Name: Chiffon Layer Cake
Total time: 3 h 15 min
Ingredients: 1 cup (7 ounces/198 grams) sugar; 1 1/4 cups (5 ounces/142 grams) cake flour; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 5 large eggs (2 whole, 3 separated), room temperature; 6 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled; 2 tablespoons water; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Why This Recipe Works

Chiffon cake has the airy texture of angel food cake with the richness of pound cake, but the original recipe is full of complicated, time-consuming steps. We eliminated the unnecessary step of sifting the dry ingredients to make our recipe more accessible. We also perfected the method for beating our eggs to avoid the little pockets of cooked egg whites we encountered in the original recipe.

Before You Begin

You will need a cake pan that is at least 2 inches high for this recipe.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 1 light-colored 9-inch round cake pan, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, and flour pan. Reserve 3 tablespoons sugar. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining sugar together in large bowl. Add 2 whole eggs and 3 yolks (reserving whites), melted butter, water, and vanilla and whisk until smooth.

Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip remaining 3 egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high and whip whites to soft, billowy mounds, about 1 minute. Gradually add reserved 3 tablespoons sugar and whip until glossy, soft peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir one-third of whites into batter to lighten; gently fold remaining whites into batter until no white streaks remain.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Let cake cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan, discarding parchment, and let cool completely on rack, about 2 hours.