Chiffon Spice Cake

Ever longed for a spice cake that wasn't quite as heavy as the traditional ones? No, neither have I. But I had a problem Monday: 30 of those 56 eggs left. Plus, some idiot had run out of white sugar (I wonder who that could have been) and needed to use brown sugar plus a lot of eggs. Fannie Farmer to the rescue!

I'd never made a chiffon cake before, but that kind of thing never stops me from much. I wasn't sure how to top it, so I asked my dearly beloved, who thought a while, and said, "I think my mother used that thin frosting type stuff you put on top of King Cake." Translation: Glaze. So off I went, into the wilds of yet another kind of cake!

CHIFFON SPICE CAKE

1 cup egg whites (I needed 9)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2-1/4 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup cold water
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325F. Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar till very stiff and set aside.

Sift together all the dry ingredients in a bowl, and make a well in the center. Into the well, pour the egg yolks, oil, water and vanilla extract. Beat very well, 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture is quite smooth. With a rubber scraper, stir the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites bit by bit, until it's all combined. Pour into a very well greased 10" tube pan. Bake at 325F for 50 minutes, then, without opening the oven door, raise the heat to 350F and bake approximately 15 minutes more, until the cake springs back when lightly touched in the center. Cool with the pan upside down, then run a spatula around the pan to release. Top with a glaze made from powdered sugar, vanilla and milk.
This was a light cake. Of course, Patrick the fussy eater didn't terribly like it. But that's OK, because he shared with Thor.

Next week, I'll be telling you about a new method of bread making I found called "Cool Rise". You're going to love it!