INTRODUCTION

The three categories of foam cakes are:

Foam cakes are basically leavened by the air beaten into separated egg whites or whole eggs or yolks, with sugar, folded into a small proportion of flour for reinforcement. Some recipes, such as chiffon cakes, contain vegetable oil for moistness, and sponge cakes may contain milk for a softer, less dry texture.

This is done by  with an object, such as a wire whisk by hand or with beaters attached to a stand or hand-held mixer. A foam is a mass of bubbles, with air inside each bubble, and in the case of egg white foams, the white is stretched to form the bubble walls. Sometimes beaten egg yolks are used in the recipe, and the emulsifiers found in it, also helps to stabilize the foam's bubble structure, too, just as flour, sugar, and milk in the recipe will.

Foam cakes are tricky to make because the nature of foams is that they are fragile and evanescent; the cake mixing steps have to be completed in well-timed sequences and baked right away, otherwise you won't get the mile-high, lofty, spongy textures that are so desired in these types of cakes!

Chiffon and angel food cakes are baked in tube pans so the inner tube provides support for the center of this rather delicate batter as it rises, then sets.

Learn how to make foam cakes, with baking911.com's extensive baking tips and techniques, plus recipes. There are pages and pages of information, such as how to beat egg whites and how to fold ingredients together, so essential to know for a successful outcome.

CHIFFON CAKES: 

The Chiffon Cake is its most well-known member of the foam cake family. A Chiffon Cake contains vegetable oil, similar to Sponge Cakes. Since oil is always liquid at room temperature, a chiffon cake stays soft and moist. It is less likely to lose moisture and stays fresher than other foam type cakes, such as an Angel Food Cake.

A Chiffon Cake is made with vegetable oil and egg yolks beaten into the flour and dry ingredients. The fat coats the flour proteins, much like a raincoat, which protect them against the moisture and from forming gluten when mixed. This results in a very tender cake. Although the recipe contains fat, the pans should not be greased. 

Chiffon cakes are one of "those" cakes. Many people can take the same recipe and come up with many different cakes. Technique will make it light and airy, spongy, and flavorful. My advice is simple, relax, give yourself time and especially fold with a light touch and only until you don't see egg whites! Be gentle and you will be rewarded.

When the cake is done and removed from the oven, it is turned upside down to cool so the spongy texture of the cake stretches, creating the open texture that's characteristic of chiffon cakes.

There are several ways to support the Chiffon or Angel Food Cake pan while turned upside down to cool. 

The usual way is to insert the inner tube of the inverted pan in the neck of a bottle. Or, the upside-down cake can be supported by its "legs", small tabs attached to the top of the pan. I like to set the cake pan on a metal funnel. 

I do not like either choice: I find that the bottle technique is not stable because it becomes top heavy with the pan. Also, when you turn over the angel food cake pan to rest on its legs, the cake top tends to condense. Because the legs are short, they bring the warm cake too close to the countertop, causing condensation to form.  

Once cool, the cake usually needs loosening slightly from the sides of the pan with a knife before it can be released to a wire cake rack.

More about the Chiffon Cake: In 1948 Betty Crocker introduced the Chiffon Cake and hailed it as "the cake discovery of the century!" Up to this point cakes were either the light sponge cake or a heavier butter or shortening cake. The Chiffon Cake mysteriously combined the richness of the butter cake, but with the light spring of the Angel Food and Sponge Cakes. 

A California insurance salesman, Harry Baker,  invented the recipe in 1927. He baked his cakes in the Los Angeles area and for Hollywood restaurants, but he never divulged the secret recipe. Harry decided that Betty Crocker should share in his special recipe and he traveled to Minneapolis to finally divulge the secret. And the Chiffon Cake was given to cooks across the nation.

I first began using my Chiffon cake recipe more and more by changing the way in which it is baked. People lump the Angel Food, American Sponge and Chiffon into a tube pan category. The pan classically used for angel food with a center core and removable bottom was deemed the "only" pan for Chiffon Cake.  

However, this cake is not a quickie, or a dump and blend. It will dirty a few extra bowls, and has a few steps beyond the basic add and cream. Many people have a fear of working with whipped egg whites, and folding in general. Mr. Baker, the inventor of the recipe, added leavening to help out the home baker. If your egg whites are not perfectly folded, or slightly over folded, the leavening kicks in and helps raise the cake. Follow my directions, which are extended from the original, and relax when folding…Beyond all, keep it gentle.

GENOISE OR BUTTERSPONGE:

Genoise, a foam type cake, like an Angel Food Cake, is the classic, fine-crumbed French sponge cake. It has been one of the most prized elements in the French chef's repertoire. It is made by beating warm whole eggs with sugar until the mixture more than triples in volume, then folding in the flour and sometimes melted butter too.  

The Genoise is different from American sponge cakes in that it has less sugar and sometimes contains clarified butter (butter that has been melted so that the water evaporates and the milk solids drop to the bottom. The milk solids then brown which adds a richer flavor). The butter makes the cake somewhat more moist and flavorful. It tends to be dry and usually some type of syrup or icing is added to the finished cake in order to moisten it.

Genoise is one of the most useful cakes because it is firm and sturdy. Because of its plain crumb, it makes a great foundation cake for both elaborate or simple concoctions, such as wedding cakes, layer cakes, tortes, ice cream cakes, Baked Alaska, ladyfingers, petits fours and simpler desserts, filled with buttercream or pastry cream and then fruit. It is a great cake to frost with cream frosting, or whipped ganache.

A genoise is used quite often when making petits fours or small cakes. They usually contain 3 layers of genoise, liberally laced with spirits, and are filled with lemon, hazelnut or raspberry and topped with marzipan. They are then dipped in pastel-colored white chocolate or a fondant glaze.

In both the Genoise and Biscuit, cornstarch can replace some of the flour. This causes the grain of the cake to be tighter and enables the cake to hold more moisture and keep longer. Cake flour is used in sponge cakes which makes a sweeter, finer textured cake. 

The flavor and life of a Genoise cake comes to life only with the right amount of flavored syrup, and they don't disintegrate when moistened with it which adds moisture. The perfect amount of syrup to use is 3 to 4 tablespoons for every egg used in the recipe. If the cake is several days old and dry, add an extra tablespoon.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS POSTED ON "ASK SARAH": 

Question: My two attempts at a chiffon cake have been not quite successful, the cake rises while baking and it feels spongy and springs back when its done. I remove it, turn it over on a pan to let it cool and I believe somewhere in the cooling process, the bottom (which is the top now since its upside down) somehow compresses the cake? What am I doing wrong? I really want this cake to be a success since its something I grew up eating and cannot find it sold where I live now. Thanks!!

Answer: Your cake probably collapsed because there was a problem while beating the egg whites and/or folding them into the batter--classic issues for a chiffon cake baker ! (More about cake problems ) The egg whites are the leavening agent that holds up the cake. They will collapse if they are not strong enough causing the cake to fall when cooled.

The best I can do is to point you to my tips used when beating egg whites and during folding. With egg whites, the very first step sets the stage for the rest. When folding the beaten whites into the batter, it's easy to deflate them. Egg White Beating and Folding Tips

Question: I was just wondering whether chiffon cakes require baking soda or baking powder. My mom makes a great chiffon cake without any baking soda or baking powder and it turns out great. All she uses are eggs, sugar, flour, oil and some milk. I was just curious because I haven't seen a chiffon cake recipe without the leaveners.