Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

I'm a chiffon cake lover. There are huge varieties of  flavours that we can think of for baking a chiffon cake. From fruits to vegetables to nuts and there's even onion flavour and one with dried shrimps too that i saw in kevin chai's chiffon book. For more ideas on chiffon cakes, you can also have a look at the Chiffon Cakes Round up for the Aspiring Bakers Challenge last Nov. There are over 50 different flavours submitted in by all fellow bloggers! Isnt that amazing?! I've bookmarked a few from there and also this one no exception, a pumpkin chiffon , which i saw in Christine's Recipes blog. Christine is not only a good baker, she's a good cook as well, all delicious looking chinese and asian dishes in there.
My chiffon is relatively shorter compared to christine's as i was using a wider inch pan, 9". Instead of pumpkin seeds, i put in some diced pumpkin into the chiffon. During the folding process, i think i've deflated the egg whites a bit therefore it was not as light as it should be. The beaten egg whites came out stiff but i think it would be a little more stiff if i have added a little cream of tartar into the egg whites. Overall, it was a nice and soft chiffon, gone within a day!


Recipe ( adapted from Christine's Recipes, makes two 17cm round )
100gm pumpkin( peeled, steamed and mashed)
40gm pumpkin (peeled, steamed and diced )
35gm milk
35gm vegetable oil
8gm cointreau
100gm cake flour
100gm egg yolks
200gm egg whites
100gm caster sugar
70gm pepitas ( i omitted )



Preparation:
1. Steam the 100gm of pumpkin over high heat until cooked through. Press with a spoon or food processor into paste when it's still hot. However for the 40gm of pumpkin, you dont need to steam for too long as you do not want to get a really soft chunk of pumpkin.
2.Sift cake flour
3.Mix milk, oil and cointreau in a bowl.
4.If you are using pumpkin seeds/pepitas, bake in a preheated oven at 150C/300F for 4-5 minutes until they expand.

Method:
1.Combine pumpkin puree into milk,oil and cointreau mixture. Mix in cake flour.
2.Add egg yolks in pumpkin mixture. Combine well.
3.Beat egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy and then add in 1/3 of the sugar at a time and beat well between additions. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
4.Spoon out 1/3of the beaten egg whites and mix into the pumpkin batter.
5.Lightly fold in the rest of the beaten egg whites and mix into the pumpkin batter .
6. Add in the diced pumpkins or pepitas ( whichever you are using ) into the batter and mix well. Pour batter into cake pan and level the surface with a spatula.
7. Lightly tap the pan on a table top to getrid of any trapped air bubbles inside the batter.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/365F for 10minutes or until lightly brown. Decrease the temperature, 150C/300F upper, 170C/335F lower and continue baking for 15-20minutes.( i baked mine middle rack at 180C for 10minutes and 160C for 20minutes)
9.Remove from oven and invert cake immediately and allow to cool completely.
10.Use a long and fine knife to loosen the sides of the cake. Remove from pan.