Ultra Soft and Moist Cocoa Chocolate Chiffon Cake

After sharing my ULTIMATE soft and moist perfect banana chiffon cake at here, many readers asked me if they can modify the recipe into pandan, chocolate, orange, vanilla or many more versions of ultra soft chiffon cakes. And my answer is Errr... NO!!!

Honestly speaking, I don't think that any of these modifications is going to be straightforward and easy! For the fact that ingredients like banana, coconut milk, chocolate, cocoa powder and orange juice are all so different, any addition or substitution of these ingredients can change the fiddly soft chiffon cakes very dramatically. So here, I seek your understanding that developing a variety of ultra soft chiffon cakes recipe needs TIME!!! Lots of time... to do many research and trial-and-error baking. So please please please do not ask if you can modify this cocoa chiffon cake into something because my answer will be NO.

Nevertheless, please be assure that I will derive more interesting ultra soft chiffon cake recipes to share in the near future. To get the latest updates, you can follow me at either my Facebook at here or here or my Instagram @zoebakeforhappykids.

Now, proudly presenting my ultra soft, moist and feathery light chocolate chiffon cake...

Ultra Soft and Moist Cocoa Chocolate Cake

This cocoa chocolate chiffon cake is easy to bake!!! Although it contains just cocoa powder with no chocolate in it, every bite of it has a good amount of chocolaty aroma.

How did I create this recipe?

Have you noticed that adding cocoa powder into baked goods can make them less moister? Like charcoal powder or flour, cocoa powder is known to have strong liquid absorbing capability and can absorb liquid ingredients making baked goods drier in texture.

Furthermore, regular cocoa powder is acidic. This means that it will make cake batter acidic and the acidity will make egg proteins in the chiffon cake set faster and firmer than usual. Hence, I would prefer to use Dutch processed cocoa powder to my ultra soft cocoa chiffon cake because it is neutral in its pH, thus making the cake softer.

To combat against the drying effect of cocoa powder, I have outrageously packed the maximum amount of liquid into this chiffon cake and it works!!! So you can imagine... This cocoa chiffon cake is SO SO SO moist!!! ... and stay so ultra moist even the 3rd day of bake! On 4th day??? All gone, of course! And so I can't tell if it is still moist or not.

When we were enjoying this plain and cottony chocolate cake with a glass of milk for breakfast... my husband asked "Can you bake this chiffon cake again for my coffee club friends?"

..... Awkward silence? :p Please don't get me wrong. I know that this cake is awesome and I love to bake it for everyone but I just wish that I have more time to bake everything!!!

This plain cocoa chiffon cake is so so so moist! Very delicious with a glass of milk :)

Any baking tips?

As usual, I do. Why am I so bo liao (meaning bored and silly in Hokkien dialect) writing these? I don't know. I just want everyone who bakes to enjoy this cake as much as we do :) So here we go, me and my blah blah blah...

1) The sweetness of this cake is just right. So, please please please do not reduce this amount of sugar any further! If you have a sweet tooth and like your cocoa cake to be sweeter, you might want to increase the amount of sugar to a maximum amount of 170g and I won't increase any more than that.

2) Like what I have said in my previous chiffon cake post at here... With NO chemical agents added to stabilise the cake structure, the success of this chiffon cake is highly depending on the egg white mixture used and please be aware that beating the egg white mixture into its best form is very essential! Therefore, please follow the egg-whites-beating instructions to the tee and please do not rush or take any short-cut to skip any steps.

Most importantly, please do not use too high beating speed to minimise the formation of big bubbles. To avoid the meringue from being too dry and stiff, do not over-beat the mixture. Stop beating immediately when stiff peaks form.

3) With the maximal amount of liquid added in this recipe, please note that the cake batter will be rather "watery". Hence, the watery cake batter will rise crazily and crack during baking and there will be a few large bubbles in the cake. Despite all, I can assure you that you shouldn't worry! The rising watery cake batter will not over flow during baking!!! And I promise you that the cake is so moist and delicious that you won't mind any cracks!

Update on 5/10/2017: It's totally ok to have some cracks on this cake!!! Please do not bake this cake with too low oven temperature or a tray of boiling water. Detailed explanation is at here.

4) Despite the fact that over-baking a chocolate cake can cause the cake to become drier, this large and moist cocoa chiffon cake needs to be baked for at least 60 mins and this step is important!!! To avoid the top of the cake from browning too quickly, cover the top of the cake very loosely with a piece of foil after 40 mins of baking and continue to bake for at least 60 mins in total. Please note that this well-risen tall cake will shrink slightly to the height of the chiffon pan after cooling but its texture will remain so soft, tender and cottony!

5) Like all ultra soft chiffon cakes, this one needs to be handled with tender loving care too!

So, please do not unmould the cake by pressing it!!! To unmould, please use a blunt thin plastic spatula or knife to run along the cake's edges and gently push the cake out from the pan. Plus, please use a serrated knife to slice the cake.

6) Last but not least, please use the exact weight of the ingredients and make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature.

Before proceeding to the recipe, I like to emphasize again...

This recipe makes one tall and perfect 8-inch (20 cm) chiffon cake. So, please do not ask me to calculate the amount of ingredients required to bake your chiffon cake in different sizes. To do so, you can either 1) prepare the same amount of batter and bake a smaller cake using your larger pan or 2) prepare the same amount of batter and use partial the amount to bake a smaller cake cake using your smaller pan or 3) buy a 20cm chiffon cake pan!!! keke...

Every bite of this chocolate cake is so soft, tender, moist and lovely.

Want to eat this cake? Then you will have to bake it :) I have a one minute video to show you how I baked this lovely cake. You wanna see?

Like this ultra soft chiffon cake and want to bake more? I promise I will have many newly-derived ultra soft chiffon cake recipes to share in the near future and so please stay tune! To get the latest updates, you can follow me at either my Facebook at here or here or my Instagram @zoebakeforhappykids

Here's the recipe.

IMPORTANT: Please use the exact weight and make sure that all ingredients are at room temperature.

Makes one tall and perfect 8-inch (20 cm) chiffon cake

For the egg yolks mixture:
90g egg yolks (about 6-7)
45g neutral tasting vegetable oil
180g milk
80g all purpose flour
20g cornflour
25g cocoa powder, preferably Dutch processed
1/4 tsp salt

For the egg white mixture:
240g egg whites (about 7-8)
120g caster sugar

Preheat oven to 170°C/330ºF.

For the egg yolk mixture:
Using a hand whisk, combine egg yolks, oil and milk in a large mixing bowl until well combined. Sift in all purpose flour, corn flour, cocoa powder and salt and whisk gently until the batter is smooth and combined.

For the egg white mixture:
Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites in the lowest speed for at least 10 mins to stabilise the mixture. Mixture will be creamy type of foamy. Increase beating speed to medium (not too high to avoid large bubbles forming). While beating, add sugar gradually and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. With the adequate amount of sugar added, this meringue should be stable and smooth too with tiny bubbles. Do not over-beat the mixture.

Using a hand whisk or a spatula, gently fold in the egg whites to the egg yolks mixture in 3-4 batches. It is ok to mix the 1st batch of egg white more vigorously into the egg yolk mixture but the subsequent portions must be folded in very gently. Make sure that most of the white is not visible after folding.

Pour batter into an un-greased 20 cm chiffon tube pan. Give the pan a gentle tap and use a skewer to draw a zigzag to remove air bubbles only on the surface in the batter. Bake for at least 60 mins in total or until it is thoroughly baked. Tip: To avoid the top of the cake from browning too quickly, cover the top of the cake very loosely with a piece of foil after 40 mins of baking and continue to bake for at least 60 mins in total.

Remove from oven and invert the cake immediately to cool on a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before removing it from the pan. The cake is fragile and so it is easier to slice with a serrated knife. Enjoy!

Store any uneaten in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. I promise... this cake will stay very moist and soft even after its 3rd day of bake.

Happy Baking

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