This delightful Earl Grey Chiffon Cake is the perfect sweet treat for an afternoon snack. It’s light, spongy, and airy, with a lovely fragrance and calming citrus flavor from the bergamot orange oil in the tea. Tea-infused baked goods and chiffon cakes are very popular in Japan, and for good reason. Follow my simple techniques for a beautiful cake that’s surprisingly easy to make at home.
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 a 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 sweets, I would even rank any Earl Grey flavored baked goods higher than chocolate. I am not kidding! From Earl Grey cookies, and Earl Grey pound cake to this Earl Grey chiffon, I can never resist any of them.
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.
Tips to Make Airy Chiffon Cake
The most crucial part to make a successful chiffon cake is to make perfect meringue and fold it into batter correctly.
Meringue
In Japan, the 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.
How to Make the Perfect Chiffon Cake
- Have a question on chiffon cake making?
- Do you have a different size chiffon cake pan?
I answered your questions in this post.
Itadakimasu!
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 and 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 an 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.
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Earl Grey Chiffon Cake
Video
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Earl Grey loose tea leaves (for the tea powder)
- 1 Tbsp Earl Grey loose tea leaves (for the strong brewed tea)
- 6 Tbsp hot water (just boiled)
- 3 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell) (yolks and whites separated)
- 85 g sugar (½ cup minus 1 Tbsp; 3 oz; divided into thirds)
- 40 ml neutral oil (3 Tbsp minus 1 tsp)
- 75 g cake flour (⅔ cup minus 2 tsp; weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off; you can make Homemade Cake Flour)
- 1 tsp baking powder
For Serving
- confectioners’ sugar (for dusting; optional)
Instructions
- Before You Start: Gather all the ingredients. I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
- Preheat the oven to 340ºF (170ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). You will need a 17-cm (7-inch) chiffon cake pan. If you have a different size pan, read this post to adjust the ingredient measurements. Make sure you use an aluminum pan with a removable base (read my blog post for more details). Please see my Notes at the end of this recipe for additional details on ingredients, equipment, and techniques.
- To make tea powder, put 2 tsp Earl Grey loose tea leaves in a food processor (I used a Nutribullet here). Grind them to a fine powder. Alternatively, you can use a mortar and pestle to grind the tea leaves, or put tea leaves in a bag and crush them. Transfer to a small bowl and set it aside.
- To brew strong tea, put 1 Tbsp Earl Grey loose tea leaves in a fine sieve over a bowl. Next, pour 6 Tbsp hot water over the tea leaves to steep. Let it cool, then remove the tea leaves. Measure 4 Tbsp (60 ml) of this brewed tea and set it aside.
- Separate 3 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell) into egg yolks and whites. Keep the eggs whites in a stand mixer bowl; refrigerate or freeze the bowl and egg whites for 15 minutes until cold. (It‘s okay if the egg whites are partially frozen). Tip: In Japan, we chill the egg whites to make smooth, fine-textured meringue and do not use cream of tartar.
To Mix the Batter
- Start mixing the batter. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and one-third of the 85 g sugar with a hand whisk. Whisk vigorously until it‘s a creamy pale yellow color.
- Add 40 ml neutral oil and 4 Tbsp brewed tea to the egg mixture. Whisk all together until combined.
- Add the powdered Earl Grey tea to the egg mixture and mix well.
- To a flour sifter or fine-mesh sieve, add 75 g cake flour and 1 tsp baking powder. Sift one-third of this flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Whisk by hand to incorporate the dry ingredients well. Check that there are no lumps in the batter, then sift another one-third of the flour mixture into the bowl. Mix to incorporate. Then, sift in the rest of the flour mixture and whisk until just combined; do not overmix. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter. Set aside while you beat the meringue.
To Make the Meringue
- Take out the bowl of egg whites from the refrigerator or freezer. Set the bowl on the stand mixer with a whisk attachment (I used the KitchenAid Professional Series). Start whipping the egg whites on medium-low speed (Speed 4) until the egg whites are bubbly, opaque, and foamy.Add another one-third of the sugar and continue whisking for 30 seconds. Then, increase the mixer speed to high (Speed 10) and gradually add the remaining sugar in small increments. Beat vigorously until stiff peaks form. It takes about 2 minutes of beating at high speed to reach stiff peaks. Tip: I usually pause beating when the egg whites are almost done. Take off the whisk attachment from the mixer and use it to hand-mix the looser egg whites near the bowl‘s edge into the stiffer whites near the center until it‘s all homogenous in texture. Then, put the whisk back on and continue beating.To check for stiff peaks, pull up your whisk. The meringue in the bowl or on the whisk should be firm enough to hold a peak, pointing straight up (or maybe folding over a little bit just at the very tips). By this time, the meringue should have a glossy texture, too. Tip: If you overbeat the meringue, it will become very stiff and grainy and won‘t incorporate into the batter at all.
To Fold In the Meringue
- Using a spatula or hand whisk, add one-third of the meringue into the batter. Mix well by hand until it‘s homogeneous.
- Gently fold in the rest of the meringue in 2 or 3 increments. Take care not to deflate the air bubbles in the meringue and batter as you fold. Once it‘s well combined and homogenous, fold the batter one last time and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure there is no tea powder accumulation. The final batter should fall in ribbons when you lift the spatula or whisk.
To Bake
- Prepare an ungreased 17-cm (7-inch) chiffon cake pan. From 6–8 inches high, pour the batter into the pan at just one spot to prevent air pockets from forming. While holding the removable base in place, gently tap the pan a few times on the work surface to release any air pockets in the batter. Run a wooden skewer through the batter to release any remaining air pockets.
- Put the cake pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Bake at 340ºF (170ºC) for 30 minutes. To check if it‘s finished baking, insert a toothpick or wooden skewer into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean and the top of the cake springs back when gently pressed, it‘s done. Tip: If the top of the cake gets dark too quickly, cover the top loosely with aluminum foil to prevent burning. (The cake may be too close to the heat source.)
- Remove the cake pan from the oven and gently drop the pan onto the work surface to shock the cake. This stops the cake from shrinking. To cool the cake, prepare a tall, heavy bottle with a long neck, such as a glass wine bottle. Invert the center tube of the cake pan onto the bottle‘s neck and let the cake cool completely in its pan. Cooling the cake upside down helps it stretch downward and maintain its loft.Once the cake is completely cool, run a long offset spatula around the outer edge of the pan and a small offset spatula around the inner tube. Gently take out the removable base and cake from the outer pan. Then, run the offset spatula along the bottom of the cake to release it from the base. Tip: I used to use a knife for this step, but the tip of the knife tends to poke the cake while moving around, so I now recommend using offset spatulas.
To Serve
- Invert the cake with the removable base onto a plate or cake stand. The cake will slide off the inner tube. Chiffon cake is served “upside down” with the flat bottom on top. Dust confectioners’ sugar on top, if you‘d like. Slice and enjoy.
To Store
- I strongly recommend consuming the cake sooner for the best freshness. However, you can keep the cake covered on a plate or stand at room temperature in a cooler place for 1–2 days. To keep it longer, wrap individual slices in plastic wrap or put in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for 2 weeks.
Notes
- 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, as even clean ones may hold oily residue that can affect the beaten 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 the egg whites or your cake may fall. Egg whites should have a stiff peak, pointing straight up (or maybe a little bit folding over just at the very tips).
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 7, 2015. The blog content has been updated with more information.
Hi Nami, baked accordingly and it tasted delicious. Fine tea leaves strengthened the taste further besides adding the liquid form. I would like to double the recipe ingredients. Whats the estimate baking duration please? Thanks
Hi Jerene! I am so sorry for my late response. Unfortunately, I’ve never tested with a bigger chiffon cake pan, so I can’t tell exactly how long it should be baked. 🙁 Keep an eye on the cake and insert the skewer to see if it’s done. If it comes out clean, it should be done. Sorry I wish I could help you more…
I baked for 55minutes to double the recipe ingredients with 23cm chiffon cake mould. Perfect! Thank you for sharing the recipe
Hi Jerene! I’m so happy to hear that your cake came out well! Thanks so much for your kind feedback. 🙂
Hi Nami, I’ve tried your lemon chiffon cake recipe and it is super good! I have a few questions which I hope you are able to answer:
1) Do you have recipe for Pandan chiffon cake? Not sure how much coconut milk/cream should I use.
2) Can I reduce the amount of sugar by 30%?
3) Do I have to add cream of tartar for non-citrus flavoured chiffon cake?
Hope to hear for you soon! 😊
Hi YC! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Here are my answers:
1) No, I don’t… I had never had Pandan before.
2) I haven’t tried, but I would suggest to gradually reduce, by 10% at a time?
3) I don’t use the cream of tartar. In Japan, we don’t use this (and it’s not common) so we make it without it.
Great recipe and tips! Thank you! First time I made this and took it to work. My coworkers loved it. Then I made it to surprise my husband when he came back from a trip O/S, next I want to try the lemon one.
Hi Vanessa! Thank you for trying this recipe and I’m so happy to hear you and your coworkers enjoyed it! Thanks for writing your kind feedback. Hope your lemon one will turn out good!
This looks delicious! Have you tried steeping the tea bag in milk instead of water?
Hi Alyssa! That should work too as milk tea flavor. I like intense earl grey tea for the cake, so I use hot water, but if you want to make it milk tea, definitely you can. I would increase more tea leaves though so the tea leaves taste will come through from milk.
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!!!
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/
Thank you for your suggestions! I tried to make the cake again and this time it was perfect!
Hi Janice! Wonderful!!! Thanks so much for keeping me posted! I’m really happy to hear that yours came out well this time. 🙂 xo
Can this recipe be baked in 8″ round trays? i.e. Amount of batter in each and bake for how long
Thank you!
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/
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
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. 🙂
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!:)
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?
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?
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). 🙂
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!
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
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?
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?
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! 🙂
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. 😉
Got it! Thank you so much Nami! 🙂
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.
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!
Hi, can you use bundt pans instead?
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. 😀
May i ask, for 21″ cake pan, what is the conversion?
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…
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
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!
Use high quality tea leaves.