciate your feedback. Thank you!
Thanks for writing! xo
Ben
hi! love your recipes…question on this cake. Do i need a chiffon pan or can I use a standard 9″ round baking tin that one can use for cakes? Pros/cons? We live in a small space and don’t have space for another cookware.
Thank you
Nami
Hi ben! Thank you for your kind words! 🙂
Chiffon cake is different from the round regular cakes. It needs the ungreased pan surface to climb up to get it’s light, airy height (I recommend aluminum pan, do not use non-stick). This is why a tube pan is used, so the center also has a surface to climb up. Also you will need to put the pan upside down as soon as it comes out from the oven. With the tube pan, it’s easy to do that.
I think with the regular pan, the cake will be higher around the edges and sunken in the middle? But it’ll be edible and delicious, maybe it’s not perfect chiffon cake. 🙂
You’ll love the chiffon cake and I think it’ll be a good investment. It took me a long time to decide buying chiffon cake pan, madeleine pans, and popover pans, but I make these often and it was worth it. 🙂
Karen
Hi there
I only have an 8 inch aluminum angel food cake pan. Can I use that and do I need to make any changes to the measurements.
Thanks
Nami
Hi Karen! I’m not a big fan of changing the recipe that works. It’s hard to increase the ingredients by %… and if you use 8 inch chiffon cake pan with this recipe, it’ll be flatter. Therefore, I’d either double it and make 2 chiffon cakes (one 8 inch and use other cake pan). It’s hard to increase 50% (1.5 egg…..). I always avoid to do that. Sorry I’m not so helpful…. :/
Wendy
Hi!
Recipe says 90ml water, but in the directions it says 60ml. May I know which is right?
Thanks so much for this recipe, I’m looking forward to trying it!
Wendy
Nami
Hi Wendy! The recipe is correct. You use 90 ml of hot water to make tea, but at the end you will only need 60 ml. I am including about 2 Tbsp. extra hot water since leaves will absorb moisture etc. If you pour 4 Tbsp, you may not be able to get 4 Tbsp. exactly. 🙂
I re-wrote the recipe so hopefully my English is easier to understand? 🙂
Wendy
I see! Ah now it is clear to me. Thanks so much for replying!
Tracia
Hi Nami,
Thank you for the recipe. The chiffon cake is really soft & light! My family & friends love it a lot. One question, there seemed to have many lumps of egg white mixture when I mixed in with the egg yolk batter. Should I flatten the lumps?
Nami
Hi Tracia! I’m so happy to hear your chiffon cake came out well and enjoyed by your family and friends. Do you mean air pockets? What do you mean by “lumps”? Are they batter that’s not well mixed?
Clairice
Hi Nami, I am a fan of Japanese food and am loving your website! I’ve made this EG cake 3 times, and your recipe never fails me. The only problem is I’m too greedy 🙂 , wish the cake is bigger.
Can I use 4eggs or more instead of 3? But how should the rest of the ingredients be adjusted? Thanks in advance!
Nami
Hi Clairice! I’m so happy to hear you like Japanese food and enjoy my recipes. 🙂 Haha, I know, the chiffon cake disappear too fast as it’s so light and airy and I feel like I didn’t eat any slice after half of the cake is gone… 😀 Cake is like science, and it’s important to keep the ratio correct, if you think this recipe works perfectly now. I recommend doubling the recipe or find the easy calculation to keep the same ratio. 🙂
valerie chan
Hi Nami
I am happy to discover your Earl Grey Chiffon Cake recipe through Youtube. I have tried doing it twice. But both times, the cakes did not rise as much as shown in the video. Both times, the cakes raised up to a quarter height of the 17 inch pan.
I am not sure whether is it due to the meringue or other reasons? My finished meringue is white, foamy, and it is soft to touch with peaks. My mixer has the maximum speed of 4. After folding in the meringue with the “Earl Grey” mixture, when pouring into the baking pan, the mixture quantity’s height were less than half instead of 3-quarter full.
Should I increased the number of egg whites for the meringue?
Hope you can help out and advise.
Many thanks!
Valerie
Nami
HI Valerie! I have a few questions.
1) What cake pan are you using? Please don’t use non-stick. The cake batter doesn’t “grab” the wall to climb up when it’s slippery.
2) The way you described meringue sounds right. You probably took a longer time to beat the egg whites compared to mine if your max is 4. If you’re not sure about egg whites, maybe you can look for a video or image of how egg whites should look like. Since your cake batter is only half, it’s the egg whites that cause this lack of batter. Don’t change the amount of ingredients, but beat the egg whites until it has more volume. 🙂
valerie
Hi Nami
Thank you very much for your reply. =)
I am using angel pan and did not grease the pan.
Yes, yes, as you have mentioned, it may be the mixer beating power.. I followed 2-3 mins of beating as per video but may have to take longer now. For the second round, I reduced the sugar to 70g as my family’s seniors feedback that it is a tad sweet for them. =)
I am going to try again tomorrow. Hope it will rise up. =)
Cheers!
Nami
Hi Valerie! I see. Hope next time will be successful! Good luck. xo
Debby
Hi Nami, I love earl grey tea too! My first reaction after finding this recipe is literally “I’m so gonna make this cake!” (^^;)
Anyway, I have some things to ask you…
1. I don’t have the small blender that’s shown in your video so I’m afraid I won’t be able to grind the tea leaves, is it OK if I just omit the ground tea leaves?
2. Can I use parchment paper so the cake will be a bit easier to pick up instead of running a knife around it? Or is it better to not use it since we are going to put the cake upside down for a while until it’s cooled?
And the last but not least: 3. Your cake looks amazing, can I have a slice, please? (LOL JK) 😛
Nami
Hi Debby! So happy to hear you like this recipe! Here are my answers.
1) To be honest, this brings so much flavor so please don’t skip. If you don’t have a blender, you could 1) use a mortar and pestle, 2) use your knife to chop (a little more tedious), or 3) do you have anything that you can grind? Coffee bean grinder, blender?
2) No, you can’t use a parchment paper. The chiffon cake’s batter climbs up the side of aluminum cake pan (which is why it’s best to use aluminum material, and NEVER non-stick cake pan). If you use a parchment paper, cake batter can’t grab to climb higher and the cake will be very flat. And upside down is important process so the cake can still be taller while cooling down instead of shrinking down. 🙂
3) I really wish! Move to my neighborhood? 🙂
Nami
One more thing! If you ever watch our video from your mobile device, the video has typo on oven temperature. Make sure to follow my written recipe. I put the annotation to correct the oven temperature which is visible from computer on desktop, but mobile doesn’t show annotation. Hope that helps!
Adrienne
Can you replace the eggs with yogurt instead?
Nami
Hi Adrienne! Sorry, but chiffon cake will need egg white to get that volume and height, and yogurt can’t do that…. 🙂
Adeline
Hi, there is an error in your video. It says 107C instead of 170C. I tried to bake the cake just by watching the video and used the wrong temperature. Now my cake is still wet after 30mins of baking at 107C. I hope I can still save it. Thanks for the great recipe anyway!
Nami
Hi Adeline! We’re aware of the typo in the video, but won’t be able to fix once it’s published. We put the annotation over the video to correct the temperature, but YouTube discontinue to support annotation function so it might not be shown anymore. 🙁 I truly apologize. 🙁 I put a note in the video description on YouTube and wrote a comment there… but I am aware that not everyone will read the description before baking or check my website for the written recipe… I’m very sorry.
Adeline
Hi Nami, it is ok coz my cake still turned out well after I continued baking it at the right temperature!
May I ask if I should burst every lump I see when folding the egg whites into the batter? How thorough should I mix them? Thanks.
Nami
Hi Adeline! I’m glad to hear….
Don’t worry too much – make sure to run a skewer through the batter and then drop gently a few times before putting into the oven. 🙂
Sly
Thank you so so much for this PERFECT recipe! Its delicious!
Nami
Hi Sly! So happy to hear you liked this recipe! Thank you!! 🙂
Noa
Hi, Nami,
This summer was the first time I tasted an Earl Grey chiffon cake and since then I wanted to try and make one myself. I was looking all over the internet for a good easy, Japanese recipe and yours looks absolutely amazing!
My question is: Is it possible to make the cake in a regular, round cake pan?
Nami
Hi Noa! Personally, I don’t recommend. One reader left comment above in this post or another chiffon cake recipe on my blog that he/she tried with round pan and it worked. But I didn’t see it and I’m not sure how successful it was. The thing is, if you want to make a chiffon cake, tall and airy, I really think . you need a chiffon cake pan that’s NOT non-stick. The batter is supposed to climb up and slippery non stick won’t work, also the center of cake needs to climb up using the tube area… therefore, I don’t think the regular cake pan works. If you have a leftover batter I would put in a small cake pan or muffin cup to try… but not a big cake pan. That’s what I think, but I’m not an expert in baking either. 🙂
Noa
The cake turned out amazing and got many compliments 🙂 Eventually found a chiffon cake pan although it wasn’t with a removable base so it was very hard to take the cake out of the pan.
I will definitely make this cake again!
Thank you, Noa.
Nami
Hi Noa! I’m glad to hear you and others enjoyed this chiffon cake recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Teresa
Hi! Thank you for being so specific in explaining each step in the procedure and having photos and a video as well! I like the additional info about substitutes and how to make it he recipe foolproof. Many thanks and keep the recipes coming. Looking forward to more????
Nami
Hi Teresa! You’re very welcome. I tend to write too much… but I like sharing a little things I learned from baking/cooking with my readers too. Thank you for your kind comment. xoxo
Helena
Looks so delicious
Wendy Wong
Dear Nami
I’ve baked this Earl Grey Chiffon Cake 3 times and I must say the sweetness of the cake is just nice and the texture is also good and soft. However, my family members commented that the earl grey taste is not there. How can I improve the cake to have a stronger tea taste?
Wendy
Nami
Hi Wendy! Thank you for trying this recipe! You can definitely make it stronger by using more tea leaves (but keeping the amount of the liquid). Hope that helps!
Cindy Tan
May i ask, for 21″ cake pan, what is the conversion?
Nami
Hi Cindy! I’m sorry but I don’t make the conversion. If it’s hard to calculate (sometimes can’t divide eggs etc), you can duplicate the recipe and make the small version with the leftover. That would be my approach…
Emy
Hi, can you use bundt pans instead?
Nami
Hi Emy! If it’s non-stick pan, you can’t use it. I have never tried it with the bundt pan though. But good part is that it has the empty hole just like chiffon cake pan. 😀
Mary
Made this cake today but since I only had a 10 inch pan I took a risk and doubled the recipe. I lowered the cooking temperature to 325 (on bake, not convection) and cooked for 55 minutes. It turned out fabulous. Some sites had recommended altering the baking soda but I just doubled that as well. Such a nice cake and not sickly sweet like many Angel or Chiffon cakes. I’ll be making this again.
Nami
Hi Mary! I’m really happy to hear that you enjoyed this cake, and thank you for writing your kind feedback. Japanese sweets are usually not overly sweet compared to western sweets. Thank you once again!
Hesper
Hi Nami!!
I really want to make the earl grey chiffon cake, but I don’t have the chiffon cake pan, so I was wondering if I could use a spring pan instead?
Thank you for your input! 🙂
Nami
Hi Hesper! I don’t recommend… maybe you can succeed but I don’t know and I don’t want to waste the ingredients by failing so I would prefer not to recommend it. Some people make chiffon cake with smaller container with leftover batter (after doubling the recipe for a different size chiffon cake pan), and heard it was successful. But a bigger springform pan… not sure. You have to make it upside down, but without the tube it’s impossible. I think it’s a good investment to purchase. Trust me, you’ll be making this cake again and again. So light and delicious. By next day it’ll be gone and you have to make it again soon. 😉
Hesper
Got it! Thank you so much Nami! 🙂
John E Brinkman
I have always enjoyed your videos but this one with the music soundtrack is driving me a little crazy. Is this something you are going to be doing to all your videos now instead of explaining what you are doing?
Nami
Hi John! Thank you for watching my videos. Sorry you didn’t like the music choice for this video. This video gets divided feedback on music –
either people hate it or love it (and asking the name of song), which I thought it’s interesting (usually similar response on most of our videos). This video is pretty old, and back then we were testing different kind of music to see what works. We concluded that we like classical piano or acoustic guitar feeling. I never use voice over for my videos explaining the cooking process, I use caption. So… if you’re referring to voice over, maybe you are talking about someone’s videos?
Melissa
Hi! Thank you for sharing this recipe! I have a pantry FULL of tea that I’m trying to get rid of so this recipe was perfect! I just made cupcake versions of this (had to cut the cooking time in half) and it turned out great! I accidentally added all the sugar into the egg yolk mixture which meant I ended up using more sugar than your recipe called for but it still didn’t turn out overly sweet.
I’ll be re-using this recipe and trying it out with the other teas that I have. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Nami
Hi Melissa! I’m so happy to hear that cupcake version worked (and thanks for sharing the cooking time with us!). Japanese desserts are not overly sweet, so maybe that’s why it wasn’t too sweet. 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback! xo
Sydney
Hi Nami! I have a 10 in x 4 in/ 25.4 cm x 10,16 cm . So by how much do you suggest I increase the recipe?
Nami
Hi Sydney! I’m not very good at converting and calculating to fit a certain size… I recommend doubling it and make the leftover batter with different cakes (someone above your comment made cupcakes). 🙂
Jasmine
Hi Nami, I have been trying this recipe for quite sometime but I have no idea why is my batter so sticky instead of a more watery form when I watch your video. Thank you for your reading and hope to get your reply soon!:)
Nami
Hi Jasmine! Let me see… I have a few questions to ask you too. 1) Do you measure by weight (gram)? 2) How successful are you at making meringue (step 9)? What do you mean by “sticky”? Is it thicker and heavier look than mine? I feel like your dry ingredients are more… which is why I asked if you use a kitchen scale to measure the flour. Do you think that could be it?
Severin
Hello Nami,
I really want to make this recipe but I can only find a 9″ pan. How should I adjust the recipe for this?
Well wishes,
Severin
Nami
Hi Severin! I recommend doubling the recipe or at least x 1.5 (but so hard to calculate the eggs!). If I were you, I’d double it, and use the leftover batter to make a small one. 🙂
N
Can this recipe be baked in 8″ round trays? i.e. Amount of batter in each and bake for how long
Thank you!
Nami
Hi N! I’m sorry but I had never tried it with a non chiffon cake pan. I have heard that you can make the cake, but may not be optimal result. I wrote the post about chiffon cake here and mentioned why we need to use a chiffon cake pan. 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how_to/perfect-chiffon-cake/
Janice
Thank you for posting the recipe. I love the taste of the cake! But mine didn’t rise as much as the one shown in your video and also shrank quite a bit when it was cooling down (I’ve turned in upside down as suggested in the recipe). I also noticed that the texture of the upper and lower half of the cake seem to be different – the upper half is more airy and light; while the lower half seems to be more dense. Would appreciate if you can give me some advise. Thanks!!!
Nami
Hi Janice! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I think I know why – I think the egg whites could be probably beaten a bit more (if you didn’t over-beaten and egg whites were broken into pieces). And you could mix the batter thoroughly. You might be afraid of over mixing but it’s important that egg whites and yolk mixture are thoroughly mixed. Otherwise, egg white portion will shrink, and the batter will separate into two layers like yours. Hope that helps!
You may think this is helpful: https://www.justonecookbook.com/how_to/perfect-chiffon-cake/
Janice
Thank you for your suggestions! I tried to make the cake again and this time it was perfect!