Birthday Cake Club: Berry Chantilly Chiffon Cake

Hi Bakers!

When I think about a berries and cream cake, it has to have these core characteristics:

• Super fluffy and moist cake

• Juicy, fresh berries

• Pillowy whipped cream

• Easy to put together; not super elaborate

This Berry Chantilly Chiffon Cake ticks all those boxes. And at the peak of berry season, this summer chiffon is perfect for all you August birthday babies. Enjoy!

The rumors are true; I can confirm that the best store-bought cake is Whole Foods’ Berry Chantilly. What originated as a New Orleans special, this customer favorite can now be found across the country. But if you’re in the market for home-made (always) or want to make something supremely fresh and delicious (obviously), then you gotta try this recipe.

This popular cake gets its name from Chantilly frosting - sweetened, vanilla whipped cream - even though it includes hefty amounts of cream cheese and mascarpone for richness and stabilization. So while it’s not technically Chantilly cream, the frosting, especially made from scratch, is thick, creamy, and lick-off-the-spoon delicious.

Chiffon cake is one of my go-to sponge cakes. It gets its beloved lightness from whipped egg whites, richness from oil and egg yolks, and reliability from added baking powder. It is the most forgiving in the sponge cake family.

When making a chiffon cake, whipped egg whites are folded into the cake batter. The biggest difference between this and most other sponge cakes is that chiffon cakes have a significant amount of oil while others have little to no additional fat beyond egg yolks. Added baking powder ensures we get enough lift even if our egg white-folding skills are still in the works.

A tube pan is a type of cake pan that has a hollow tube in the center. Unlike a Bundt pan, those used for sponge cakes have removable bottoms and “feet” around the rim.

To keep from deflating, chiffon cakes are cooled upside down in their pans. If your pan doesn’t have feet, you can affix the pan on top of a wine bottle, or similar, to suspend it above the counter.

Unlike most other pans, do not grease the inside of a chiffon cake pan. During the baking process, we want the cake batter to climb up the sides of the pan for max height. Don’t worry about getting the cake out, that’s what the removable bottom is for.

If you don’t have a tube pan, you can bake a chiffon cake in a regular round pan. You can rig a system to cool them upside down if you’d like, but prepare for the cake to shrink a bit. Because a regular cake pan doesn’t have a removable bottom, I suggest lining it with parchment paper (but keep the sides ungreased). Run a thin knife around the edges after cooling to release the cake.

• Whip egg whites in a clean bowl. It must be free from grease. Metal and glass bowls work best.

• Keep egg whites free from fat. This mostly means no drips of yolk, but also free from any grease or fat residues from the mixing bowl (see first tip) or whisk.

• Add an acid. Cream of tartar, lemon juice, and vinegar help stabilize whipped egg whites and keep them from deflating too quickly. Lemon juice and vinegar are also good for wiping down bowls and utensils (see previous tips).

• Whip the egg whites until they are thick and billowy. When you stop the mixer and lift up the whisk, they should hold medium peaks.

• Do not over-mix egg whites. If you mix too long, the egg whites will turn dry and begin to clump together. Not only are these types of egg whites less efficient at creating puffy cakes, they are much harder to fold into the batter and can lead to a collapsed cake structure.